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RIGHT ClearWater Tech, LLC OZONE SOLUTIONS SINCE 1986 sales@cwtozone.com | 805.549.9724 | 800.262.0203 | wine.cwtozone.com BOOTH 505 CIP PANEL-MOUNT Best-Read Column HOW WINERIES USE VINEYARD TECHNOLOGY By Andy Starr When Wines & Vines contribu- tor Andy Starr set about writing his column for the March 2017 issue, he had no idea the information he learned from Rodney Strong Vine- yards, Kosta Browne and Kendall- Jackson Winery would propel the piece to cover story status. Starr sought to uncover how wineries use data collected in the vineyard to make decisions about crop level, vine health and harvest timing, all of which affect the taste and aroma profiles of the resulting wines. At Rodney Strong, for example, VineView aerial imaging helps winery per- sonnel appreciate how vigor var- ies across the company's 1,200 vineyard acres. The data informs decisions about soil moisture and achieving the ideal weight per vine. Kosta Browne also uses aerial imagery, but with a different pur- pose: precision irrigation. At Kendall-Jackson, pressure bombs and vine-moisture sen- sors record data necessary to regulate vines and achieve ideal berry size. Biggest Story from the East PRODUCING SAUVIGNON BLANC IN NEW YORK By Ray Pompilio Formerly a stand-alone maga- zine, Wine East first joined the pages of Wines & Vines in October 2008. Since then, editor Linda Jones McKee and her team of contributors have written hundreds of stories about winemaking and grapegrow- ing east of the Rocky Mountains. In 2017, the most-read story from the Wine East section wasn't about cold-hardy varieties or native rootstocks but the aromatic Bor- deaux variety Sauvignon Blanc. In his story for the March 2017 issue, writer Ray Pompilio talked to grow- ers and winemakers from New York's Finger Lakes and Long Island wine regions to share what they've learned about growing and vinifying this white wine variety in two very different locations. He found that thoughtful con- sideration about planting location is key due to the risk of frost, and vine spacing can help manage vine vigor. Bird migration patterns make netting a necessity for Long Island, where winemaker Richard Olsen Harbich calls Sauvignon Blanc "the quintessential white wine of the North Fork." 66 WINES&VINES March 2017 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST W hen one thinks of white vinifera wines made in New York state, Riesling and Chardonnay immediately come to mind. Other well-known cultivars that have been produced include Gewürz- traminer and Pinot Gris. Now Sauvi- gnon Blanc is becoming part of the mix. Thought to be improperly suited for New York's cool-climate viticulture, Sauvignon Blanc initially found some success on Long Is- land, where the maritime infl uences favored Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Recently, however, the grape has found a home in parts of the Finger Lakes. The eff orts of two producers of New York Sauvignon Blanc—Hosmer Winery of Ovid, in the Finger Lakes, and Bedell Cellars, in Cutchogue, on Long Island's North Fork—are indicative of the variety's budding future in the Empire State. Hosmer Winery The vineyard: Cameron Hosmer planted about 10 acres of grapes on the western side of Cayuga Lake in 1972. Cur- rently there are 60 acres planted, with 45 acres of vinifera, including almost 2.5 acres of Sauvignon Blanc. The vine- yards are now managed by Hosmer's son, Tim Hosmer. Three clones of Sauvignon Blanc (376, 530 and Musque) were purchased from Sunridge Nursery in California and planted at Hosmer in 2011. Tim Hosmer likes clone 376 because it is the most consistent, while the 530 seems to grow best on shallower soil. All the Sauvignon Blanc is planted on 101-14 rootstock to contain the vines' vigor. Hosmer thinks Sauvignon Blanc's propensity to stay green into November may not give the vines enough time to harden for the winter unless curtailed. To help limit growth, the vines were closely planted in rows 8.5 feet apart with 5 feet between plants. Another limiting technique is the use of more drainage tiles, which for this variety are set every other row, twice as often as the rest of the vineyard. Hosmer stated the need to limit moisture retention of the vines post-harvest to cut back growth. The soil is a fairly fine textured variation of silt-loam with clay subsoil. Even with these efforts, the vines were hit hard by the severe winters of 2014 and 2015. This past winter they buried whole canes beneath hay, which ultimately proved unnecessary because of the mild weather. Although Hosmer loves the way his Sauvignon Blanc ripens and how the wine tastes, he doesn't anticipate additional plantings. "From a grower's standpoint of economics, it's not the strongest choice," he said. "It's not the most reliable grape, it just doesn't like the winter." For those interested in this cultivar, site selection becomes very important, as it is for another finicky grape in the Finger Producing Sauvignon Blanc in New York How two wineries grow and vinify an increasingly popular and vigorous