Meet our Assistant Wine Maker, Brad!

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to keeping Adirondack Winery running smoothly and successfully. One of those parts is our Assistant Wine Maker, Brad. Brad joined Adirondack Winery about a year and a half ago and has been a key component in our growth. Sometimes bottling up to 1,200 bottles of wine in a day, he is one of the people you can thank for keeping your favorite wines stocked!

Brad has watched and taken part in the accelerated growth of Adirondack Winery since he joined us. With his help, larger tanks and faster pumps, our wine-making process has become faster and more efficient, keeping our shelves stocked and your glass full! When Brad first started, the old tanks produced approximately 350 bottles of wine. With our newer, larger tanks, each one can produce up to 1200 bottles! As I looked at the cases and cases of wine stacked all the way to the back wall of our 4,000-square-foot facility, I asked Brad how many more cases we have in our warehouse compared to a year and a half ago – he said it’s about doubled!

At different stages throughout the wine fermenting and aging process, Brad & Mike will extract a bit of wine straight from the tanks to taste and lab-test  for things such as sulfites, sugar and acidity levels, as well as consistency in flavor from batch-to-batch. Sounds interesting and like a pretty good perk of the job, if you ask me!

Testing the wines is an important part of the job and Brad recently had the opportunity to take a class in the Finger Lakes to expand his knowledge. This two-day lecture and lab, run through Cornell University allowed him to learn and practice alternate testing methods to ensure our wines are just right, every time!

Prior to working for Adirondack Winery, Brad worked in the Sponsorship Department for a professional hockey team in Florida. After developing a love for wine and making his own wine at home, he decided to turn his hobby into a profession. When asked what drew him to Adirondack Winery, Brad responded, “Other than a love for wine, I like that it’s a local business that cares about its employees.”

In addition to wine-making, Brad’s other hobbies and interests include sports and traveling. His most recent, favorite place to travel to is Key West.

I decided to ask Brad a few questions about his likes & dislikes about wine-making as well as what his favorite wines are and what he considers to be Adirondack Winery’s “hidden gem.” Here’s what our Assistant Wine Maker had to say:

What is your favorite and least favorite part of wine-making?

“Once in a while we will have a wine that will ferment very slowly, which can be a pain.  But I enjoy bottling our wines. It can make for a long day but it’s nice to see the wine go to a finished product.”

Which wine is your personal, overall favorite?

“I’d have to go with Tempranillo, it’s a nicely balanced dry oaky red, which I tend to lean towards for my palate. “

Is there a wine that you would consider a “hidden gem” or our “best kept secret” / a wine that maybe isn’t as popular as you think it should be?

“Semillon, it’s got a nice crisp taste to it which makes it great for a hot summer day.”

Brad is not the only person who feels that way about our Semillon. Not only has it started to gain popularity with our customers, this distinct, dry white wine is also a gold medal winner of the 2011 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know Brad and getting a small glimpse into what goes on “behind the bar” at Adirondack Winery!

Cheers!

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Spice Up Your Summer BBQ with Adirondack Winery!

Barbeques are one of the best parts of summer and what better way to take it up a notch than to add some Adirondack Winery wine! We’ve got a few ideas to take your summer barbeque from good to great and leave your guests going back for seconds… maybe thirds!

A signature cocktail is a great way to set your barbeque apart from the rest. It’s a good thing our Wine Wednesday recipes are now available on our online store! Serve our refreshing Strawsling Slush, Fireworks Sangria or Berry Blush Punch with wine ice cream and your guests will be talking about it all summer long!

Anyone can serve up some burgers & hot dogs but pairing your menu with Adirondack Winery wines will bring out the best in your favorite barbeque foods! Serving fruit salad? Pair it with Prospect Mountain White, Strawsling or Serene White for added refreshment and flavor. Shrimp skewers go wonderfully with Semillon and try your grilled chicken with our Pinot Grigio!

Burgers can be paired with Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir, but if you like burgers and you  like red wine than you’ll love these red wine-infused burgers! And why have regular macaroni and cheese when you have Chardonnay Macaroni and Cheese!

Now that we’ve covered the menu you’re going to need a few little extras to make your summer barbeque complete! No one likes a wet wine glass dripping all over their summer’s best, or a refreshing white wine that turns luke warm before it’s finished. Woozies are the best way to solve this problem! With brand new designs, you’ll not only look good while enjoying your favorite wine, but these stretchable, washable wine glass and bottle covers will keep your wine the perfect temperature while keeping your hands and clothes nice and dry!

