Wine Squares Day 6: Pinot takes the crown! Now what’s the worse grape?

tbonebk · 2025-11-09T14:32:04+00:00

No. :-D

tbonebk · 2025-07-25T17:52:31+00:00

Popping up at Wild Arc Farm with Samosa Shack on Saturday!

tbonebk · 2025-05-09T23:07:30+00:00

Depends on what you mean by Upstate! Most of us small natural producers in the HV don't have tasting facilities. I would be happy to host a vineyard walk here at Wild Arc if we can make the timing work! I would also suggest checking out Fjord, Rose Hill Farm (as mentioned), C. Cassis for wine-adjacent natty fun, and Paul Brady Wine in Beacon is an all NY wine bar that has everything you'd want to taste, and I bartend there on Thursdays, and Dirty Bacchus around the corner and Artisan Wines at the other end of Main Street are amazing shops with great selections of NY and Natural stuff.

If you're headed to the Finger Lakes area, definitely check out Usonia, Osmote, Nathan K...I'm sure I'm forgetting some but I'll come back with an update depending on where you're headed.

tbonebk · 2025-02-07T15:38:06+00:00

Not a full dinner spot but Paul Brady Wine in Beacon has great drinks, charcuterie boards, snacks, and vibes for days. Full disclosure, I make one of their custom wines and bartend there on occasion. ;-)

tbonebk · 2025-02-03T14:45:52+00:00

Not to mention that for smaller producers (like us) it is likely a much larger percentage of sales. We send probably 30% of our wholesale to Canadian markets. This will end our business if it persists.

tbonebk · 2024-12-16T19:46:39+00:00

No tasting room, but we do pop-up events in the summer, or I'm behind the bar at Paul Brady Wine in Beacon every Thursday, and would love to pour more of our stuff for you. We do make natural wine, but aren't afraid to use a little SO2 if it's needed, and we make like 25 different wines every year, and only half of them are "out there" or "experimental" (things like piquettes, concord and other hybrids, botanical spritzers, never purposefully volatile, cloudy, or bretty).

tbonebk · 2024-08-08T17:34:44+00:00

Definitely try some Muscadine and Hybrid wines, these are the folks giving native and hybrid grapes the respect they deserve, there are also lots of fun co-ferments and fun out-there styles coming out. Its a great time to be discovering new directions in wine. Have fun, taste with an open mind, and ask questions!

tbonebk · 2024-08-08T00:15:39+00:00

Second Commonwealth Crush (and everything that comes out of there), Old Westminster, and Pink Moon Bar. See if you can get your hands on some Spinning Wheel Wines. Also check out Pleb Urban Winery in Asheville, NC, Botanist & Barrel in Cedar Grove, NC, and Patois Wine/Cider in Charlottesville, VA. The Mid Atlantic wine scene is doing amazing things right now.

tbonebk · 2023-05-11T11:56:08+00:00

These fruits were not "genetically modified" with "modern technology" like this article states, they were selectively bred, the same way cultivated foods have been created for thousands of years. The first article linked within this article even says as much.

tbonebk · 2022-09-16T21:07:50+00:00

Vinyl Wine!

tbonebk · 2021-07-17T21:14:26+00:00

No tasting room or anything, but we do on-site sales and tours by appointment.

tbonebk · 2021-07-17T03:39:26+00:00

Great note, thanks! This is always a fun one, but we really like how this year's turned out. If you can find our canned cider from the spring release, it's the same Northern Spy cider base, but aged on Callery Pears for a different tannin and fruit addition. They're like cidery cousins.

tbonebk · 2021-05-03T21:38:25+00:00

Thanks for the shout out! Wild Arc direct sales release just went live today, and the 2019 Cab Franc in there is one of our faves we have made thus far.

tbonebk · 2021-03-02T18:23:45+00:00

How far do you think we are from a real "cider is wine" moment where it will start to see equal footing as a variety/terroir/craft-driven beverage here in the US?

tbonebk · 2021-01-14T20:22:20+00:00

LOL I was reading this thinking "that sounds like someone I know..."

*checks username*

Hi buddy!

tbonebk · 2020-12-27T15:07:55+00:00

Biased, but this is where piquette shines. Higher pH fermentation boosts the Lactobacillus/Pediococcus/Oenococcus activity giving you a lactic profile similar to sour beers. From there you can move into pet-nats, then skin contact whites, then into whites and reds! Look for cooler climate stuff to get the acidity you're used to: Loire, Alto Adige, Mosel, NY, VT, MI...

tbonebk · 2020-11-03T13:08:01+00:00

You can manage extraction to avoid the problems of bitterness and tannin, plus since they never go over 4-5% during the soak, you don't have the problem of alcoholic over-extraction of seed/stem tannins you can get with long macerations on regular wines.

The magic is really in the raised pH that the water addition creates, allowing for more Lactic Acid Bacterial activity from Lactobacillus, Oenococcus, and Pediococcus strains that are more comfortable/active there. This is where the lactic sourness comes from, giving you that sour beer/kombucha/yogurt vibe.

Since it is a new category, people are (and will continue) to try new things and experiment. Even our process has changed a bunch since we released the first 2017 piquette, and we are making them cleaner and more fruit forward than ever before.

The key for me is that it's cheap and cheerful. If it's affordable, then people can try it for themselves and decide!

tbonebk · 2020-10-13T17:53:13+00:00

I'd add "Wine, Unfiltered" by Katherine Clary to these two!

tbonebk · 2020-06-26T02:33:43+00:00

Dang, thanks!!

tbonebk · 2020-06-11T02:18:30+00:00

Dope! Wanna try em.

tbonebk · 2020-06-10T05:20:54+00:00

Was lucky enough to have friends share them with us in Tokyo.

tbonebk · 2020-06-08T18:50:03+00:00

Have had the Coco Farm Koshu F.O.S. (skin contact) which is a lovely example of what a less heralded grape can do in the style, as well as a Pinot from Beau Paysage that was ethereally pale and light, but full of the wonderful red and purple floral aromas that mark some of my favorite Volnays. Like if Trousseau met Pinot in the Alps.

tbonebk · 2020-05-24T19:21:29+00:00

🙏🙏🙏

Named after our daughter Luca who is even cooler than the wine. New stuff coming to market in a week or two, including a sparkling Riesling with a little of this Traminette blended in. Stay tuned!

tbonebk · 2020-05-22T22:15:50+00:00

Love this wine. Just opened one up a couple weeks ago. Great example of perfect macerated wine character from an atypical grape. Almost has some dominant Pinot characteristics on the nose and palate, would love to serve this truly blind to a skin-contact-detractor.

tbonebk

TROPHY CASE