A Noble Harvest
December 01, 2005
Halloween brought a special treat for Heron Hill's owner John Ingle. At his private vineyard, designated Ingle Vineyard, the Chardonnay grapes developed the elusive and much coveted Botrytis cinerea or "noble rot" . Grapes infected in this way are used to make late harvest wines having rich tones that continue to develop in the cellar. Botrytis itself is an infrequent occurrence. Weather conditions have to follow an optimal pattern of temperature and humidity and leaving the grapes on the vine longer exposes them to a higher risk of loss. This particular occurrence is even rarer because it is the Chardonnay grapes that were infected as opposed to the more susceptible Riesling, one of the first known instances of this occurrence in the Finger Lakes. Timing is everything with these special grapes and Halloween proved to be the perfect day for hand-picking and bringing them to the winery where 40% of the wine will be aged in Hungarian oak and the rest will remain in stainless steel. They will be combined before bottling to create 150 cases of this unique and exciting late harvest wine.
100% Ingle Vineyard “Vern’s Block”
Picked: Oct. 31, 2005
Date Bottled: September 8, 2006
Brix: 33° (at Harvest)
Finished Wine 14.2% T.A. 8.7 g/l R.S. 78 g/l PH 3.18
Drinkability: upon release, best in 2010+, can age for decades
Winemaking
Harvesting
• Strict Hand Harvesting and Sorting
• 1st trie – all 100% clean bunches were picked out on October 18th 2005
• 2nd trie – done in the week prior to Oct. 31st, all damaged, desiccated, or otherwise undesirable grape bunches were picked off vines and dropped to the ground
• 3rd trie – Picking Day! Bunches with 70% or higher “Noble Rot” were harvested for the final selection and anything else was left on the vine
Pressing
• Whole Bunch pressed
• Slow pressing at cool temp. (40 F) to preserve fruit flavor
• Pressed for 24 hours
Fermentation
• Fermentation was conducted at 65 to 72°F, full aeration done once during fermentation
• 17 day fermentation, 50% in Stainless Steel and 50% in New Hungarian Oak
• Steady, neutral fermenting yeast DV10 was used
Elevage (Aging)
• Stainless Steel portion aged on fine lees for 10 months
• Barrel Fermented half aged on “gros lies” with battonage for 10 months
• Minimum fining with sodium Bentonite for heat stability
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