Tag vineyard

How To Propagate New Grapevines From Cuttings

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If you want to propagate new grapevines from cuttings of existing vines, now is the time to start planning. 

The following article is a collaborative effort between myself and Stephen Casscles, a leading authority on the propagation and cultivation of cool climate and heritage grapevines. It is a detailed account of the procedures for propagating new grapevines from the cuttings of an existing vine. Thank you Steve for being so generous with your time and knowledge. All photos in this article are courtesy of Stephen Casscles. If you need more information about how to propagate vines, consult older books written by Philip Wagner, which are still available, or contact your local cooperative extension agent who can direct you to excellent brochures produced by your local agricultural state university.

If you have or can obtain clippings from a grapevine that produces excellent fruit, it is easy to reproduce as many vines/clones of that vine as you want. Starting new vines from the clippings of a mother vine ensures you will grow an exact copy of the vine and it will crop the same quality grapes as the original vine. Be sure that the mother vine that you select for your cuttings is a strong vine, that exhibits no indications of viruses or diseases. Vines that have curled leaves, odd-looking clusters, or off-leaf colors could have been contaminated with a virus. Do not use these vines as you are simply propagating diseased and virus-laden vines and not the strong virus-free vines that you want.

Propagating new grapevines from cuttings is an easy project. First, you must gather your propagating wood in early Spring while the vines remain dormant. Cut 12-18 inch sections from one-year-old wood that is about the thickness of a pencil and has a minimum of at least four leaf bud nodes on it. Ideally, having five or six bud nodes per cutting offers the best chance of success. A leaf bud node will look like a small bump on the stem.

The next step is up to the propagator, but Steve said he was taught to nip off a straight cut one inch above the top bud and make an angled cut at the bottom of the cane just below the bud node. Making your angled cut at the bottom of the stem easily shows where the top of the cutting is from the bottom which makes it easier when setting out your nursery cuttings, it also allows the cutting to be easily planted in the soil. No matter how you cut your ends, make sure you are consistent so that you will always plant your cuttings correctly, bottom side down in the soil. Dipping the bottom end of the stem into rooting hormones is helpful in promoting root growth, but is not necessary. You can find rooting hormones at your local garden center or nursery. If you are only rooting a few cuttings, fill a potting container with your local soil, if it is good well-drained loam soil, if it isn’t mix it with potting soil to improve its drainage.  Make sure your container is deep enough to accommodate your clippings, but if you are propagating a lot of material consider digging a shallow trench and reserving enough loose soil to fill in around your stems.

  These trenches can be located in your vegetable garden, since this soil has been worked up for many years, and often has a fence around it to keep out the wildlife that may like to browse on your newly installed cuttings. When planting your cuttings, bury them vertically three to four nodes deep with the bottom side down into the ground, leaving the remaining nodes exposed above the soil level. Remember to plant the bottom of the stem down with the straight-cut end above the ground.

    Keep the soil well watered, but not soggy throughout the first year when your cuttings are establishing themselves. For those in potted containers, the cuttings should be placed in a frost-free location with bright indirect sunlight. If you have more than one row of nursery cuttings in your nursery, it is recommended to mulch the cuttings with straw (not hay) to keep down the weeds and retain soil moisture.

Steve explained the difference between taking cuttings from your vine and propagating them as a single project and cloning in which you separate individual canes that have a certain desirable mutation to create an entirely new variety of the original grapevine. Steve gave me an excellent example that was easy to understand. “My understanding is that cloning would be finding an abnormal sport of a vine that is different and you cut that unique cane off to propagate it. For example, Frontenac Gris is only a regular Frontenac when it was noticed that a separate cane had bronze-colored grapes and not red.  So cloning would be separating and propagating that “clone”, but if you are propagating wood, you just collect your wood and go at it.”

