I am in the process of converting this ithacork.wordpress.com site into a new-and-improved ithacork.com.

Over the holiday season I will be setting up the new WP.org site (which provides SO much more freedom as far as templates/plugins, etc.) with a whole new look, and a whole new content schedule for more reliable wine reviews, science content, and more!

There’s nothing at ithacork.com as of now, so… don’t go there yet.

I will likely leave this WP.com site up as a placeholder for a while to direct traffic that way.

This move has been made possible by the fine folks at Palate Press: The Online Wine Magazine. I have made some monthly contributions over there and have even been roped into some editing. Look for some new science content there from me in the next week or so.

Also, I have still been contributing on a bi-weekly basis to The New York Cork Report, so check that out as well.

In the meantime, I will still be on twitter, blabbing about wine and other assorted stuff.

Thank you, readers, for supporting this site and giving me the impetus to make this next big step.

Style: Belgian-style Wheat Ale with Traditional Spices
Color (light, amber, or dark): Light
ABV: 5.1%
Price Point: $7.50/750 mL bottle
Closure: Cork with cage. The yeast sediment in the bottom is a clue that this bottle’s carbonation comes from a fermentation in the bottle, thus the need for the extra pressure protection of the champagne-style cork and cage.

Technical notes: From the website: “Witte is brewed with malted and unmalted wheat, barley malt, a light hops addition and spiced with sweet orange peel and coriander. Though adding a slice of citrus fruit is common while enjoying a wheat or Wiess [sic] beer, we feel that Witte’s gentle spicing and slight tartness renders the fruit superfluous.”

Hedonic notes: Pours with a lot of long-lasting foam. (Some people think that the foaminess of a beer is indicative of its quality. I’m not so sure, but that’s fodder for another post.) Smells of a little orange at first, giving way to some spicy, phenolic, medicinal tones and finally some plain old grain/malt. On the palate, tart, with lemon peel and tongue-numbing clove*. Very refreshing and light. After a long while, some curry appears on the finish. Likely a great summer beer (whoops, it’s definitely fall. Maybe this should have been on sale!) I agree with the brewery’s assessment that a slice of orange or lemon would be a bit much.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 corks . It’s OK.

Ithacork breaks into the world of beer (finally!). I don’t know how it took this long! The Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown makes some quality Belgian-style beers. I’m not sure of their nationwide distribution, but around here, beers like Hennepin, Rare Vos, and Three Philosophers are ubiquitous. Cooperstown is a little over 2 hours east-northeast of Ithaca (and on the way to Boston). Maybe I will stop by the brewery on my next trip with Sarah out to Plymouth.

*Science!
One way that beer brewing is different from winemaking is that brewers have a seeming ability to throw all kinds of fruit, spices, or other stuff (coffee, pumpkin, jalapeño, etc.) into their product and still have it be called beer. However, spice aromas and flavors in beer don’t always come from the spice rack, the mysterious East, or the sandworms from Dune. In the case of most Belgian brews, the yeast can add a spicy character as well. The molecule I’m talking about here is 4-vinylguaiacol (4-VG). It’s one aroma component of cloves, (the major one is eugenol, found as a lignin degradation product in oaked wines, but not common in beer) and if you are old, you may have smelled it at the dentist’s office (clove oil has a slight analgesic effect, so it’s used as a numbing agent).

4-vinylguaiacol. Descriptors: clove-like, smoky, curry

Brewers are generally very protective of their yeast strains, and many breweries propagate their yeasts from previous batches. In this case, only certain strains of yeast (called Pof+, or “phenolic off-flavor” positive) have the ability (activity of the enzyme Pad1) to synthesize 4-VG and its counterpart 4-vinylphenol (medicinal/Band-aid) from hydroxycinnamic acid precursors. 4-VP and 4-VG are also the aroma precursors of {Brettanomyces} aroma compounds 4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol in wines. (Van Beneden et al., “Formation of 4-vinyl and 4-ethyl derivatives from hydroxycinnamic acids: Occurrence of volatile phenolic flavour compounds in beer and distribution of Pad1-activity among brewing yeasts”, Food Chemistry, 2007).

Basically, Belgian witbiers and German hefeweizens have this clove aroma because of the strains of yeast that are traditionally used to ferment them. PS: The difference between a witbier and a weizen? Witbiers are often made with unmalted wheat, while weizens are made with malted wheat.

The pedigree of Noiret, a recently released Cornell wine grape.

