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March 2017 WINES&VINES 67 WINE EAST GRAPEGROWING Lakes, Pinot Noir. Hosmer said that he believes the cold winter temperatures, while significant, are not the biggest problem. He attributes the lack of full lignifica- tion as the main culprit, which is why he puts effort into limiting vigor and late-season growth. Additional techniques used to speed lignification take place dur- ing the year. The Sauvignon Blanc summer hedging is delayed until mid-August, so as to not encour- age mid-season secondary shoot growth. Leaf pulling is somewhat minimized for the same reason. Right before harvest, they disc the soil to help dissipate the warmth in the surrounding soil and plant a cover crop of winter rye. "All these practices are ori- ented for the vine, not the fruit," Hosmer said. "There's not going to be any fruit if the vine dies." The vines are trellised with four-cane vertical shoot position- ing (VSP), and Hosmer leaves a fifth "kicker" cane as insurance against winter injury or late frost. If not required, that cane is quickly removed. The first spray for foliar diseases occurs when the shoots are 3 to 4 inches long. For the most part, machine spraying is then employed every two weeks. The average bud break for Sau- vignon Blanc is May 5, opening Hosmer vineyards to the possibility of late frost damage. Shoot posi- tioning or "tucking" on movable catch wires is done when growth reaches 18 inches, usually by the end of June. Hosmer waits another four days or so and then employs a hydraulic Binger Leaf Remover from H & W Equipment in Ontario to remove leaves. Véraison occurs at the end of July or beginning of August, almost simultaneously with Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Hosmer collaborates with winemaker Aaron Roisen to deter- mine when to harvest. He does the berry sampling and passes them onto the winemaker for testing. Sauvignon Blanc is "picked more on acid than on Brix," Roisen said. He added that much of their col- laboration occurs well before har- vest, particularly during the winter, when they discuss prior experiences and strategize for the coming year. The aim is to grow and provide the best fruit compo- sition for their wine styles. The 2016 vintage marked the winery's fourth commercial Sau- vignon Blanc harvest. Roisen said the grapes went from very green to ripening on a huge curve, offer- ing fruit concentrated with green aromatics but balanced by an under layer of tropical fruit. "The grapes are starting to express these aromatic and flavonoid com- pounds that are going to create this beautifully balanced wine," Roisen said. The winemaker's preferred ball- park measures for these grapes at harvest is 21.5° Brix, pH of 3.15 and TA of 7.5-8 g/L. Regardless of exact numbers, Roisen is very en- thused about the Hosmer Sauvi- gnon Blanc. "We've kind of dialed it in, right out of the gate," he said, citing the clonal selections planted, combined with the vineyard's soil profiles. He likes the growth diver- sity of the vines, which is then re- flected in the upfront aromatics of the wines, followed by great mouthfeel and texture. Winemaking: Ideally the grapes are machine-picked when the fruit temperature is 60° to 65° F. The grapes are processed through a crusher-destemmer and must pump into an axial-feed Eu- roPress 6-ton membrane press. Two Scott Labs press enzymes are used, Cinn-Free and Scottzyme Pec5L, along with 50 pounds of rice hulls per 6 tons of grapes for elevated extraction. Roisen adds 50ppm of potassium metabisul- fite. He separates into press frac- tions following free run, which reaches 0.2 bars, or 1.5-2 psi. He noted that typically all the frac- tions are blended in the end, but he likes to have options. The juice is fermented in 1,000-gallon jacketed stainless-steel tanks, using a Saccharomyces baya- nus yeast from Enartis. He uses this strain because the Sauvignon Blanc grapes usually have a large amount of yeast assimilable nitrogen (YAN), and the yeast handles this nutrient well. This enables Roisen to do, as he calls it, "a cooler fermentation that keeps all the esters. I'm not a reductive winemaker, and this of- fers a cool, healthy fermentation." He ferments at 51° F for 10-14 days. About two-thirds into the fer- mentation he checks to see how much titratable acidity has dropped out. Typically, he doesn't have to add acidity. His preference is a racy style that holds onto the aromatics. Roisen does not fine the juice prior to fermentation. The first few vintages haven't shown a lot of protein instability, but he will add 2.5 pounds of bentonite per 1,000 gallons to the wine follow- ing fermentation to ensure protein stability. Hosmer's cellars are cold enough in the winter to eliminate seeding for cold stabilization. Fol- lowing the settling of the wine, it goes through a Begerow 1-micron EDITOR'S NOTE Aaron Roisen left Hosmer Winery on Jan. 1 to become winemaker at Three Broth- ers Winery in Geneva, N.Y. The new winemaker at Hos- mer Winery is Julia Hoyle. Grapegrower Tim Hosmer believes selecting the right Sauvignon Blanc clone is key to the variety's success in cold climates. Aaron Roisen says acidity plays as large a role in harvest timing as Brix.