The Next Big Wine Thing

It can take decades to create a wine region, an area recognized for it's style, character, and varietals. Think Bordeaux, Champagne, Piedmont in Europe or Sonoma and Napa in California and Willamette Valley in Oregon. But people who are excited about wine look for emerging wine regions, not yet acknowledged for making consistently good wines nor known for a tried and true varietal. That's what's happening in the cold climate region of the upper Midwest. Winemakers are exploring, testing, and pushing the limits of what can be made from grapes produced in the region.

The relatively new hybrids, some released as recently as 2006 from University of Minnesota grape breeding program, promise to bring new tastes and styles to the wine world. Some of these varieties are so new that we're not sure what they can do. Will they survive 40 below temperatures in the winter? Questions about trellising, pruning and harvesting still remain. And in winemaking, how much tannins can we hope for? How do we get more fruit and less acidity? How long can we age the wines?

These questions and more fly across the tables at conferences, in blogs and facebook, and in wine industry publications. But more important, wine lovers patiently listen and taste these wines, allowing them to entice, to pleasure, and sometimes, to thrill them. Discovering a great Frontenac port-style wine, an elegant LaCrescent, an earthy Marquette or a soft and satisfying Traminette is a wonderful thing.

So if you're game to add a new wine to your summer sipping, go to a nearby winery and try a wine you've never had before. Here are some of the grapes we use in our winery (all grown in Illinois): Reds are Frontenac, St. Croix, M. Foch, Chambourcin, Marquette. Whites are LaCrescent, Traminette, Vignoles, LaCrosse, Petite Ami, Brianna and Prairie Star. Cheers!

Great grapes make great wine!

 Our Frontenac grapes were the last grapes we harvested this fall.  We left them on the vine after the first frost caused all the leaves to drop, hoping they would continue to develop.  Once we finally brought them into the winery, we found that our Frontenac grapes had remarkable character and flavor.  The flavors were so intense and distinct that we were inspired to create a dessert wine. 

Ken fermented the Frontenac grapes gently on their own native yeast.  He then added neutral grape spirits, stopping the fermentation and leaving some residual sugar in the wine.  The wine's natural sweetness complements its intense fruit.   George, Lynn, Wayne & Diane came up with the name, Nancy designed another great label and Fireside Red was brought to the public.  This is Famous Fossil Winery’s first Estate Bottled wine, meaning that the grapes in this wine came exclusively from the Famous Fossil vineyard in Cedarville. 

Why do we call Fireside Red a dessert wine rather than a Port?  Port is a fortified, sweet wine made from red grapes grown in Northern Portugal’s Douro Valley.  The Douro Valley was recognized as an appellation in 1756, making it the oldest defined and protected wine region in the world.   It is this distinction which led the region to claim the name “Port Wine” as its own.  In the United States, sweet, fortified wines are labeled “dessert wines.” 

Fireside Red is best served after dinner as it is sweet and has an alcohol content of 20%.   Fireside Red's alcohol content is significantly higher than the average Famous Fossil wine of 12%.  Gotta take this wine slow and easy! 