variety By Ray Pompilio KEY POINTS Sauvignon Blanc has become increasingly popular in New York, where two leading wineries (Bedell Cellars on Long Is- land and Hosmer Winery in the Finger Lakes) are among those growing and vinifying the grape variety. Steps such as tight spacing in and between rows helps to control Sauvignon Blanc's vigor, which Bedell utilizes me- chanical hedging to limit. In the Finger Lakes, site selection is important, partly because bud break occurs well before the final date for the threat of spring frosts. Both wineries harvest when the grapes are between 20° and 21.5° Brix and the acid is between 7.5 and 8.5 g/L. Bedell's Sauvignon Blanc wines are crisp but not overtly grassy. Hos- mer's wines are very aromatic and develop tropical fruit char- acteristics with time. Clone 376 is the most consistent of three Sauvignon Blanc clones planted by Hosmer Winery. ALL PHOTOS BY RAY POMPILIO 28 WINES&VINES March 2017 A Google search for the exact phrase "wines are made in the vineyard" produced 40,600 results, making it one of the industry's mantras, along with "our Chardonnay is buttery" and "I thought we'd be cash-fl ow positive by now." All over- used, yet accurate. Since much of winery success and wine quality is based on grape quality, I interviewed several winemakers and viticultur- ists about what they currently do in the vineyard to enhance wine flavor and assure consistency from year to year. They shared with me what data they collect, cropping levels, harvest criteria and advanced technologies employed. Rodney Strong Vineyards Since 1959, Rodney Strong Vineyards has been one of Sonoma County's premier wine operations, producing 850,000 cases annually under the Rodney Strong and Davis Bynum labels. The winery owns 1,200 acres of vineyards exclusively in Sonoma County. While Rodney Strong purchases two-thirds of its grapes, the grape contracts provide viticultural control. Both winemaker Justin Seidenfeld and winegrower Ryan Decker shared their approaches to growing and winemaking. Crop level decisions: Seidenfeld and Decker stated that they no longer look at tons per acre, measuring pounds of fruit per vine instead. As Decker notes, while "yield per acre is easy to trace, pounds per vine speaks to what the vineyard is doing." They aim for a weight/vine target specific to the vineyard location and varietal; for example in a Sonoma County Pinot Noir block, the target is 4 to 6 pounds per vine, depending on the clone. They believe the old "tons per acre" method leads to under-cropping vigor- ous vines and over-cropping the weaker ones, leading to variable grape quality and a wide range in vine health within the vineyard. Decker noted that tar- geting level fruit weight p e r v i n e m a k e s t h e grower work to equal- i z e v i n e v i g o r t o a c h i e v e t h e w e i g h t per vine target. He adjusts irrigation, fertilization and cover crops to achieve more uniform vine health. This increases consistency and quality and avoids overworking the vine- yard. Decker said that following this protocol means the only way to increase fruit yield is to increase vine density when replanting. Vineyard health measurements: Ryan stated that his team does petiole sampling at bloom and at véraison to measure the following nutrient levels: nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, calcium, boron and zinc. He added that they may also look at chlorides if the soil is known for high salinity. Harvest decisions: Seidenfeld seeks "a physiologically ripe grape, so measuring pH and TA is almost as important as Brix." Ideally, all blocks and all vines would have the same physiologi- cal ripeness. He tries to avoid hard tannins from underripe fruit or chalky tannins from overripe fruit. If it's overripe, "It's just desiccating, so everything is out of whack." Advanced technology: Seidenfeld believes that in striving to improve quality, "Technology is the helping hand." An ex- ample is his use of selective mechanical harvesting and field sorting. Machine harvesting allows him to pick at night and bring in cooler fruit, which improves wine quality and saves considerable energy in cooling warm grape must. In addition, it helps to avoid any labor-shortage issues. The Pellenc harvester then field sorts fruit, separating ideal berries from raisins. Decker stated that the sorter unit "has replaced six or seven people on an incline conveyor and does a better job." Additional examples include the extensive use of VineView's aerial imaging and spectral mapping to identify areas of high and low vigor, which then directs their efforts to balance the vineyard. They also use advanced methods of monitoring vine water status via evapotranspiration and stomatal conductance measurements. Looking to the future, they will add continuous soil moisture monitoring to their vineyard weather stations and investigate other remote-sensing devices to be able to keep tabs on their vineyards 24 hours a day. ■ ANDY STARR How Wineries Use Vineyard Technology Winemaking VineView allows Rodney Strong to assess individual vine vigor from above.