The little ATV bucked and coughed, dug its tires into the grass, spun left, moved between rows of grapevines They were heavy with fruit turning from green to yellow and gold in the August sunshine. Hank Johnson braked, took a couple of sandwich-sized plastic bags from his pocket, handed one to me.
"We’re going to pick some of these Vignoles grapes," he said, "and check them for sugar content. When I pull over to your side, take a grape from the closest bunch-just reach, don’t inspect-and take them in a regular order. Front, back, top, bottom, right side, left side as we go from bunch to bunch. I’ll do the same on my side."
Johnson is the owner and sometime tasting-room host at Chaumette Vineyards, one of a half-dozen or so Ste. Genevieve area operations that recently joined the burgeoning number of Missouri grape-growers and wine-producers. The property, on the gently rolling hills of Ste. Genevieve County, includes vineyards, a large tasting room and a fine restaurant whose porch offers some lovely views-not dramatic like the Rockies, but green (thanks to our glorious summer), warm and attractive. Johnson also has some handsome houses for sale or rent. And since wineries have become family destinations, there’s a spa, too.
In the vineyard, Vignoles and other white grapes like Chardonnay and Chardonel, ripen first, followed by red grapes like Chambourcin and St. Vincent. Norton, which brings forth a rich red wine, is usually last, sometime in October.
We drove through about half of the vineyard’s rows, picking as we went. And we tasted a few, too. They were only slightly sweet, and the seeds, showed greenish centers on most, some turning to brown, which would indicate ripeness. To speed the ripening process, all growers remove some leaves from the vines, train others in a specific pattern, usually on wires. Johnson likes the Smart-Dyson ballerina style, which he thinks exposes the grapes to more sun, helping them ripen a little early. Some growers use the Geneva Double Curtain technique, which makes for a longer hang-time.
With Johnson’s sheep dog, Pooka, weaving back and forth in front of or behind or alongside the ATV, we drove back to the lab, where we squeezed the grapes in their little plastic bags to release the juice. Johnson dripped some on an optical machine, held it up to the light, watched a blue line creep up the scale. "Brix" is the term for the sugar content; in other words, if a winemaker tells you he picks at 25 brix, he is picking when the grapes’ juice is about 25 percent sugar.
The brix level was of concern, since the grapes were busy creating sugar rapidly while necessary acids lagged behind. A proper balance between alcohol and acid is crucial in the winemaking process.
Johnson, a retired insurance executive, and his wife Jackie, bought the property in 1990, planted grapes, opened Chaumette six years ago, with Norton, Vignoles, Chardonel, Chambourcin and Traminette grapes on the vines, along with some eastern European experimental varieties he’s researching as part of a state agriculture project, a search for a hardy vine that will produce wine grapes despite the vagaries of Missouri weather. And there are some vines here and there that any vineyard manager worth his salt will have in the ground as he searches for something special. That hunt has been in progress ever since man (and woman) learned to cultivate grapes.
The walls in the large, handsome tasting room show the Johnsons’ tastes, from grapes to fishing to grand opera, and also includes the Grapevine Grill, where chef Adam Lambay, formerly at the stove in some of St. Louis’ best restaurants, has taken over the kitchen and is doing lunch and dinner, with brunch on weekends, while Yvonne Lemire creates desserts and pastries. A more recent arrival is winemakers Mark Baehmann, who moved to Ste. Genevieve from Augusta, where he had been the winemaker at Mount Pleasant since 1992. We’ll discuss the Grapevine Grill fare at in the next week or two.
Wine samples, none from Baehmann until sometime next year, included several different Chardonels (the grape is a cross of Chardonnay and Seyval), a 2008 estate bottled Chardonel more in the Chardonnay style, with 10 months in oak bringing a slight buttery feeling, much like that found in Chardonnays from California. Another style, Dry Chardonel, is more like a Pinot Grigio, crisper, more acidic, with nice citrus notes.
Traminette, a cross between the classic Gewurztraminer and an obscure grape known as Johnes Seyve 23.416, certainly shows the heritage of the former, missing only the slight bubble the imports from Germany or France will carry.
A rose, made from Chambourcin grapes and called Spring Rose, displayed good floral aromas and tastes of cherry and raspberry, though I found it a little on the sweet side.
Three reds were excellent, with the ‘06 Chambourcin and ‘04 Norton both using 100 percent of the single grape variety. The Chambourcin, 15 months in Missouri oak, offers hints of leather and smoke in the aroma, dark plummy fruit on the palate. The Norton, with grapes sourced from Wayne Hurlbert’s vineyards in Washington, Mo., was rich and dark, with a long finish and dark hearty fruit from start to finish. Oak in this one, too, and on my dinner table, I’d decant the wines, or at least leave the bottles open open, for an hour or so before drinking. Putting Norton and Chambourcin together under the proprietary label Assemblage, and using grapes from different years created something better than the sum of its parts, with flavors from the Rhone Valley of France. Delicious.
–Joe
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Love the nortons. Hope the harvest is good this year.