    It is essential that you plant more cuttings than you need to compensate for some not surviving. As a dear departed friend of Steve’s, Joel Fry of the Bartrams Garden in Philadelphia used to say, “Plant two of everything, and one will die”.  How many to plant is the question? Steve offered his advice based on years of experience in this area of viticulture. “I find that different varieties propagate at different rates. For example, Baco Noir, which is a part Riparia variety tends to have a higher success rate because it is a Riparia. Even with Riparia, I would plan for a 20% non-success rate for varieties such as Delaware, which is a part Bourquinian species hybrid, do not take as readily, so I would expect a 40% death rate.”  I would recommend propagating as many cuttings as possible using only the strongest ones to satisfy your needs and giving the extras away. Vines can also be rooted in water, but you will need to change the water regularly to prevent disease. Once you see the stems/cuttings rooting, you must transplant them into the soil.

    Whether you set out a nursery in your home garden or place them in pots in the spring, you need to wait an entire year to ensure that your cuttings have sufficient roots before they are set out in the field the following spring. After your cuttings have developed a strong root system they can be transplanted to their permanent location. 

    You probably have heard vintners say the clone number for a specific variety of grapes planted in their vineyard. An example of this would be the Pinot Noir Dijon clones 114, 115, 667, and 777 which are the most widely planted Pinot Noir clones because of their reliability and productivity. When you drink any mass-produced Pinot Noir you are likely drinking wine made from these clones. It is easy to go down a “rabbit hole” when looking for clones of just about any grape variety when researching which clones to plant in your vineyard. Don’t let the sheer number of options overwhelm you. The answer to this question is a simple one, treat a clone like a different variety. Pick a clone you like and propagate that clone.

    Growing your own vines from cuttings is a rewarding venture both financially and from the sense of personal accomplishment you will feel when you harvest your first grapes. With the adverse effects of climate change being documented in vineyards around the world and the increased number of adverse weather events plaguing vintners, the answer to a consistent and economically sustainable fruit crop may lie in the past with heritage grape varieties, older cool climate hybrids, and new hybrids that are being developed. Growing heritage and cool climate hybrid grape vines that have adapted to survive many weather-related challenges over time could be a critical puzzle piece in the future viability of our vineyards, for both hobby and commercial grape growers. In addition, these varieties tend to be more productive and can be grown more sustainably with fewer pesticide/fungicide applications. They are direct producers that do not need to be planted on a rootstock. This means that if we witness a very cold winter or late spring frost, which kills that part of the vine above the ground, canes will come up from the ground to produce a crop in the same growing season.

    With that objective in mind, Stephen Casscles continues to labor on his long-term project, the Cedar Cliff Vineyards Heritage Grape\Wine Project, aimed at preserving heritage and lesser-known cool climate grape varieties in Northern America. If you have any questions about his work at Cedar Cliff Vineyards please contact Stephen Casscles cassclesjs@yahoo.com  To further his work, Stephen has established a set of three cooperating nurseries in Marlboro, NY, Fonda, NY, and Ipswich, MA where you can purchase already rooted vines and/or grape cuttings. If you are interested in obtaining vines or cuttings of these unique varieties, please feel free to contact Stephen Casscles cassclesjs@yahoo.com.  Sadly, most of these cuttings or vines are not available at commercial nurseries, hence we need to propagate them on our own to increase the availability of these unique virus-free/ disease-free grape varieties. For additional information on these heritage and cool climate grape hybrids, the 2nd edition of Steve’s book “Grapes of the Hudson Valley and Other Cool Climate Regions of the US and Canada”  is available at http://www.flintminepress.com

Review: Chateau Niagara Cabernet Franc Reserve 2022

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Jim Baker, owner, winemaker, and vigneron of Chateau Niagara Winery Newfane, New York http://chateauniagarawinery.com has a special touch when making high-quality Cabernet Franc. His Chateau Niagara Cabernet Franc Reserve 2020 is no exception. He uses Cabernet Franc grapes grown in his vineyard and a nearby vineyard to produce his award-winning Cab Franc year after year. Jim told me “These are some of the best wines I have made.”

Chateau Niagara Cabernet Franc Reserve 2022 is a plump and juicy full-bodied dry wine that dazzles with a medium ruby red color in your glass. Bright acidity, tart red cherry, and raspberry flavors are front and center with subtle pepper background notes. Smooth tannins carry through a long finish. This Cab Franc drinks well now and should age nicely. 