The Miracle of Grapes into Wine

It has been a fantastic season in the vineyard and we are expecting our best harvest yet.  The grapes began ripening in early August and are now reaching the sugar and pH levels where they will be ready to pick. The birds have a good sense of when the grapes are reaching their perfect ripeness, so to keep them from eating, we are covering the vines with netting.  If you see the tractor and the guys unrolling a long roll of netting over the rows, that's what's happening.  Although we do take brix (sugar) and pH measurements, tasting is the best way to tell if the grapes are ready to pick.  Briana is first, a white grape that is blended into our Fossil Rock White.  It is a early ripener with a soft skin and tropical fruits - pineapple, mango, even banana.  We taste each day letting the soft pulp sit on our tongues.  We bite down on the seeds; when they are green they are hard and stiff.  When the grapes are nearly ripe the seeds will begin to crack under the pressure of our bite.  Lorelei is almost ready, the white grape  with a delicate honey flavor.  Next will come LaCrescent, our star white grape.  St. Croix, a red grape will follow as will LaCrosse and Prairie Star, two white grape varieties.  Finally, we'll pick Frontenac, the grape we use in our big red, Fossil Rock Red.  This year we'll harvest Marquette for the first time.  A recent release from the University of Minnesota, Marquette has Pinot Noir in its parentage.  We had some Marquette wine at the Cold Climate Conference held in Minneapolis last February and were impressed.  Excellent fruitiness with wonderful tannins and none of the vegetative flavors and high acid we've struggled with in older varieties.  This variety holds alot of promise for a great red for the upper Midwest.  Our growers in Illinois and Wisconsin will be bringing in their harvest by the ton.  And soon the winery will be filled with the aromas of fruit and yeast as fermentation starts.  Every year I can hardly believe the miracle of grapes into wine!  

Geraniums & Japanese Beetles

Found my first paralyzed Japanese Beetle today.  After snacking on geranium petals, Japanese Beetles become paralyzed for up to 24 hours.  Most beetles die before recovering from the paralysis.  This is great news for us as Japanese Beetles feast on grapevines along with nearly 300 plant species in almost 80 plant families.  It's amazing how they can devour the leaves on a Linden, an apple tree, a grape vine or a rose bush.  With no natural predators, efforts to control these "pests" are limited for organic and Biodynamic growers.  We use a natural pyrethrum spray but are anxious for the research to be completed at Rutgers State Univeristy and a patent to be received on the new spray.   

Ancient Wisdom & Biodynamic Today

I'm wondering if Rudolf Steiner, founder of Biodynamic, read Pliny as he prepared his series of lectures on agriculture in 1924.  This quote is on the opening page of Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome.  The sensitivity expressed by Pliny the Elder in Natural History in 77AD is exquisite.  It is this same sensitivity that is required of one who practices Biodynamic agriculture today.  We hope that someday, there will be other certified Biodynamic vineyards in the Midwest along with Famous Fossil vineyard.

 "Rain falls, clouds rise, rivers dry up, hailstorms sweep down; rays scorch, and impinging from every side on the earth in the middle of the world, then are broken and recoil and carry with them the moisture they have drunk up.  Steam falls from on high and again returns on high.  Empty winds sweep down, and then go back again with their plunder.  So many living creatures draw their breath from the upper air; but the air strives in the opposite direction, and the earth pours back breath to the sky as if to a vacuum.  Thus as nature swings to and fro like a kind ofsling, discord is kindled by the velocity of the world's motion." 

Pliny the Elder, from Natural History, 77 AD

Red wine kills bad bugs!

Have you every wondered what kinds of "bugs" you might be picking up when you reach into that bowl of chips, nuts or pretzels sitting on a bar?  Well, if you are drinking red wine, you are protecting yourself from certain food-borne illnesses.  A 2007 study conducted by University of Missouri-Columbia researchers found that red wine contains compounds that help ward off pathogens known to cause food-borne illness.  Strains of E. coli, Listeria and salmonella can’t endure wine’s combination of ethanol, low pH and phytochemicals.   Another good reason to drink wine with your meals!

If I buy a $30 bottle of wine, does that make me a wine connoisseur?

We've all stood in front of rows of wine bottles trying to figure out what will be the perfect gift, the best wine for dinner tonight or a wine, well, just because.  But a recent study conducted in England showed that flipping a coin might be just as reliable as looking at the price of the wine.  Richard Wiseman, professor of Psychology at Hertfordshire University says "People just cannot tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine."  He asked 578 persons to taste and guess if the wine they tasted was a cheap (around $10) or an expensive (around $30) wine.  The surprising results showed that expensive white wines were correctly guessed 58% of the time and red wines only 47% of the time.  So, go ahead, pull out that lucky penny the next time you're shopping for wine.  You've got a 50/50 chance of getting a good one.  Or, even better, stop by your local winery and taste some wines til you find one you like!