Cabernet Franc on track to become the official grape variety of New York State
The authorisation of Cabernet Franc as the “flagship wine grape of New York” is “very close”, with one Finger Lakes producer telling db it could happen “within the year”. Sarah Neish reports.
During Wine Paris this week, a middle-aged French gentleman approached the stand of Finger Lakes exhibitor Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard (HJW) and told its team in no uncertain terms that they “should not be growing Cabernet Franc” in New York State.
“He told us that we ‘could not possibly ripen the fruit’ in our climate,” Jenny Menges, director of strategic development & sales for HJW, told the drinks business.
One need only taste the exceptionally fresh Cabernet Francs coming out of New York State to know that this is by no means the case, but the man’s assumption is just one reason why New York producers have spent the last two years lobbying for official recognition of their prowess with the grape. HJW is one of the founding members of the Cab Franc Forward movement, and Menges is on the committee that has been pushing for protected status.
“We’ve been working on legislature to have Cabernet Franc become the official red wine grape of New York State,” she said. “I think we’re very close. We have some extremely dedicated and passionate people pushing this forward, and I think it could happen within the year.”
If they are unsuccessful in achieving legal recognition, Menges added, then at the very least they will be granted “honorary recognition” for their Cab Franc.
The committee began by taking the request to the local Farm Bureau, and having made it through this first line of defence the proposition is now being considered at state legislature level, where things haven’t exactly been rocket-launch fast.
“New York State is a bit shy about it,” Menges explained tactfully.
Onion gate
The decision is more “divisive” than one might at first imagine.
New York State, being a heavily agricultural region, has a plethora of different agricultural products, and the State does not necessarily want to be seen to be favouring one over another. One government meeting to advance the case of Cabernet Franc’s status, for example, followed on from a meeting just minutes before where farmers pled to have the onion recognised as the state’s “official vegetable”. Everyone, it seems, is on a similar mission.
However, officially recognising Cabernet Franc as New York’s hero wine grape could have a number of valuable benefits, both reputational and economical.
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“It would give a lot of legitimacy to the variety, and attention to the wineries that are producing it with such quality and care,” explained Menges. “Is [the recognition] going to impact the Loire? No. But does it give New York wineries a boost of confidence? Absolutely.”
Ideal conditions
Describing why the grape is perfectly suited to being cultivated in New York, Menges said: “New York is a wonderful place for Cab Franc. It has the ideal conditions for pyrazines to fully develop without sugar levels rising too high.”
As for how the flavour profile of New York Cab Franc wines differ to those made elsewhere in the world, she added: “Ours tend to be lighter-bodied in style, with more ‘full berry’ flavours like blackberry and bramble, and less green pepper”.
Meg Hopkins, communications manager for the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, also told db that the region’s Cab Francs also appeal to “consumers who increasingly want slightly chillable reds that are lower in alcohol – around 12%-13% ABV. New York Cab Franc is great for that.” The freshness achieved in the wines is born from the enviably close proximity of New York vineyards to numerous bodies of water, whether those be lakes (as with the state’s Finger Lakes or Lake Erie AVAs), rivers (as with Hudson River AVA) or the ocean (as with Long Island AVA).
According to Casey Erdmann, co-founder of Fjord Vineyards in Hudson River, Cabernet Franc is importantly “an easy grape to work with here. It produces good yields and is consistent year in and year out, plus we can use it to make red wines, sparkling wines, rosé wines. Commercially, it makes a lot of sense.”
Lighting up the Empire State Building
The team fighting for official recognition recently missed out on what would have been an impressive promotional opportunity by a hair’s breadth.
“We came this close to lighting up the Empire State Building red,” in light of their cause, Menges said. “The social media on that would have been wild, but in the end they said no.”
Despite the missed opportunity, she insisted: “We are not New York City, but New York City supports us.”
As well as catching the eye of NYC dwellers, the stunt would undoubtedly, too, have helped boost the visibility of New York Cabernet Franc producers in international export markets. “Imagine us putting that image up on our stand at Wine Paris,” Menges said, with a glint in her eye.
Who knows, perhaps the French bonhomme they encountered at this year’s fair might have been encouraged to take a second look.
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