Harvest Report: Chateau Niagara Winery

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I checked in recently with my friend Jim Baker, owner, winemaker, and vigneron of Chateau Niagara Winery Newfane, New York. http://chateauniagarawinery.com Jim’s avant-garde approach toward winemaking and the grapes in his vineyard can only be described as fascinating. Here are his candid insights into the year that was 2024 at his award-winning Chateau Niagara Winery.

“In classic cool climate viticulture, the only constant is change. We never know what the year will bring us and it creates a kind of resiliency in the vineyard managers and winemakers from these regions. It also creates some fantastic wines with incredible diversity. This year is no different. We escaped the late spring frost which hurt our neighbors in the Lake Erie region and our hearts went out to them as we got hit last year with that late frost and we lost two-thirds of our crop. We also did not have the wildfires from Quebec this year to contend with. It was a very early bud break with a wet spring and summer. This resulted in heavy downy and powdery mildew pressure. The latter half of the growing season heading to harvest was warm and dry, absolutely perfect for high-quality wine grapes. Longer hang time and good growing season with about 2800  growing degree days, which is measured by the temperatures degrees above 50 F. (A 70-degree day would therefore accumulate 70-50 or 20 growing-degree days.)  This is a measure of the total heat accumulation for the season. Harvest levels were a little under prediction and the berries were small and compact. This results in more intense aromas in whites and deeper colors and flavors in reds. We are very excited about the potential for the vintage!

In the fall we harvested our first crop of Fetească neagrǎ. We had hoped for barrels worth of wine, but the raccoons, deer, and turkey got to it first. We did harvest what we could and will likely do a very small bottling of about four cases. The grape showed me just a peek at what it can do this year. My initial tasting indicates that it falls between a Blaufrankisch and a Saperavi, with cherry, spice, black pepper, and smoke.”

Thank you, Jim, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to share your thoughts and observations about the intricate factors that influenced your vineyard and winemaking this year. We all look forward to enjoying the fruits of your labor. 

“Old World” or “New World” Why Not Both?

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Wine is often divided into ones made in the “Old World” versus ones made in the “New World” but what does that mean? They are segregated along geographic lines. Old World wines are categorized as being made in Europe and the Middle East. New World wines are made anywhere else e.g. Australia, the Americas, Southern Africa, Asia, etc. The Old World relies mainly on traditional wine grape varieties (Vitis vinifera), time-honored wine-making methods, and labeling that emphasizes the location where the wine was made and, prioritizes a wine’s terroir. Old World wine regions tend to have cooler climates that yield wines with restrained tannins and are not as fruitful with less sugar. The lower sugar levels contribute to their lower alcohol content (ABV). 

New World wines also use traditional grape varieties but are heavily invested in non-traditional grape varieties and readily embrace modern wine-making techniques, ideas, and technology. Its wine bottles are labeled identifying the grape variety used to make the wine. The climates of New World wine regions tend to be warmer and that variable favors the production of wine with fuller fruit flavors, rounder tannins, and higher alcohol content. Lastly, New World wines display more oak which is achieved by using newer barrels that extract greater fruit flavors and tannins. 

It doesn’t matter whether a wine is an “Old World” or “New World” offering, the only thing that matters is that you enjoy drinking it. Snap a pic of the label just in case you can’t remember what to buy the next time you are wine shopping.

Tuscany Dreams

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When you hear Tuscany thoughts immediately come to mind of rolling hills covered in geometrically precise rows of grape vines in vineyards bathed by the golden sunshine of an idyllic Tuscan afternoon. Travelogues and magazine articles of the mid-20th century created a mystic that cast Tuscany as the epicenter of the trendy Italian food and wine culture. Whether that was an accurate assessment either then or now is debatable but for many perception remains reality. 

