2023 Lemberger
Sweet Berry Pie • Pine • Gripping
Best enjoyed at 53º - 60ºf
Suggested drink window: now - 2027 - 2029
The 2023 Lemberger is comprised of two of our grower vineyards, Airy Acres and Caywood Vineyards. Airy Acres is on western Cayuga Lake sitting on Honeoye silt loam soils, a series of well-drained soils formed in loamy glacial till. Caywood Vineyards is on the eastside of Seneca Lake, which sits on Howard gravelly silt loam, soils formed in medium textured glacial outwash deposits.
Winemaking
• 100% Lemberger
• Vineyard locations: East side of Seneca Lake and west side of Cayuga Lake
• Soil: Honeoye silt loam & Howard gravelly silt loam
• Indigenous primary fermentation in bins and stainless-steel tanks, indigenous malolactic fermentation in barrel
• Aged 12 months in neutral French oak 228-liter barrels with bimonthly bâtonnage for 5 months
• Unfined & sterile filtered
• Vegan
• Certified New York Sustainable Winegrowing
• Brix: 21.5° - 22.0° • pH: 3.49 • TA: 7.5 g/L • RS: 0.0% • ABV: 12.5% • Bottled: 8/12/2024
• Cases Produced: 430
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2023 Vintage Notes
As the harvest season approached, and all things pointed to 2023 being a lovely year. In the vineyards, our team worked tirelessly to ensure the cellar got to play with the best grapes possible come harvest time. Summer of 2023 was drastically different from the several previous seasons with a decent amount of rainfall, hot and humid days, but unusually cool nighttime temperatures. This means we were able to maintain a strict disease management protocol with timely shoot thinning and positioning, aggressive leaf thinning, and our hybrid organic/conventional spray program.
Many have asked about the frost event in late May and how we fared. In the days following the event, we were very nervous as we saw many small shoots go from green to black. After a few weeks, the vines started to push their secondary shoots and subsequent clusters, and we started to see life back in the hard-hit blocks. We feel very fortunate as we saw a fairly normal season as far as yields went, but we know some of our neighbors did not fare as well. These moments help reinforce the strength of the agricultural community and how we as consumers and neighbors can all help one another during challenging times by buying local, supporting small businesses, and always keeping a positive attitude!
