Suhru Blog

Wine of the Month: 2019 Shiraz

With Labor Day upon us and a cool Fall chill creeping into the air we find ourselves trading in a chilled glass of white for a richer, deeper red. One of our favorite Fall wines is Shiraz! This beautiful light to medium bodied red has nice soft flavors with a hint of spice which bring to mind cool days traipsing through a pumpkin patch, and sweater weather!

Whether you are looking for a wine to enjoy after a long day at work, a glass to pair with a fall meal complete with richer meats and fall vegetables, or simply a wine to enjoy while watching the leaves change, a bottle of Shiraz is always a great choice! 

Shiraz vs Syrah, What's the Difference?

At Suhru Wines we make a Shiraz as opposed to a Syrah. Two different styles of the same grape variety, generally speaking Syrah is made in the Northern hemisphere, specifically France’s Rhône Valley, whereas you tend to find winemaking regions producing Shiraz style wines in the Southern hemisphere, mainly in Australia. Given that our winemaker, Russell Hearn, is Australian we are making a Shiraz here at Suhru!

Shirazes are known for being rich, lush, riper, and more fruit-forward wines that are typically made in warm climates, although they are made in several cool climates across the globe, including the Margaret River Region in Western Australia as well as the North Fork of Long Island. Cool climate Shirazes and Syrahs tend to have brighter acidity and bright red fruit notes. 

A Closer Look at Suhru Shiraz

A rarity in the United States, our cool climate Shiraz pays homage to winemaker Russell Hearn's native country Australia. This expressive wine has rich red fruit aromas with a hint of cardamom. The raspberry and cherry notes flow onto the palate with appealing cola flavors carrying through to the finish. With super soft, elegant tannins, a bright finish, and a light hint of oak, the 2019 is sure to please! Fermented in open top tanks, our 2019 Shiraz juice spent 10-12 days in contact with the grape skins before being pressed, allowing for the bold flavor and rich color. The wine was then transferred into barrel where it is aged for 6 months in American oak. The 2019 vintage is 93% Syrah and 7 % Teroldego.  

Want to Learn more about this wine? Checkout our 2019 Shiraz!

The Results Are In: 2021 Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition

The results from the 2021 Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition are in and we are proud to be boasting several new medals! We received three Gold Medals for our NV Brut, 2020 Rosé, and our soon-to-be-released 2020 Sauvignon Blanc as well as a handful of other medals. 

NV Brut

One of our most decorated wines, our NV Brut currently boasts a Gold medal and 92pt score at the 2021 International Eastern Wine Competition, a 91pt score from Wine & Spirits Magazine, and the most recent addition of a Gold medal at the 2021 Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition! This delicious méthode champenoise style sparkling wine is crisp, bright and refreshing with hints of fuji pear and brioche on the nose, giving way to crisp honey crisp apples and notes of graham cracker with a hint of creamy richness and a delicate, crisp finish.

2020 Rosé

Our most recent release and a wine that is quickly becoming a crowd favorite, our 2020 Rosé has also collected a few accolades in the last month including and Gold medal and 91pt score from the 2021 Experience Rosé Competition as well as Gold at the 2021 Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition. A soft summer sipper, this Provencal style rosé has subtle aromatics with hints of watermelon and carnations on the nose and notes of raspberry, quince, and starfruit on the palate giving way to soft, round flavors and a nice brightness on the finish. 

2020 Sauvignon Blanc (Coming Soon)

Winner of a Silver medal at the 2021 International Eastern Wine Competition and a Gold medal at the 2021 Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition, this soon-to-be-release 2020 Sauvignon Blanc has lively, bright fruit notes! This crisp, dry wine has notes of lime and pear. A soft minerality and subtle richness define this wine showcasing the distinctive characteristics of the varietal.

August Vineyard Update from Winemaker Russell Hearn

The 2021 Growing Season is progressing nicely. After a slow start to the season with a cool May, we have since had plenty of heat and sunshine. Crop levels look solid across all varieties and I am happy with the vine size related to crop levels. Up until fruit set it is all about vegetative growth (shoots and leaves) whereas from late June onwards it is about reproductive growth (fruit). The goal is to direct all the energy from photosynthesis towards ripening the grapes rather than growing more leaves or longer shoots. Hopefully Mother Nature will be kind to us in the coming 12 weeks as she is in charge of what happens until the fruit is harvested, despite all our efforts in the field.

Since mid June (post fruit set) this is the most intensive time of the growing year. The warm weather and higher than usual amounts of rain mean that we are seeing higher than normal vine growth this season. All of this rapid growth has required two movements of the catch wires (which hold the 'shoots' vertical) versus the one that we typically do during this time. 

In addition we 'hedge' after fruit set, which is cutting off the ends of shoots that have grown too long above the posts and are drooping down (disease control and shading the fruit below). 

Once this is done, leaves in the fruit zone (12-15" vertically around the clusters) are removed first by machine then by hand to expose the grape clusters to sunlight. This is done to allow all of the vines' energy to focus on ripening the grapes. By opening up access to the grape clusters it also ensures improved spray coverage as well as air movement. This reduces the humidity around the clusters which can lead to fungal growth on the fruit. 

