Days of Wine & Symposia (Part I)
For the past week, the Long Island wine region (New York, USA) has played host to an international cast of winemakers. Hailing from as far away as Spain, Italy and France to as close as upstate New York, these winemakers came to share their perspectives on producing wine in a cool, maritime climate.
Their visit was sparked by the two-day symposium, The Art of Balance: Cool Climate/Maritime Wines in a Global Context. This Symposium was held on August 5 & 6, hosted by the Stony Brook Center for Wine, Food and Culture at their Southampton campus, in partnership with the New York Wine and Grape Foundation ane the Long Island Wine Council.
Within this climatic context, the speakers discussed their philosophies of winemaking, along with the challenges of making balanced, market-friendly wines under the constraints of their respective wine regions.
The program began Tuesday morning with Alessio Dorigo from Dorigo winery in Friuli, Italy, joined by his colleague, Marco Pecchiari of Terra e Vino. After an introduction to their Mediterranean climate, which is extremely tempered by the influence of cold, Siberian winds from the North, Alessio turned his attention to the difficulties of selling these wines, noting that international taste has changed the consumer’s palate. He also discussed the results of some of their experimentation in the vineyard with respect to density, favoring high density with a low per plant output of grapes. During his presentation, participants had the opportunity to taste his Ribolla 2007 and Montesclapade 2001, a red blend.
His presentation was followed by a presentation from Gunter Kunstler of Weingut Kunstler in the Rheingau region of Germany. As a producer of a single variety, Riesling, Gunter focused on the elements of terroir that differentiate one Riesling from another. He also discussed the effects that climate change have had on Riesling, predicting that by 2050, Germany may be too hot to grow this grape. We tasted two of his Rieslings from the 2007 vintage.
After a lunch break, participants heard from Thomas Laszlo of Heron Hill Winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. Posing the question in his presentation title, “Who has Terroir and How Do I Get It?” Thomas acknowledged the limited history of vineyards in his region (as well as elsewhere in the U.S.) compared to European regions. However, despite the short history, he was able to share significant information about the climate and soils. Moving on more specifically to the issue of terroir, Thomas felt that in many vineyards, one is able to produce Rieslings, which are nice, but without minerality to them. It is only on “Grand Cru” sites that Riesling can really shine in this way, suggesting that the Finger Lakes had both. His 2004 Ingle Vineyard Riesling was poured during his session.
Next up was Katia Alvarez of Martin Codax, located in Spain’s Rias Baixas DO, home to the Albarino grape. Katia spent a fair amount of time talking about the traditional emparrado system of vine training, mentioning its merits and disadvantages. As the region continues to grow (there were 570 acres planted in 1988 compared to 8,600 acres in 2008), they are looking at the potential of other systems, which will meet the objective of providing a vertical system that maintains the same level of sunlight exposure that emparrado does. Participants tasted two Albarinos — one from the main Martin Codax line and another from their Burgans production.
Day one concluded with a panel discussion on terroir, moderated by Paul Greico, co-owner and sommelier of Hearth, Insieme and Terroir (all in New York, NY), which was followed by a Grand Tasting featuring wines from local wineries and participant winemakers.
Did it have any portuguese winemakers?