Our Picnic Stix Wine Set is a great way to keep your wine close by without the worry of tipping and spilling. Simply stake these bottle and glass holders into the ground and your Adirondack Winery wine is just an arms-length away!

I hope you’ll be able to use some (or all) of these ideas at your next summer gathering. All this talk about barbeques has made me hungry… and thirsty! So, until next time… Cheers!

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Adirondack Winery Earns First Gold Medals at 2011 Finger Lakes Int’l Wine Competition

Adirondack Winery's Pinot Grigio and Semillon took Gold at this year's competition!

LAKE GEORGE, NY (April 23, 2011):  Adirondack Winery is proud to announce that two of its wines earned Gold medals at the recent Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, while three wines earned Silver. This is the first time Adirondack Winery has earned gold medals for any of its wines since it began entering competitions in mid-2009.

Adirondack Winery’s Pinot Grigio and Semillon wines took Gold honors at the 2011 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, which was held March 26^th in Rochester, NY to benefit Camp Good Days. “This is the third year in a row we’ve entered some of our wines in this competition, and while we’ve taken home several silver medals in the past, we’re particularly pleased to earn Gold this year, as competition was steeper than last year,” said Adirondack Winery President, Sasha Pardy. The Pardy’s wines were evaluated alongside 3,259 wines from 788 wineries across 19 nations.

Adirondack Winery’s Pinot Noir, Barbera, and Strawsling (Strawberry Riesling) also earned Silver medals at this competition. This is fourth Silver medal for its Pinot Noir, second
Silver for its Strawsling, and first Silver for its Barbera. To date, 19 of Adirondack Winery’s wines have earned 35 medals at International wine competitions.

To create these wines, Michael Pardy, Adirondack Winery’s CEO and wine maker, sources high quality grape must from California. The wines are brewed at the Pardy’s newly relocated and expanded wine making facility in Queensbury. The Gold medal-winning Pinot Grigio, a semi-dry crisp white wine, is more flavorful than many on the market, marked by its floral, smoky, honey-tinged tones. Typically used as a blending grape, Pardy elected to add Semillon to its dry white wine list as a stand-alone wine — earning Gold, it is now a stand-out for 

The wine labels on these award winning wines were created by Sasha Pardy and feature photographs of landscapes and landmarks of the local region. The Pinot Grigio features boats parked along the Lake George Shepard Park Boardwalk in Lake George, the Semillon features a bright sunny day at Roger’s Park Beach in Bolton Landing, the Pinot Noir features
Rockwell Falls in Lake Luzerne; the Barbera features the night lights reflecting on Lake George on the 4^th of July, and the Strawsling features the strawberry hot air balloon and a few others up in the air at the Adirondack Balloon Festival.

To download the full size images of these labels, follow this link: 

(http://www.adirondackwinery.com/images/Current%20wine%20Label%20Pics/FLIWC-2011-High-Quality/ )

ABOUT ADIRONDACK WINERY:

Adirondack Winery opened April 17, 2008 as the region’s first winery and today is recognized as one of the region’s top tourist attractions. Winemaker and CEO, Michael Pardy,
sources grape must from various vineyards to create the more than 35 wine varietals on Adirondack Winery’s wine list. The winery’s Tasting Room is located at 285 Canada Street in Lake George, while its wine making facility is located on Big Bay Road in Queensbury, NY. All of Adirondack Winery’s wine labels feature photographs of landscapes, landmarks, and special events in the local region, taken by Sasha Pardy. To date, 19 of Adirondack Winery’s wines have earned 35 medals at International Wine Competitions. For more
information, visit www.AdirondackWinery.com

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What did Adirondack Winery Bottle Today? An Ode to Great Semillon…

Hi everyone this is Mike again. Today I thought I would post about today’s bottling!  Normally bottling isn’t all that interesting, given that we bottle 1 to 2 times a week, but today kinda stood out to me.

Today we bottled two wines. We ran Semillon and then our Riesling.   Both of these were rather small runs, but anyone who has been into the winery lately would know that we had sold out of Semillon in the fall, so it was good to get some in the bottle.   For Riesling it was just time…it was ready to head to the bottle.

Here's what the bottling line looks like at our new wine-making facility in Queensbury.

So what goes into bottling a wine?  A lot!   Most of bottling seems to be cleaning and sanitizing, and then more cleaning and sanitizing, but it’s very important to keep things nice and clean in a winery.    Although it might be self explanatory, without cleaning and sanitizing, we would either have a wine that is ugly with all sorts of stuff floating around in it, or even worse, a spoiled wine that can taste like anything from a dirty socks, vinegar, rubber tires, mold, musty, rotten eggs and many many other not-so-pleasant tastes.    So, we go through the process of cleaning our line, bottles and pumps.   When that is finally done, it’s time to start bottling!   With our new equipment we purchased in the Summer, we can bottle about 200 bottles per hour for a one man operation, but when we run with two people, we can do about 300 bottles per hour.

