RIESLING SINGULARITY I: Riesling as America’s wine…F.U. Chardonnay

Question 1

Hermann J Wiemer, HJW Vineyard, 2019, Seneca Lake – total acidity 7 grams / residual sugar 6 grams ($18, $20, $10.25)

Answer 1

• the vineyard was planted in 1977, by Hermann J Wiemer, with clones #110, #198, #237… Hermann didn’t call them clones, though, they were just Riesling to him. The cuttings came from his father’s nursery in Germany, arrived in Canada, and then were driven in a bakery truck across the border into the U.S.A.
• the first Riesling was produced here in 1979
• the vineyard has very shallow topsoil and rests on shale bedrock, it resides on the west side of Seneca Lake, in a very cool pocket
• the grapes were harvested in four pickings, on October 5th, 6th, 30th and November 4th (Riesling just needs to hang out and develop)
• the grapes were whole-cluster pressed, then fermented and remain on the gross lees for 7 months