Frontenac Point Vineyard - News and Notes

News and Notes

ALTERED STATES

Altered States - on view in the tasting room

Candy Doolittle Lucas' latest installment of collage exhibitions at Frontenac Point Vineyard in the winery tasting room is "Altered States." This is a collection of works that creatively interpret definitions of the word "alter."

The main body of "Altered States" is a collection of 11 altered wine labels: mixed-media collage in a decorative style. Candy created them by taking old wine labels and having her "neo-representational eclectically surrealist" way with them by adding new icons, stamping, designs, and words.

A native of Elmira, Candy graduated Suma Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Wells College, in Aurora, where she received distinction in the special field of Studio Art.

WHAT'S THIS IN MY GLASS?

2007 Chambourcin on the deck at Frontenac Point Vineyard and Winery

Are there small, sparkling crystals on the bottom of the cork and "sediment" in the bottle or in your glass of wine? These crystals are potassium tartrate, commonly known, after refining, as Cream of Tartar.

Two naturally occurring components in grapes, and thus in wine, are potassium acid and tartaric acid. They contribute to the fresh, crisp flavor in wine. Often the potassium and tartaric acids react resulting in the formation of crystals.

Why are these in the 2003 Proprietor's Reserve and Stay Sail Rosé but not in other wines? Some grapes and thus the wines made from those grapes have lower levels of tartaric acid resulting in few or no crystals. Some wineries use chemistry, such as exchanging sodium for the potassium.

After our wines finish fermenting, we use a natural process - "cold stabilization" - to chill the wine to around 28 degrees Fahrenheit in tanks in the winery. This causes the tartrate crystals to form and precipitate to the bottom of the tank and so aren't in the wine when it is bottled. We rely on our Northeastern winters for the chilling process, but if the weather doesn't cooperate by getting cold enough to do this each year, you may find tartrate crystals in some of our wines.

Sediment in the bottom of a bottle of wine is not new. For centuries, premium wineries have used minimalist wine-making techniques and have eschewed the practice of filtration and other manipulation. This, some say, results in wine with deeper, natural fruit flavors.

ZETA PSI PARENTS WEEKEND

Zeta Psi Parents Weekend

Every spring Jim hosts his Cornell fraternity's Parents Weekend luncheon at the winery. Beautiful weather welcomed the Zeta Psi brothers and parents in 2010.

GROUP VISITS TO FRONTENAC POINT

For groups of more than eight people, please call or email to make a reservation. Due to the size of the tasting room, we cannot accommodate tours, buses, or limos.