An article I wrote for the New York Cork Report is generating some interesting debate. Seems like there are strong opinions on both sides about hybrids. Essentially, the location of a gene contributing to color synthesis in hybrid grapes is located near the gene responsible for the “foxy” (Welch’s grape juice) aroma of labrusca-derived hybrids. Thus, a simple screen for diglycosylated anthocyanin could be a screen for potential foxiness in these grapes, enabling breeders to monitor and control this “grapey-grape” trait, which some consumers find off-putting. Check it out here.

Appellation: Finger Lakes
Grape: Cayuga White
ABV: 11%
RS: 2.4% (wow, it’s been a while since I reviewed a non-dry wine, eh?)
Price Point: $9
Closure: Extruded synthetic (boo! If you’re going synthetic, then I much prefer molded to extruded, aesthetically speaking)

Technical Notes: Machine-harvested, crushed and destemmed. 19 {Brix} and {chaptalized} to 20, and fermented dry. Total acidity 10.1 g/L, pH 3.0. Filtered and cold-stabilized. Back-sweetened before bottling. (Thanks to winemaker Jeff Houck for the info. Follow him on twitter @LucasWineTalk)

Hedonic Notes: A tutti-frutti nose comes up, with grapefruit, apple, and canteloupe. On the palate, electric acidity is balanced by considerable residual sugar (aside: I always write tasting notes before I receive the technical info), with a loooong finish of mashed banana and a slight metallic note that may just be the tingling of the acidity on my tounge. Like licking the lid of a jar of baby food, or maybe a battery. A hint, just a hint, of labrusca creeps in on the finish, but it’s certainly not a dominant characteristic.

Rating: 3 out of 5 corks for a pretty good easy drinker.

Science! Grape Profile: Cayuga White

Listen up. Cayuga White is THE MOST IMPORTANT HYBRID in the Finger Lakes.
Cayuga White was released by Cornell in 1972 and has been the most successful hybrid wine grape Cornell has released (The others are Noiret, Corot Noir, Valvin Muscat, Melody, Horizon, Chardonel, GR7 (Geneva Red 7), and Traminette, along with a host of table grapes.) It is a cross between Seyval blanc (a French-American hybrid) and Schuyler (Zinfandel x Ontario). Many wineries sell it as a varietal wine, and it performs pretty well around here. It ripens reliably and provides interesting, fruity aromas with very little labrusca foxy aroma. You’ll find it all over the Finger Lakes, on its own and blended with other aromatic whites like Riesling, and in dry or semi-dry styles. Sometimes “cotton candy” is used as an aroma descriptor. Anecdotally, Cayuga White’s labrusca overtones increase with increasing ripeness. Perhaps the enzyme that synthesizes the foxy aroma compound methyl anthranilate increases with ripening time. That enzyme only been recently discovered, and looking at the expression vs. time data (Wang and DeLuca, “The biosynthesis and regulation of biosynthesis of Concord grape fruit esters, including ‘foxy’ methylanthranilate”, The Plant Journal, 2005, linked above), it seems that expression of this enzyme increases with ripening as well, so that makes sense.

Assumedly, this woman has been through 13 years of education up to high school and 4 years of college, including a year each of chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, higher math, and physics.

This woman has been to optometry school for 4 years and certified to practice optometry.

Assumedly, patients come to her office in the interest of vision health, vision correction, and early detection and prevention of eye diseases. They entrust their ability to see to her.

….

….

How did this happen?

If you understood this the first time, go back and listen to it again.

PS: Does this remind you of any descriptions you may have heard about wine?

Discovered on Pharyngula, a worthwhile science/evolution defending blog.

look out for some Cayuga White coming this way sometime soon.

See what I did there?

Appellation: Finger Lakes
Grape: Vincent
ABV: 12%
Price Point: $10
Closure: Molded synthetic

Technical Notes: Eight months in older French oak and American oak, one of 3 varietal Vincents in the U.S.

Hedonic Notes: This wine is seriously purple, anthocyanin city. Gingerbread, with a huge smoky clove component on the nose. Fruit in the background, with something sulfury (in a good way). It almost smells like mulled wine. I’m at the annual New Philly Christmas party, held at the mayor’s house after the tree-lighting ceremony. (Pretty much the whole town shows up.) On the palate, it’s like black cherry ice cream, with vanilla and almost cooked fruit and full {mouthfeel}. Alcohol and acid are both big, but nicely {balanced}. A tiny bit of {astringency} that I mostly feel on my tongue as the medium-short finish dissipated with tart, red fruit. Well-balanced and well made.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 corks for a hybrid that exceeds expectations.