In Tuscany (Toscana) one grape has always reigned supreme and that grape is Sangiovese. It is from this grape that three of this region’s most recognizable wines are made. Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti, and Chianti Classico are all made from the Sangiovese grape. While they are all made from the same grape variety they are all very different wines. It is safe to say that we have all dined in an Italian restaurant with a red and white checkboard tablecloth with a bottle of Chianti in a straw basket as a centerpiece. Those are not good examples of the quality of wine Sangiovese can produce. When the market for Chianti tanked in the 1970’s Italy changed its wine laws which is what sparked the dramatic resurgence of Chianti and Tuscany on the world stage. The wines got better, winemaking methods improved, and high-priced Super Tuscans gained global notoriety. Cabernet Sauvignon can now be considered Tuscany’s second most important grape because along with Sangiovese it is a prominent grape in the majority of Super Tuscan blends. 

Brunello di Montalcino is Tuscany’s most respected and celebrated wine. The area from which it is produced encompasses a mere 5,200 acres and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The Chianti zone covers an expansive area of Central Tuscany. This zone contains the districts or D.O.C.G. of Chianti and Chianti Classico. They each have their own D.O.C.G. and by law, you can only make wine of that classification in its designated district, they are not interchangeable. You can identify a Chianti Classico wine by the iconic black rooster symbol on its bottle’s labeling.

Tuscany is no different than any other wine region. You can find good wine, bad wine, average wine, and superior wine there. You can also choose a price point from economical to expensive. The search for your perfect wine begins with some research and understanding what you want and where to find it. 

Buona caccia e buona fortuna!

Review: E. Guigal Côte du Rhône Rouge 2020

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This wine reminds me of a lyric from the Jimmy Buffett song “He went to Paris.” It goes “ But warm summer breezes. The French wines and cheeses. Put his ambitions at bay.” He Went To Paris (YouTube)

It is easy to imagine sitting in a bistro in the south of France savoring delicate French cheese and sipping E. Guigal Côte du Rhône Rouge 2020 while watching the world pass by. 

Even though, E. Guigal is known for making high-end offerings; they continue to produce this very well-made mass-market example of a Rhône GSM blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre). 

This is a well-balanced wine with supple tannins and subdued but pleasant acidity. Blueberry and blackberry flavors are accented with a hint of cherry from the Grenache. It is all carried on a medium body that leads to a lush finish making this wine a great introduction to the wines of the southern Rhône Valley of France. It is a bargain at less than $20 a bottle for a wine of this quality.

Dancing In The Dark

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If you ever have the opportunity to get out into the vineyard and pick wine grapes during harvest I urge you to participate. My wife and I did just that several years ago and it is an experience we will never forget. We picked on a beautiful sunny morning but in reality, most wine grapes are harvested at night to take advantage of the cooler air lowering the temperature of the grapes. Most of the well-known wine-producing regions of the world are located in areas that not only have a climate favorable to viticulture but a phenomenon known as diurnal shifts. Diurnal shifts are when there is a significant change in the ambient air temperature between the day and night. A good example of this would be if you have been outside all day wearing only shorts and a tee shirt but need to wear a sweatshirt and long pants after dark, then you have experienced a diurnal shift. 

Sunshine allows a grape to increase its sugar content until harvest but in contrast, a grape’s acidity level decreases as it nears harvest. It can be argued that when grapes are cooled nightly sugar and acid levels are kept in balance creating a more complex wine. The diurnal shift phenomenon can be the result of different factors. In Napa Valley, it is the Pacific Ocean, the Rhone Valley has the mistral winds, and Duncan Savage proudly told me that his Cape Town, South Africa vineyards are “clapped” by winds off the Atlantic Ocean. 

Now that we know how grapes arrive at their peak to be harvested the obvious question is “What are the advantages of picking them in the cool of the night?” 

The first and foremost reason winemakers pick at night is to capitalize on the lower temperatures that are advantageous to producing superior wine by preserving the quality of the grapes that will be processed immediately after being taken to the winery. Grapes that have been cooled by the night air have more stable sugar levels, firmer texture, and less oxidation. This is very important when making white, Rosé, and sparkling wine but is also desirable when making red wine. Picking at night also enhances the grape’s fruit flavors and aromatics while giving the winemaker better control of the fermentation. The grapes are cooler when they come into the winery and don’t need to be cooled down before starting the winemaking process. 

