hello Bottlers.
As you may know I’ve been tracking the 2013 vintage at three New England wineries on my personal blog. I visited Kip Kumler at Turtle Creek in Lincoln last week to return a piece of equipment and get a quick update. He was in the process of putting up bird netting in his two vineyards – the one that surrounds his home on Beaver Pond Rd. and the one on leased land he calls Conservation Hill about a mile away.
Kip explained that thieving birds had pretty much made off with all the fruit from the vines around his home in the last two years – which seemed astonishing to me. I admit to never having thought much about birds as serious winegrower problem, but there it is.
The problem is much worse around the house because the hawks there aren’t as determined to police the grounds as the ones that patrol Conservation Hill. This may be because the area isn’t as open or because the house-hawks have more appealing fare that frantic starlings and grackles to distract them.
This year Kip is installing 16′ wide netting which will allow him and vineyard manager Matt Bombassaro to not only drape the vines fully but to close up the bottom so that birds can’t get at the fruit by finding gaps at ground level.
When I was at Deidre Heekin’s property the week before I found two small birds trapped in the netting on her marquette vines. They had clearly flown up into the canopy from holes in the fabric near the ground, and then couldn’t escape. I suppose that a bird getting caught in netting just as the grapes are coming into full ripeness is a bit like finding yourself locked in a magnificent wine cellar with nothing but a glass and a corkscrew. You know you won’t get out alive – but what a way to go.
By the way, Kip also says he has never had fruit in such fine condition at this stage of the vintage. He will start harvesting September 22.
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jancisobinson.com‘s Italian specialist Walter Speller had a fine article this week about the Vietti family and how, over several generations, they have run their estate against the grain, you might say. A hundred years ago, when barbera and dolcetto each fetched better prices than the not yet fully appreciated nebbiolo, Mario Vietti bucked the trend by buying up nebbiolo vines in good locations as he could afford to do so. He was also one of the first growers in Barolo to bottle his own wine and sell it under his own name. Vietti was also one of the first to see the potential for single vineyard bottlings and adopt the practice, now common. More recently the family has shown an interest in reviving the more traditional practice of blending grapes from top sites. Their Barolo Castiglione – which I think we still have on our shelves – is an example of this.
There’s lots more to learn about this very interesting family and their arsey-versey approach to winemaking. Get the whole story here.
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Some of you would have been present for last night’s tasting event with Matt Mollo of SelectioNatural. He was pouring six wines, all interesting; none of which I had tasted before.
Two whites were especially likeable: the Tanganelli “Anatrino” had a satisfying mouth-filling quality due, no doubt, to a diligent lees-stirring regime Matt describes; the Marco Sara friuliano showed some lovely crisp apple-pear fruit and a zingy minerality.
Among the reds, the PaternaChianti won my heart with a combination of rustic charm and delicacy one doesn’t often encounter. At $23 I can see plenty of applications for it.
The big surprise of the night was the totally charming Canello “Caneva da Nani” prosecco. It’s made in the retro ‘col fondo’ style which means second fermentation in the bottle with no subsequent disgorgement. I found it heart-warmingly sincere, welcoming, and delicious. I think it’s startlingly good value at $20.
Liz had a nice write-up on the wine and the col fondo technique on our website, here. She provides a link to a lengthier piece on the ‘col fondo’ movement by Jeremy Parzen, here. Also good.
It was tons of fun see and hear Matt launch into his second language when an Italian father and son who spoke some English, but a little hesitantly, approached the tasting table. Were they happy!
That’s it for now.
-stephen