I like their decision to use some oak on this. The clove character very likely comes from the toasted oak (lignin degradation product) and complements the wine very well. If you are a hybrid-hater, then you should try this wine. It won’t pucker your mouth, but its powerful color, fruit, and body may surprise you. Did I mention it’s only $10? Find me a California Cabernet or Aussie Shiraz with this much character for $10, please! No MegaPurple here, folks, this is the real deal.

Science! Grape Profile: Vincent
Developed at the Horticultural Research Institute in Ontario (now part of the University of Guelph, what seems to be the Cornell of Canada) in 1967. Lomanto x Chelois, a French hybrid. Bred to be cold-hardy, this grape is only 20% labrusca and (at least in this case) produces little to no labrusca foxiness (not that foxy is entirely a bad thing). It’s often used in the Finger Lakes as a blender (it’s certainly got color to spare!) but the quality of this {varietal} wine indicates that either (1) Fulkerson’s team are experts at growing and vinifying this grape or (2) this grape’s potential has been seriously overlooked. Or maybe a bit of both.

Oh, the dentist is going to be mad about this one.

Vincent has one of the highest anthocyanin levels around. When I say anthocyanin, I mean the various compounds (malvidin is a good example) that determine the color of red wines. Vincent has been clocked at up to 439 mg/100 g fresh weight. For comparison, the relatively light Pinot comes in around 33 mg/100 gfw
(Boss and Davies, “Molecular Biology Of Anthocyanin Accumulation In Grape Berries” in Grapevine Molecular Physiology & Biotechnology, Springer Netherlands, 2009). Compare to blackberries at 528 mg/100 gfw (Wang, “Antioxidant capacity and phenolic content of berry fruits as affected by genotype, preharvest conditions, maturity, and postharvest handling” in Berry fruit: Value-added products for health promotion, CRC, 2007) Seriously colored.

In one growler I pitched a bit of EC-1118 commercial yeast. The other I left to its own devices. Since the gallon of cider was $6, if it got ruined I would only be out $3, so no big loss. Littletree flash-pasteurizes their cider, meaning that it is exposed to high heat for a short period of time. This process probably kills *most* microorganisms, but the label itself claims that if left go, the cider will become “tangy” or “snappy”. Well, if left go a little longer, it will become “boozey”, which is exactly what I’m looking for.

Science!

EC-1118: fast fermentation (left) and spontaneous, slow fermentation (right). Background: some other fermentation projects: potential vinegar, previous vintage of cider, cider co-fermented with blackcurrant juice, growler of strawberry wine. In reflection on right growler: jar of potential sauerkraut.

The above photo is a great example of the redox chemistry that goes on during fermentation. Apple cider is brown because of enzymatic (polyphenol oxidase) reactions that occur in the presence of oxygen. Browning of {must} can be inhibited by the addition of sulfites or other antioxidants (e.g., the old lemon juice on the apple trick lowers the pH and also adds vitamin C, an antioxidant). Apple cider fresh off the press is immediately exposed to oxygen and turns brown. Fermentation is a reducing environment, which is the opposite of an oxidizing environment. During fermentation, browning reactions can be reversed, turning the brown must into yellow hard cider. This is why wine is in little danger of becoming oxidized while fermentation is going on (see: open-top fermenters). After fermentation is over, however, the protective buffer of reduction is vulnerable and oxygen exposure should be limited. Aged wines have been exposed to small amounts of oxygen over many years, and the resulting golden, then brown colors in aged whites are the result of oxidation as well.

The difference in color in the photo has nothing to do with commercial vs. wild yeasts. It is because the spontaneous fermentation was a lot slower to get started (I had no bubbles for about 4 days). Coming in the kitchen one day, I was struck by the contrast, kind of like a before/after shot.

This month, for Wine Blogging Wednesday, Boston wine bigwig Dale Cruse selected a very clever theme. The idea: drink wines called by their lesser-known synonyms. For example, if you like Zinfandel, have a Primitivo. This exercise is also interesting because regional names tend to denote regional winemaking styles. (Think about Syrah vs. Shiraz!)

In this case, since it is Regional Wine Week (and since I forgot to stop at the wine store on the way home), I decided to hit on what has become a bit of a touchy issue in the New York wine community.

Blaufränkisch or Lemberger? Same grape, two goofy names, and strong opinions about said names.

