ELFS Farms wines are what many in the wine world would term ‘nouveau”, translated loosely as new. New, because we are in a new wine region, new because the grapes we grow are new hybrid varieties.
First lets discuss the region that Elf’s Farm has decided to make its home – the Champlain Valley. Bordered to the South and West by a fairly large mountain range called the Adirondacks. To the east we are fortunate to have the shores of Lake Champlain, one of the largest lakes in the US. To the north we have the Richelieu and the St Lawrence rivers and of course Montreal.
The weather produced by this geography is remarkable. There is ample precipitation that is gently moderated by the steering effect of the Adirondacks. It is one of the reasons the US built the third airport capable of handling the landing of the space shuttle in Plattsburgh. The latitude and growing degree days are almost on par with the Bordeaux region of France. The difference being the approximately 2200 growing degree days we receive are received during shorter growing season by about 5 – 7 weeks.
The terroir of the Champlain Valley is similar in nature to many of the greatest wine growing areas of the world. Lake Champlain was glacier gouged and formed millions of years ago. As deep if not deeper than Loch Ness it is home to a serpent affectionately known as ‘Champy’. The soil and rocks left behind by this glacier are mixed hard and soft rock. Ledge or shale is mixed with limestone, quartz,granite and in areas coral from a 450 million year old salt water reef that migrated here from the South American oceans. All of this minerality, fertile valley soil and unique climate leads up to what the French termed many years ago as ‘terrior’.
The Champlain Valley, though has had one challenge, which until recently kept it from being a world class wine region – extremely cold winters. It is a regular occurrence for winter temperatures to drop to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It is not unheard of for the temperature to dip into the negative 20′s and even the negative 30′s in certain micro-climates of the valley. And, that is without the wind chill effect!
Most grapes and some people cannot survive at that low of a temperature. Grapes have a sort of antifreeze that protects their cells from cold. Many grapes have an antifreeze that will protect to them to freezing or even 5 or 10 degrees below. But one hour below their particular threshold and … well – pop! The cells literally burst.
European grapes, such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Chardonnay are know as Vitus Vinifera. They are warm blooded grapes and do not do well at colder temperatures. Grapes like Concords, Niagara and Catawba are American grapes, mostly in the family of Vitus Lambrusca. While they are a little more cold blooded, they are not considered to be the best wine grapes, by some. Although some people believe it just takes a little more skill to make a good wine from these grapes.
A number of years ago, different grape growing started mixing or hybridizing the European and American grapes. Somewhat like children these grapes had personality traits of both parents. The ‘good’ traits were kept and the ‘bad’ traits were further bred out. Some of the good traits included antifreeze that protected the grapes to much colder temperatures and yet had some of the taste profiles of their European grandparents. Some of these grapes are now capable of surviving to negative 35 degrees Fahrenheit and perhaps even colder.
It is for this reason that a fertile valley with beautiful terroir and weather conditions can now grow grapes that produce award winning wines. Two Universities, Cornell in NY and U of Minnesota have been at the forefront of this cold climate grape breeding program. There have also been several private grape growing breeders that have led the field, perhaps most notably Elmer Swenson.
So the next time you travel to a northern winerydo not ask if they have anything “like a Barbera or a Pinot Grigio”. Instead, impress the winery staff and ask if they have anything like a “Frontenac or a Cayuga White”.
Elfs Farm has been growing grapes for over seven years in Plattsburgh, 28 miles from the Canadian Border, to find out what will grow. We have a little over two acres under crop and now have a better understanding of not only what will grow, but what will make good wine. We will soon be expanding our plantings with the varieties we like.
During this study time we also have been working to find out what makes good wine from other fruits, in this cold climate of ours. We, by law can only use NY fruit, so we are limited in what we can work with. Due to this we have become pretty specialized in producing quality apple wines. Currently, we have five different apple wines in bottle, including a dry, oaked three apple 16 case reserve lot.
We plan on continuing with our apple wine line and will soon have an Iced Cider wine and a unique beer sugar crafted dark apple wine. Please check back to our wine pages as we update our offerings. Thank you.