Off-Dry White WinesOff-Dry White Wines
These Germanic-styled white wines are generally fruity and easy-drinking, meant to be consumed alone or with hot/spicy foods. The colour should be greenish-gold, and the aromas should be floral and fruity. Target wine variety styles would be Riesling, Muscat and Gewurztraminer (none of which would survive our winters). The acid in these wines will be preserved in all but the coolest years. Malolactic, oak treatments, warm fermentations will all be avoided. Late harvesting (to get as much "ripe" tartaric acid as possible) and cold fermentation will be the norm.
These wines will likely be harvested later in the fall, perhaps as the leaves are about ready to fall off, unless we have had a hot year. Finished wines will have an off-dry sugar/acid balance and 10 to 12 % alcohol. Use of Sussreserve is a high probability.
We have an ideal wine that we would like to build, but our top two choices are denied to us. Both Frontenac Gris and La Crescent are from the University of Minnesota program, and not available in Canada. Both could, we feel, stand alone as single-variety wines in the same fashion as Riesling or Muscat. But it will be some time before this is known here.
We will attempt to create the best wine of this style that we can, from the varieties below. But we know this is a second-best effort to start with. We only have access to one primary choice, Delisle.
We will plant 30 vines of Elmer Swenson's ES 8-2-43 and finish the wine with 10 vines of Delisle. Delisle is an early-ripening grape that has very forward aromas of the type we need, and good body and mouthfeel. The ES 8-2-43 is to tone this down a bit. Think of the aim as Riesling-Traminer rather than Traminer-Riesling... Delisle may have the additional problem of being one of the tastiest grapes there is. The birds and the vineyard workers will likely take care of it before the winemaker gets a chance...
COVA Light Red
COVA Heavy Red