(Note: these wines were tasted together, blind, in identical ISO 9000 glasses)

Channing Daughters Blaufränkisch 2007
Appellation: The Hamptons, Long Island, NY
Grape: 75% Blaufränkisch (or whatever you want to call it), 25% Merlot
ABV: 12.5%
Price Point: $25
Closure: Natural cork

Technical Notes: from the website: Estate-grown in the Hamptons. “…[A]ll the fruit was hand-picked, de-stemmed, crushed by foot and punched down by hand. The wine was handled minimally and bottled by gravity.” 12 months in older oak barrels.

Hedonic Notes: Brilliant bluish-purple color. Smells like purple, and according to Homer Simpson, purple’s a fruit. Kind of a black raspberry thing. A little H2S at first, but that blows off quickly. An herbal component is thrown in for good measure. The acid backbone shines through, all the way to the medium-length finish. It might be a tad too acidic for me. The {astringency} that comes in at the end seems a bit late and not really necessary. A little woody/cardboard as well on the finish. This wine has its really good moments, particularly after swishing around for a little while, but it’s far from perfect.

Rating: 3 out of 5 corks

I’ve written about a Channing Daughters wine before, the Meditazione. This winery is doing some really innovative things on Long Island, and I’m all about more people growing this grape. I wish more Channing Daughters wines were available up here, as I’ve found interesting characteristics in almost all of the wines that I’ve tasted from there.

Keuka Spring Lemberger 2007
Appellation: Finger Lakes
Grape: 100% Lemberger (or whatever you want to call it)
ABV: 13%
Price Point: $19
Closure: Natural cork

Technical Notes: Estate-grown, harvested at 21 Brix (pretty ripe). Whole berry fermentation, cold soak before and extended maceration after fermentation (for color and tannin extraction), mix of older and new French oak.
Hedonic Notes: Wow. Big, pure fruit up front. There is distinct citrus which brings to mind a sort of mixed berry marmalade. Beyond the fruit is a toasty and vanilla oak component which I rather like. It is integrated very well. Acid is present but subdued in the mouth by substantial alcohol, which also contributes to a nice, full-bodied {mouthfeel} without running {hot}. The mid-palate is a fruity blast of cherry. It just keeps on giving into a long, slightly earthy finish. Lovely. Good to the last glass.

Rating: 4 out of 5 corks for a wonderful effort from Keuka Springs, who continues to surprise me with great offerings.

Honestly, when I tasted these two, I thought that this one was the Long Island. Not because it was better, but because of the noticeable oak. It was a mistake, though, since Channing Daughters isn’t your typical Long Island winery and they make very judicious use of oak. Shows what stereotypes can do. When I found out that this one was the Finger Lakes Lemberger, I was very pleased.

A note about names: Lots of people seem to prefer the name Blaufränkisch and I’m not sure exactly why. I talked about this a little bit before, but I’m convinced it must be the ümlaut. The name itself has become a cause célèbre to some naïve people who feel as fancy as a maître d’ when they are able to coördinate their sentences to put a smörgåsbord of diacritical marks on words like açaí, El Niño, and crème fraîche. They say that Lemberger reminds people of Limberger and thus stinky cheese. I say whatever helps people remember the name of the wine is fine by me. Blaufränkisch just seems a tad too Teutonic to be memorable to the average consumer. Lemberger is like hamburger! In fact, I would love this wine with a hamburger. Or even a frankfurter. Not that it really matters, but for the record, I am in the Lemberger camp.

Thanks to Dale for hosting a thoughtful and thought-provoking WBW.

Science!

Who says the Finger Lakes can't make bold, dark reds?

The Lemberger was cold soaked and given extended maceration for maximum extraction of color and tannin. Cold soaking, leaving the grapes in cold storage for a day or two after harvesting and usually adding dry ice, can have several purposes, including weakening the cellular structure of the skins to promote the release of color compounds. I sort of did this with my strawberry wine, but only because I forgot to buy yeast that day. You’ve got to be careful with extended maceration, though, especially if your fruit isn’t ripe. In this case, the Lemberger seemed to be pretty ripe. Overly long macerations, I’ve found, can lead to a spicy aroma that is not unlike potpourri. I have detected this aroma in many Finger Lakes reds, and I think that some tend to overextract in hopes of gaining the most possible color in a region that sometimes has trouble adequately ripening reds. This is one reason I think Lemberger has such a bright future in this region. It ripens well in the cool climate and provides stunning purple color. In my winemaking class last year, one group’s project was a thermovinified (must heated at 65C for a bit before fermentation) Lemberger, and the result was extremely purple.