#61 My Top-10 List For 2023

A look back at what made the past year memorable.

#10: The Fence: After twelve years of battling deer with all kinds of deterrents, we gave up and installed a fence around a precious, nine-acre block of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. During the 2023 season, we didn’t lose a single cluster of grapes. Rarely do we deploy anything so effective.

#9: An Award for Gewürztraminer: We wish everyone liked Gewürztraminer more than they do. (Whatever.) This year, our 2022 Gewürztraminer was named the Top White Wine in New York State. Normally, we don’t like to dwell on awards. We took special pleasure in this one, because it recognized an under-appreciated grape variety.

#8: Expansion of Vineyard Acreage: I have learned that you have to plan twenty years into the future and then start the process right away. Otherwise, you will never get there 20 years from now. We convinced our bank to loan us the money to buy 73 additional acres of farmland next door to us. This will give us the ability to expand our vineyards to more than 100 acres and eventually build a state-of-the-art production facility.

#7: H2A Visa Employees: If it were not for our part-time vineyard crew, we would not be able to expand and manage the additional 73 acres that we purchased earlier this year. The way we manage vines is labor-intensive, particularly between March and August. For the last five years, we have employed guest-workers from Mexico who are here on H2A visas. We pay their travel expenses. We house them nearby and provide their transportation. They are hard-working, skilled and know our vineyard techniques. In March, when they arrive, we are very happy to see them.

#6: Vineyard Management Team: Each year, we throw something new at the three members of the vineyard management team (pictured above, left-to-right), Jesse Kovnat, Kees Stapel and John Swick. We start every morning at 7 AM, discuss the priorities for the day, and then we get at it. Kees and John joined us when we had only six acres planted; Jesse joined when we had grown to 18 acres. They have led the effort as we have grown to managing 55 acres, and I am hopeful that they will take us well past 100.

#5: Hospitality, Sales and Administration Teams: Wine does not sell itself, nor does it send out bills and or pack Wine Club boxes. We have a small team of people, all of whom wear, many, many hats. They do whatever is called for. They have ideas, and they refine the ideas that the rest of us have. It is a pleasure to have work with them. They are great. All of them. Every single one.

#4: Wine Community: Back in Substack #27, we described the way we have worked with different winemakers throughout the Finger Lakes region. It is a reciprocal arrangement: we get the benefit of their expertise and their facility’s equipment; we pay them for their services. But, this is only one of the many ways we collaborate with other wineries to contribute to the growth of the Finger Lakes wine industry. This is an unusually collaborative arrangement among wineries that is not typical in the global wine industry. We benefit, and we try to do our part so that everyone in the region can benefit.

#3: Frost: Between 1 AM and 5 AM on the morning of May 18, 2023, the temperature fell to 27 degrees and stayed there for three hours. The frost damaged many (but not all) of the young, grape vine shoots. This frost affected vineyards and fruit orchards up and down the East Coast. The damage at Boundary Breaks was not as severe as in other locations. When we harvested, we found our overall yield was down about 25 percent. We can tolerate a loss like this every once in a while. We move on, but we will not forget the still, cold air that was with us that morning.

#2: The Crows and Three “Caws”: One day in February, I noticed five or six crows at 7 AM in the trees around our parking lot when I arrived. I would see them around the vineyard; sometimes five and sometimes six. So, I started to set out a small pile of un-shelled peanuts for them when I arrived each morning. Within a week or two, when I arrived each morning and got out of my truck, I heard in the distance one of the crows give a distinctive call, “Caw—Caw—Caw.” Every morning that same call. Three “Caws.” It must mean something to them; like it is their breakfast bell. So I kept throwing the peanuts, and they kept coming. Bird experts know that crows are unusually intelligent. These crows have spotted a pattern: I keep supplying the peanuts, and they keep sounding the breakfast bell.

#1: On a Glacier in Iceland With Diana: We promised our team that we would leave them alone for a week and take a vacation. (“Please,” they said.) We chose Iceland at the end of April. That week was yet another reminder for me why I am lucky to be married to my high school sweet-heart. (See Substack #24 “The Runway Keeps Getting Shorter.”) Diana is the most amazing travel buddy, winery proprietor and partner-in-life. Also the permanent occupant of the #1 spot on my list of Top 10 anythings, anywhere, anytime.