“Look out there,” says Scott Osborn, gesturing toward his vineyards. “I bought a wind machine this year.
We’re in the tasting room at Fox Run Vineyards on Seneca Lake’s west shore this late April afternoon. The temperature has topped 80 degrees – too early to switch on the air conditioning. I’m wearing a light cotton sweater over a short-sleeved top. I am sweltering.
Outside, the Chardonnay vines are feeling the heat, too. Bud break is two weeks early, and Osborn, president of Fox Run, is worried. This time of year, frost is a real fear. Good thing Osborn is prepared. If the weather turns chilly and frost warnings go up around the Finger Lakes, he has a way to get air flow around his vines and keep them from freezing.
Much ballyhooed but clearly real, climate change is having a direct impact on viticulture and winemaking in upstate New York. The facts are undeniable. Since 1970, the speed of warming across the lower 48 states more than tripled, from 0.127 degrees Fahrenheit per decade over the 100-year period, to 0.435 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. States experiencing the most warming are those in the northern tier of the country, from Minnesota to Maine, and in the Southwest, particularly Arizona and New Mexico.
The Union of Concerned Scientists and other researchers indicate that, by the year 2100, New York State’s climate will closely resemble that of Georgia’s today. In the Finger Lakes, weather extremes are the “creaks and groans in the system” as the region shifts over time to a warmer climate.
Along with being hot, the 2016 growing season was the driest in recorded history in the Finger Lakes. East Coast wine producers rarely if ever irrigate their vineyards. Mold is more often a menace than dry soil in the humid conditions we generally experience in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. “I never irrigated once,” Osborn says. “At this point, if it gets dry this summer, I will irrigate.”
He applied mycorrhizae to the plant root for the first time last year to facilitate the uptake of water and nutrients. Naturally occurring, these beneficial fungi are already present in the soil and form symbiotic associations with plant roots. Osborn was pleased with the results. “The vines didn’t defoliate” in drought conditions.
A few miles down the road, Lakewood Vineyards co-owner and winemaker Chris Stamp is pulling tank samples of wines from the hot and dry 2016 vintage. As Stamp reported earlier this year in his newsletter, “Finger Lakes rainfall was 6-12 inches below normal in the period spanning February through August [2016]. The average deficit of 9 inches is equivalent to an astounding shortfall of 244,386 gallons of water per acre. For our 85 acres, that’s over 20 million fewer gallons of water than average.
Because of the drought, Riesling berries were small and scarce. Pinot Noir, too, was “as scarce as hen’s teeth.” That means fewer gallons of juice per ton. But all is not doom and gloom.
“On the upside, disease pressure was nil, so the quality of the fruit was impeccable,” Stamp wrote. “Smaller berries and perfectly clean fruit generally translate to very flavorful wines. Even as fermentations are winding down in the cellar we’re seeing rich, intensely flavored white wines. The reds are very full-bodied and softer and darker than usual. Sweeter varieties like our Vignoles are incredible.”
I can vouch for that. The 2016 Pinot Gris in the tank is bursting with pear aroma. The 2016 Valvin Muscat, a Cornell University hybrid, is showing strong and zesty orange peel on the nose, and the Lemberger, a cold-climate red varietal, was so ripe and developed that Stamp took it out of oak early.
In the vineyard and in the cellar, these Finger Lakes producers are adjusting so far to the extreme and undesirable weather conditions brought on by climate change. No doubt they will face further challenges in the future unless global leaders unite to slow down or halt global warming.
Fox Run wines to look for:
- 2012 Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine – 100% Chardonnay. Three years on tirage (the lees). Toast and honey. $30
- 2016 Chardonnay Doyle Family (Unoaked) – Peach and nectarine on the nose. Crisp on the finish. $13
- 2016 Rosé – 87% Pinot Noir, 13% Lemberger. Light-bodied with a burst of juicy acidity on the finish. Pinot Noir picked early for high acidity in a warm vintage. $18
- 2015 Cabernet Franc – Raspberry, cherry-berry, smoke. $22
- 2015 Lemberger – A year in French and American oak. Blackberries, hint of black pepper. Smooth, medium tannins. $21
Five Lakewood faves:
- 2014 Candeo – Fun and fruity, carbonated and crown-bottled Cayuga. Reminiscent of Prosecco. $13
- 2013 Reserve Cabernet Franc – Raspberries, currants and vanilla. Supple tannins. $40
- 2015 Valvin Muscat – Peach, pear and melon. Lakewood suggests pairing with “strong Muenster-like cheese.” $13
- 2011 Blanc De Noir – 100% Pinot Noir. Produced using the traditional Methode Champenoise. On tirage 4.5 years. $30
- 2015 Chardonnay – Produced “Burgundian-style” – in the barrel and on the lees. Tropical fruit, buttery. $14