I have included these two links on YouTube that give us a glimpse of what harvesting wine grapes at night looks like. One video is of grapes being picked by hand and the other with a mechanical method.

https://youtu.be/ujn8N6iBRng?feature=shared Hand harvesting

https://youtu.be/we5XNeuvn1c?feature=shared Machine harvesting

 You can find more videos on YouTube by searching “harvesting wine grapes at night.”

Since it is late summer and harvest is upon us, now is the time to call your local vineyards and ask if they could use help picking their grapes. For a wine lover, it is an experience you will not soon forget. 

Burgundy Basics

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With all eyes on France, as it hosts the Paris 2024 Olympics, one can’t help but think of all the great wines made in that country. France has seven main wine-producing regions: Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Loire, Provence, and the Rhone Valley. These regions produce outstanding wine and are fascinating to explore. 

We will start by looking at the Burgundy Region and its signature grapes. The Burgundy Region is located in eastern France, just southeast of Paris. When you hear someone talking about Red Burgundy wine, they refer to Pinot Noir. Red Burgundy is Pinot Noir. When you hear someone talking about White Burgundy wine, they refer to Chardonnay. White Burgundy is Chardonnay. As a rule of thumb, Burgundian wine can be ranked from Best/most expensive to the most produced/moderately priced Regional Wines that are simply labeled as Bourgogne and represent 50% of all wines made in the Burgundy Region. The rankings go from Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Villages Wines, and Regional Wines. You can find some excellent wines at a good price in the last group. 

If you are interested in learning more about French wine I suggest visiting the website of Level 3 sommelier Alison Morris Roslyn franceynotfancy.com. For those looking to delve more deeply into the wines of Burgundy, I highly recommend the website of French wine scholar with Bourgogne Masters Level Certification, Dave DeSimone https://daveswinecellar.com 

The Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York: The Inns of Aurora Getaway

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Recently my wife and I visited one of our favorite wine destinations, The Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York. We decided to stay in and explore an area new to us. Aurora, New York is on the shore of Cayuga Lake, about halfway up the lake on the eastern side. This idyllic small town is home to the now-closed Wells College and MacKenzie-Childs studio. When I am asked to describe Aurora I tell people to imagine a real-life “Hallmark Movie Channel” town. 

We stayed at the Zabriskie House. It is one of the Inns of Aurora’s (http://innsofaurora.com) spectacularly restored mansions and is located in the center of town across Main Street from the lake. The eastern shore of Cayuga Lake has only a few wineries with the majority of the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail member wineries dotting the entire length of the western side of the lake. On this trip, I used the Waze app through my car’s Apple CarPlay to navigate flawlessly to and from the region. While there, we relied on it to travel between wineries and find gas, points of interest, and dining options. You can find casual tavern food in Aurora at the Fargo Bar & Grill on Main Street or go just across the street for more upscale fare at the award-winning 1833 Kitchen & Bar at the Aurora Inn. When around Ithaca, home to Cornell University, and looking for a quick breakfast or light lunch then you should consider the Ithaca Bakery (http://ithacabakery.com) at their 400 N. Meadow location. We also enjoyed a relaxing lunch while overlooking the vineyards and Seneca Lake from the deck of the Ginny Lee Cafe at Wagner Vineyards. 

A stop at the studios and shop of world-famous designer MacKenzie-Childs is certain to be an unforgettable experience. During our three-night stay in the Finger Lakes, we stopped at several wineries that included Montezuma, Swedish Hill, Hosmer, Knapp, Buttonwood, Sheldrake Point, Standing Stone, Wagner, and Hermann J. Wiemer. 

Since we were there during the week we didn’t need to reserve a tasting time. Still, I would strongly recommend going to the website of the wineries you intend to taste at to see their protocol and make plans by booking your tasting itinerary first. This is an excellent idea on busy weekends, holidays, and during events.  

