#184 The Conditions for Making a Great Wine

Every region and every winery in each region has its own story.

Members of the wine trade from the UK recently visited Boundary Breaks. We tasted wine, of course, but it was hard to tell the whole story of what we do here in one hour.

We often have wine writers and critics visit the Finger Lakes. Sometime they stop here at Boundary Breaks, and sometimes they do not.

There is an independent journalist coming to visit us in about two weeks. He is an experienced wine writer. He told me he wants to taste wines, but he prefers to write a “story” that is more than just what the wines taste like. I respect this.

Nonetheless, I will pour at least ten wines for him. He can taste them, and he can like them or not. But, as he told me, he has to find the “story” some other way.

So, if I want him to go away with a story, it is somewhat up to me to try to convey enough raw material for him to find the story in it.

I will supply some background as briefly as possible.

The Finger Lakes wine industry here started in the 1850’s. Because of the cooler climate, the majority of wines made in the region had always been made with native and hybrid grapes. This was fine until the 1960s and 1970s when California wineries began making better wines from European grapes. Wines from New York were suddenly inferior to those from California.

A few Finger Lakes wineries in the 1960s and 1970s were also making wines from European grapes that could tolerate the cooler climate here. But the wines that these few wineries made were a mere fraction of the total volume produced in the region. In New York City, where the majority of the wine influencers were, wines from New York still struggled to find a footing.

We arrived in the early 2000s with an idea of only making wines from European grapes. We had no idea what any of this entailed. But, nevertheless, year-in, year-out, we persisted.

In the picture above, I am explained how our vineyard location on a slope, on the east side of Seneca Lake, gives us an opportunity to make great wines. But that alone is not enough. So much more goes into it.

We sell a modest of amount of wine in New York City, and also up and down the East Coast. But if there is a story to be found, it is by visiting our vineyard on the east side of Seneca Lake. It is very hard to get the story of our wine simply from tasting it outside of the context of our site.

And quite honestly, you get only a fraction of the story from me. You really have to talk with my wife, Diana, the members of our vineyard team, Kees, John and Jesse, our winemakers, Dave, Michael, Chris, Ben and Abby and to the hospitality staff that serves our guests, Catherine, Rich, Joyce, Carol, Laurenda, Bill, Jane, Allie, Amie, Amy, Brianna and Ciera.

The vineyard team has three members. On average they have each been with us for ten years. We meet every morning, Monday through Friday, at 7 AM and talk for an hour. What changed from yesterday? What is new? Will the weather get any better?

Once our vineyard is through with harvest, the winemakers take over. We make wine in three different facilities in the area. The winemakers have on average 20 years of experience making Finger Lakes wines. We don’t micro-manage them. We bring the ripest, cleanest fruit from our vineyards and give them to freedom to make each style of wine as delicious as it was last year.

We need to sell wine to restaurants and wine shops. We sell directly and through distributors. Mary-Kate does this.

Who counts the money that comes in and the checks that go out? Denley.

We have a hospitality team made up of people, some of whom have retired from different careers and who moved to the Finger Lakes from someplace else. Some of our other hospitality team members are young and are former Honor Roll students from the local high school.

On the busy weekends during the summer, we see 500 guests. Each deserves great service. When it is really, really busy, everyone on the team is moving, mostly silently, except when talking to our guests; no one has to tell anyone else what to do. They know what good service is. Everyone is paying attention and will do what will make the other member of the team’s job easier.

If there is a story that the writer is looking for, it can’t only come from me. It will have to come from conversations with the people who have touched the vines, the grapes, the wines, the tasting cards and glass washers and the temperature dial on the oven that warms the bread. That is where the actual story would come from .

So when this writer arrives, I will make many introductions to our people. Because it will be a much better story when he has a chance to talk to Kees or Jesse about the vineyard or Catherine or Brianna or Rich about the wines they pour, or Diana, who has her own point-of-view. Or Mary-Kate.

I hope to get the people who are all part of the story to offer their version. And from their versions, will come the story that the writer chooses to tell, which starts with what the people who grow the grapes, make the wine, sell the wine, and create the guest’s experience.