Winemaker
{Continued from Page 12>
and continue to about mid-
October, depending on the sea
son’s growing conditions. The
harvester uses fiberglass rods
that “slap” the vines. The
picked berries are conveyed to
a wood bin.
The word is out on the best
methods for harvesting. While
Chien noted that growers have
accepted this mechanical
method, Elkner, Penn State
horticulture agent, noted that
some vineyard managers
“don’t want any mechanical
harvesting,” he said. Some
believe it can directly affect the
quality of the pressed grapes
and the wine itself.
The picking machine fills a
bin, which holds about a ton of
grapes. When full, the bins of
grapes are immediately brought
to the winery for processing,
according to Nissley. They are
removed from the wagon by a
forklift, weighed, and then
emptied into a device called the
“crusher-destemmer,” which
removes the stems and crushes
the berries. From there they are
transfered to the fermentation
tank. After all the sugar is con
verted to alcohol, the remaining
skins are shoveled into the wine
press and the last wine is
squeezed out.
The best wine called “free
run" comes out first, before
the wine press is activated.
Some wineries separate this
juice from the rest and market it
as premium wine.
After the doors lock in place,
the fruit is pressed still further.
The juice, collected in a stain
less steel holding pan, is
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pumped to storage tanks, where
the wine is fermented.
The leftover material, or
pomace, is transported to a
simple manure spreader. The
materia] is spread at the viney
ard. While the nutrient value is
low, according to Elkner of the
extension office, the organic
material makes a good soil
additive.
Some of the material that set
tles in the tanks, called lees, can
be further processed using a
complex Lees Filter. The
material is pressed through the
filtering system to obtain addi
tional wine.
For most wine, fermentation
takes about 7-12 days. Smaller
wineries use oak barrels. Niss
ley uses many different grades
and sizes of oak chips to aid in
the flavoring process.
During fermentation, a lot of
carbon dioxide is released.
Other grape juices can be added
and mixed to get the appropri
ate color, taste, and other wine
qualities. The grapes go from
21 percent sugar with no alco
hol to zero percent sugar and
about 12.5 percent alcohol. The
wine is filtered and bottled,
capped (using plastic), and
labeled.
Some of the smaller wine
ries, to age the wine, use barrels
made of French oak, American
oak (mostly from Missouri), or
Yugoslavian oak, noted Chien.
All provide a distinct, unique
flavor.
During the mid-October
tour, Cabernet Franc, a dry red
wine, was being pressed.
The wine is bottled and sold
at the Nissley tasting room or at
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Grower and Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 11, 1999—Page
one of five different satellite
locations in malls throughout
southeast Pennsylvania. The
store is open for customers
and all wines can be taste
tested. Regular, seasonal events
are scheduled at the winery,
including concerts on the
grounds from early July
through early September. The
store is open year-round.
Much of winemaking
involves sanitation and clean
ing up. It’s a vety messy pro
cess with juice and skins every
where, Chien noted.
Nissley operates up to two
dozen press cycles per day, or
about 2,500 gallons of juice for
wine.
In a typical year, the winery
processes about 40,000 gallons
of juice. The winety uses milk
storage tanks for the fermenta
tion process. The process tanks
for delivery to the crusher
stemmer are customized stain
less steel conching tanks from a
chocolate factory in Scranton,
noted Gulvin, the winemaker.
The 1999 vintage could be
the “vintage of the century,”
said Gulvin, simply because of
the drought. “It could be the
best vintage I’ve ever had.
“The crop estimates we have
indicates this is the second
largest Vidal crop coming off
the vineyard,” Gulvin said.
“The picking parameters are by
far the best I’ve ever seen.”
In a dry year, more sun cre
ates more sugars in the crop.
The ripening potential
increases and disease pressure,
because of dry conditions,
drops. This was the first year
the winery irrigated the
vineyard,
“We put down 3-4 inches of
water in the month of July,”
Gulvin said, using a big-gun
broadcast irrigator. “Every
thing perked right up.”
Bird pest damage was small.
Birds were absent or minimal,
with no big “murmuralions”
(clusters of blackbirds) to mar
the grapevine quality.
Japanese beetle control is
critical to the vines. But with
two summer droughts in a row,
the vineyard provided ready
control. The vineyard survived
those droughts simply because
grapes are suited to a dry cli
mate and have a very extensive
root system.
Out of the 40,000 gallons
come 15,000 cm - so cases of
wine.
And the sweet wines and
native American wines “sign
three out of four of my pay
checks,” Gulvin said.
“The most important thing
you make in the winery is
money,” he said. “If you’re not
making money, you won’t be
making wine for very long.”
Some grape varieties you can
grow but “you can’t farm
them,” said Gulvin, for any
marketable winemaking.
The native American grapes
provide an “order of magni
tude” of different varieties that
will grow well and be made into
wine that appeal to consumers.
Berks County Farm
Market Map Available
LEESPORT (Berks Co.)
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion has published a compre
hensive map of Berks County
farm markets just in time for
the fall harvest. This new fold-
according to Gulvin. It’s the
glory of winemaking in the East
the native varieties
available.
The climate also is good for
growing red-type grapes for
wine overall. “Cabernet Franc
appears to be the best overall
for this climate,” said Gulvin.
In November, Nissley was
planning to release the Caber
net Franc, a dry red wine, in
bottles for the first time.
Nissley’s also makes two
types of cherry wines, apple
wines, and raspberry.
Gulvin said the company
pays $9,000 a ton for fresh rasp
berries to make into wine.
Labor costs to harvest the rasp
berries are high, which can
affect bottle price. The price
“works financially” for the
company, Gulvin said.
Some other favorite wines:
Rose' white. Candlelight (a
blush Rose'), and Naughty
Marietta (a medium-boded
red), popular semi-dry wines.
But for the consumer, the
fact is, taste is subjective
which is why the winery offers
free taste-testing. “There’s only
one judge of taste,” said Gul
vin: the consumer.
A sweet, fruity wine on the
dinner table, made and pack
aged well those are the kinds
of things southeast Pennsylva
nia rural customers want, noted
the winemaker.
out map includes a harvest
calendar and information about
each individual market such as
products available, market
hours, and seasonal special
events.
The map was pro
duced by contacting
farmers throughout
the county and re
questing their partici
pation in the project.
There was no charge
to farmers for a listing
on the map. More than
65 farm markets are
featured offering
home-raised products
from honey to wine,
Christmas trees to
pick-your-own straw
berries, and free range
poultry to prime beef.
The map is just one
of many efforts that
Penn State Coopera
tive Extension has
spearheaded to sup
port agriculture in
Berks County. Exten
sion Agents John Ber
ry and Judy Schwank
developed the map.
Copies are available
through the Reading
and Berks County
Visitor Bureau outlets
or by contacting Penn
State Cooperative Ex
tension Berks County
at (610) 378-1327.
193