We enjoyed our tasting at Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard. They have a well-deserved reputation for being a producer of world-class Riesling but their other wines are also very good. The tastings are à la carte and are served in small carafes that are enough for two. You choose the wines you want from a menu with each sample priced accordingly. You are seated at your own table, not standing at a tasting bar. Each table is assigned a knowledgeable attendant to provide guidance if needed and answer any questions you may have. We are big fans of Riesling and concentrated on those wines but we did sample a very well-made Blaufrankisch. Outside their tasting room, Wiemer offers their own nursery-grown grape vines for sale. As a gift for our winemaker friend, Rich Ripepi, we brought back a Riesling vine (clone 110(9) rootstock 3309) that has now found a new home in his vineyard at Ripepi Winery & Vineyard Monongahela, Pennsylvania. 

We had a wonderful time on our trip. The glacial lakes are spectacularly beautiful, the rural landscape is serene, and the residents are welcoming. If you want to take a short getaway that will leave you rested and refreshed, consider visiting The Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York. Photo Credit: wpawinepirate.com, Ripepi Winery & Vineyard, and Hermann J.Wiemer Vineyard

Co-Fermented Beverages: What Are They & Are They For You?

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There is an old adage “What was old is new again”. This saying has never rung more true than it does today for the alcoholic beverage industry. As total wine sales revenue and volume continue to decline, producers are searching for trendy new taste profiles and production methods to entice new customers and lure back old ones. Co-fermenting grapes, grape skins, and wine with beer become a beverage the French call “Vière”. Vière is steadily gaining popularity in the Northeastern part of the United States and across the country. Our region has an abundance of high-quality fruit and talented beverage makers, making it an ideal environment for developing a thriving Co-fermenting community. An increase in demand for high-quality fruit enhances the opportunity for the expansion of vineyards, orchards, and fruit farms in our region. The economic implications of a sizable jump in agricultural production would provide more support for our local economies throughout the Northeast and beyond. An upsurge in vineyard acreage could lend itself to the planting of more Heritage grape varieties that are especially suitable to the production of Vière, such as Anne Noir, Bacchus, Delaware, Jefferson, Isabella, Marion, and others. These varieties have the added benefit of adapting to changing weather patterns and climatic conditions.

The process of Co-fermenting is when winemakers, brewers, or cider-makers merge and intermingle different production methods to make wine, beer, or cider that can display fun and unique flavor profiles. If you have tasted any of these beverages that have fruit added to them during their fermentation, you have experienced co-fermentation. The lines that define what constitutes wine, beer, and/or cider have become increasingly blurred. Those lines do not get any clearer when you factor in a producer’s willingness to readily accept the effects of wild yeasts, Brettanomyces, volatile acids, and certain bacteria that until recently would have been viewed as an imperfection. 

The question I kept asking myself was “Who is embracing this movement toward Co-fermented beverages with unusual tastes that also includes Pet-Nat, organic, low intervention, and Piquette wines?” Is it a younger consumer demographic searching for its identity to experience something different? 

For some insight into this new trend, I went to a trusted and knowledgeable source, who also happens to be a friend of mine, J. Stephen Casscles, Esq. Steve is a well-known authority on Heritage Grapes, and author of the new 2nd edition of “Grapes of the Hudson Valley and Other Cool Climate Regions of the U.S. and Canada”, which includes two new chapters on Heritage grape varieties bred in New England ( https://www.flintminepress.com/product/grapes-of-the-hudson-valley/ ) and, who has received the 2023 Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association’s prestigious Birchenall Award. 

I asked Steve — “As consumers, what should we know about and expect from the growing Co-ferment movement?” Steve’s comments were as follows:

First, this new trend in Co-fermented beverages will be very helpful to our fruit growers, as it is a new revenue source for our struggling growers who are looking for new markets to sell their grapes, stone & pome fruits, and berries. In addition, it helps a grower’s cash flow, as Co-ferments can be made and sold within 8 weeks of harvest, which coincidentally is just before the busy Holiday Season. This is especially true since, more and more, growers are also operating their own wineries, breweries, and cideries to process and sell their own fruit. 

