Another beautiful wine in our ever-expanding fortified wines series at Red Newt, this 'vintage style' port is made to showcase a small parcel of grapes within our favorite red vineyard.  

Glacier Ridge Vineyards has only two rows of Cabernet Sauvignon, planted over 15 years ago as an experiment to see how a grape many associate with warmer climes would do in the Finger Lakes.  As luck would have it, Glacier Ridge turned out to be a spectacular red vineyard; both in terms of the vines thriving and the fruit quality.  What does one do with only two rows of a particular grape, however?  Especially when that often amounts to only 1/4 ton?

Rather than blending it into our Merlot or Cabernet Franc from Glacier Ridge, where it would certainly be a nice component, this wine is our way of keeping it distinct and showcasing what the vineyard can do.  Given the fruit density and concentration Glacier Ridge delivers, as well as the public's general assumption that Finger Lakes' reds must be light in body, in 2012 we explored the idea of making the fruit into the tannin-rich 'vintage' style of port that rewards and requires aging.

The template was simple, even if the execution is not.  Start with superior fruit from the vineyard, then ferment it on 100% whole clusters to maximize tannin extraction from the ripe stems.  Arrest the fermentation in the traditional method, at through alcoholic fermentation, by fortifying with grape spirit to lock in the fruitiness and sugar level.  Allow the fortified wine to stay in contact with the skins and stems for several weeks before basket pressing the wine off the old fashioned way, then bottle young while the tannins are still jagged and need to mellow in bottle.

We were quite pleased with the 2012 iteration of this wine, ever more so as it ages, and when the opportunity presented itself to make it again in 2015 we leapt at the chance. 

375 ml bottle 18% Alcohol by Volume