Our Semillon resides in a frosted white bottle and features a painted photo of a hot summer day at Roger's Park Beach in Bolton Landing

So what was so interesting about today’s bottling?   Well, while bottling Semillon I noticed that the color of the wine in the bottle was a really nice light yellow and it looked awesome in the white frosted bottle!    I am not sure about everyone else, but if it was me doing the buying, I would buy this one just for the bottle!    Of course once I saw this, I pulled a little sample and gave it a try.   The wine was crisp but I wouldn’t say tart and had the wonderful taste of lemon grass (or lemons for anyone who does not know what lemon grass tastes like).   Being this wine is about 12 – 12.5% alchool, with such strong tastes of lemon, there is no perceviable alcohol taste.

Usually when wine is sampled off the bottling line I would expect it to be kind of flat, meaning not much taste.    Usually after a few weeks to a month in the bottle the taste returns and we have a great wine (or at least hopefully we do).   This usually happens as a result of us beating up the wine pretty good, filtering, bottling and handling of the wine is pretty rough on it and all the flavors tend to go into hiding.    I am very optomistic at this point that with some rest in the bottle this will be a great batch of Semillon, given that we did not make all that much in this batch, I would suggest anyone who wants to give it a try better come into the store or order it online as soon after it’s availble as possible, as I do not expect it to hang around long if it’s as good as I expect.   Don’t fret if you miss out – we will will have more ready for our busy summer season.   Oh and in case you are wondering, I am hopeful to release this batch for sale by the end of March.

As for the Riesling we also bottled?   Well, I have to admit I got busy and forgot to try it but it also had a very nice color to it but…  it’s in a blue bottle so it’s a bit harder to tell.   When I tried some before bottling I was very happy with this batch, however I am not sure it will be as good as the Semillon but only time will tell!

Tomorrow I will try and remember to take a picture of the bottle and post it on here, of course I said to myself “You have to take a picture of that bottle before you leave”   but I forgot!!!!!   But at least there is always tomorrow….

Well thanks for reading my blog and I hope everyone has  a great week!

Mike

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Explanation of White Wine “Snow Flakes”, “Crystals”, “Wine Diamonds”

Wine Diamonds or Crystals in a Bottle

Hello Everyone! This week I thought I would answer a question that comes up a lot in the winery, “What is that stuff in my wine?”. What people are really asking is, what are the white crystals (sometimes called snow flakes or “wine diamonds”) in my wine? Well here is the explanation.

Wine is made up of many different compounds and one of these compounds is acid. This acid comes primarily in two different forms: tartaric and malic. Malic is found in many different fruits while tartaric is mostly found in grapes.

Some of the tartaric acid can further be broken down into another form, called potassium bitartrate, which is also know as “cream of tartar”. Because this acid is only partially soluble (meaning it doesn’t completely dissolve in wine even though initially it may appear to), it eventually crystallizes and begins falling out of the wine over time. This process can be sped up by low temperatures, which is what you see in the bottom of some of our white wine bottles.

Tartrate crystals can sometimes accumulate in the bottom of bottles or on the underside of corks. These are naturally occurring and are not a fault.

Sometimes I will hear the follow up statement of “I have never seen it in any other wine except yours” which probably, for most of us, is true.

The reason you do not see this too often is that most wineries put their white wines through a process called “cold stabilization”, where the wine is chilled for about two weeks at temperatures close to freezing. This process speeds up the the crystalization process and after the wine is filtered, there will be no more wine crystals in the wine and most importantly, no customers asking “what are these crystals in my wine?” Most wineries would cold stabilize wines just to avoid that one question.

There is a couple of reasons why we choose not to cold stabilize our wines. First, if we cold stabilize, we could alter the taste and quality of our product. Secondly, we believe in minimal processing of our wine, which means limiting as much as possible anything that is not 100% neccesary to make our products. Finally, cold stabilizing is very energy intensive and we try, for the sake of the enviorment (and our wallets) to keep our energy impact low.

What we tell people is to decant the wine or use a filtered pourer (we sell Haley’s Corkers) before drinking if you are concerned about the crystals in the wine. BUT REST ASSURED, THERE IS NO REASON TO BE CONCERNED WITH INGESTING THOSE CRYSTALS.

I hope that answers some of your questions about the snowflakes and until next week have a great week!

–Mike

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