What many of our colleagues in the Northeast and I find fascinating about Vière and other Co-ferments is that the sum of the parts is often greater than the separate parts of a beverage that has been made separately as a wine, beer, or cider. I have had the pleasure of working with many talented brew masters of beer and cider who make these Co-ferments. These people all live near me in the Mid-Hudson Valley, New York and include Zane Coffey and Max Ocean of Subversive Brewery (drinksubversive.com); Andre Latour of Brewery LaHoff (brewerylahoff.com); J.D. Linderman, Mikey Lenane, and Bob Wise of Return Brewing (returnbrewing.com), and Denny Brownell of Heartsby True Cidery (heartsbytrue.com).

These Vières can have exciting colors of bright purple, hot pink, or electric blue, that are appealing to our younger consumers; and possess the presence and body of a wine spritzer, with half of the alcohol and calories of a standard table wine. The beverage’s carbonation can be similar to a beer, but the bubbles make the grape or other fruit flavors jump out of the glass to make a unique beverage that is not a wine, beer, or cider. The body can be as light and refreshing as a beer, but with the added complexity that grapes or other fruits can bring to it. Andre Latour of Brewery LaHoff states that “ it appeals to beer enthusiasts and wine drinkers alike. It’s a beer that almost drinks like wine. As you imbibe, you can explore the unique characteristics of both wine and beer simultaneously.” Co-ferments have the potential to exhibit many different flavor profiles, so the flavors and texture of these beverages are very broad, which is appealing to our newer and younger customers.

As an observation, I find that in making wine, the winemaker is limited to the flavor profile of the grapes that they have and that this fruit must be processed as soon as it has been harvested. With Co-ferments, the wine/beer/cider maker has much more freedom to craft the kinds of beverage colors, body, nose, taste, carbonation level, and alcohol content that the producer and customer may want. In addition, unlike in making grape wine, these fruits can be frozen and stored so that the craft brewer can make these beverages not only how they want, but when they want. This gives far more control to the craft brewer than is possessed by a winemaker. 

​At Dear Native Grapes Winery in Walton, NY, (http://dearnativegrapes.com) where I work to help make some wine, the owners Alfie Alcantara and Deanna Urciuoli, have been concentrating on making standard table wines, Pet Natsand Natural Wines; and are considering making wines that contain fruits other than grapes. What we are seeing is that there is a merging of how craft wines, beers, and ciders are being produced, with experimentation in the kinds of yeasts used, fruits added, and carbonation levels that are being achieved. The addition of Co-ferments to the product line-up increases the interest and draw that customers have for their winery, brewery, or cidery. 

​ Vière and other Co-ferments are becoming more popular all along the East Coast and for beverage producers east of the Mississippi River. I welcome you to seek out your local brewery, winery, or cidery and see if they are producing these exciting beverages. For more articles on Co-ferments, see these articles that I have written, “Co-Ferments Come of Age in the Northeast”, Wine Journal (The Official Journal of the American Wine Society), Scranton, PA. vol. 56, no. 2 (2024): 16-18 and“Co-Ferments Come of Age in the Northeast: Increasing the Demand for Local Fruit”, Horticultural News vol. 104, no. 1, Winter (2024): 17-20 and Fruit Notes vol. 89, no. 1, Winter (2024): 22-25. 

​Either way, I recommend that you get out and try these fun and new beverages.

The North American co-fermentation movement has gained a loyal following that continues to grow and broaden in its appeal to a diverse segment of the adult beverage market. Co-fermented products provide growers and producers a shorter turnaround on their investment because these offerings can be made and sold quickly. The makers of these various co-ferments will continue to evolve their skills and techniques. They will have their successes and even more failures but the reality is that they are business people and they must be profitable to keep their operations viable in the long run. It will be not only interesting but educational to watch as this sector of the industry matures. 

Thank you Steve Casscles for your invaluable contribution to this article, without it this story would not have been possible. 

Photo Courtesy: Return Brewing and Subversive Brewing