Expectation. This feeling has been with us since we first acquired the concrete egg-shaped tank now sitting in our cellar. When Gene Pierce, our co-owner, came across concrete eggs on a trip to the Rhone Valley, the intrigue was instant and thoughts began to race surrounding the unique opportunity for a tank like this at our winery in the Finger Lakes.

Concrete as a medium for fermentation has steadily gained popularity and continues to do so as it has virtues and benefits of both oak and stainless steel sans drawbacks.  Whether desirable or not, oak will give a bit of itself to the wine, and stainless steel has potential to remain flat without the ability to breathe and evolve the way an oaked wine can, but concrete combats these deficiencies.

Concrete tanks have been used successfully in winemaking for centuries, yet it wasn’t until the early 2000’s that the idea…