Now that the leaves have been removed from the fruit zone, crop counts (cluster counting) is performed to ascertain the expected yield for each variety per acre. Based on these numbers, some 'green harvesting' (cutting excessive clusters off) is sometimes performed to reduce the total quantity of fruit, bringing it to the correct level to ensure the vines are able to fully ripen the fruit. All of these activities need to happen in a 5-6 week period before bird netting is applied at the beginning of August. It is a blur of activity.

What's Happening at Suhru

New Release: 2020 Rosé

We are very excited to be releasing our new 2020 Rosé, which has recently won a gold medal and a 91 point score at the 2021 Wine & Spirits Experience Rosé Awards! We have taken our rosé in a new direction with this vintage focusing on the soft, subtle flavors that we are currently seeing in rosés coming out of the Provence region of France which this style of rosé is designed to emulate.

A Note From our Winemaker, Russell Hearn

What makes a great Rosé? At the moment based on wine consumption trends, the benchmark for rosé is rosé made in Provence, France which typically produces pale, salmon-colored rosés with soft, subtle flavors and very light acidity. Right or wrong as a winemaker you have to be conscious of what is 'perceived as a top wine'. One of the most fun parts of a winemaker's job is to be constantly tasting the wines of the world and assessing the trends coming out of each region.

Over the last year we have spent some time tasting a wide variety of rosés from across the globe but have primarily focused on rosés from Provence, France which based on the current wine market the average wine drinker perceives as the top rosés in the world. 

Given all of this we have taken our rosé which we have always made in the Provence style and taken it one step further. North Fork rosés, particularly those made from predominantly Cabernet Franc fruit as ours is, tend to have bright, crisp acidity that lifts the fruit and lingers on the finish. While the goal is always to make the best Rose expression from our region, we can make a rosé that emulates aspects of the style, for example in our 2020 Rosé we have used a little less Cabernet Franc and added a little Pinot Noir which softens the flavors and adds more roundness to the pallet. We have also intentionally de-emphasized the acidity giving it a nice, gentle finish.

More About the 2020 Rosé

A delicate Provencal style rosé with soft, subtle aromatics, our 2020 Rosé—a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir—has hints of watermelon and carnations on the nose with raspberry, quince, and starfruit mingling on the palate giving way to soft, round flavors and a nice brightness on the finish. Our rosé is purposely made by harvesting the fruit a full 2-3 weeks earlier than we would for our red wines. After 6 hours of skin contact to extract a light salmon hue, the fruit is pressed. The light flavors and crisp finish make this a versatile wine able to stand up nicely with a wide range of lighter fare including seafood, salads, chicken, chilled pastas, lobster, and pork. This wine is perfect for the beach, sitting by the pool, and a summer BBQ!

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing which style you prefer—the 2019 Rosé or the 2020 Rosé. Throughout the summer months we will be tasting both our 2019 and 2020 Rosés side by side in our Summer Sippers Tasting flight. Stop by the Tasting House and give these two delicious wines a try. We would love to know your preference! 

 

July Wine of the Month: Ember

Summer months call for crisp, bright, refreshing white wines during the day and bold, rich, full-bodied reds to pair with BBQ or sip around the fire at night. Our Ember is just such a wine, crafted with summer evenings around the bonfire in mind!

As soon as June turns to July I find myself reaching for a bottle of Ember again and again. This delicious Bordeaux Blend comprised of the five main Bordeaux red varieties—Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot—has rich red and black fruit notes, mellow tannins and a rich, round finish with just a hint of oak! Pair it with a July 4th or summer BBQ and you can't go wrong!

 

A Note from Winemaker Russell Hearn

The beauty of red wine blends is that irregardless of the vintage a winemaker can adjust the blend to stylize a very similar wine year over year which still showcasing the best of that vinatge. In warm years you are able to use larger percentages of the later ripening varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot) with the reverse in cooler years, focusing on larger percentages of Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. This adjustment from year to year allows us to ensure we produce a perfectly balanced wine from the first wine that hints your toungue through the mid palate and onto the finish. With our blend as well as with all of our wines, I aim to ensure that we are always showcase fruit expression while maintaining a balance of tannin throughout the wine.

A Closer Look at Suhru Ember

This classic Bordeaux blend has notes of cranberry, cassis, mixed spice and thyme on the nose giving way to red fruit notes on the mid-palate with hints of raspberry, dark cherry and cranberry with hints of vanilla. Soft mellow tannins with a medium full bodied finish. The blend is comprised of 49% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc, 4% Malbec, and 4% Petit Verdot and aged for 12 months in Hungarian oak. The five different varietals were each fermented in open top tanks and punched down during their time on skins. The goal is to extract color and tannin without remaining too long (14 – 18 days) on skins before pressing to retain the vibrant fruit notes.

Want to Learn more about this wine? Checkout our 2018 Ember!

July 4th on the North Fork

It's been a hell of a year but Summer has officially arrived and we are READY for it! Fourth of July is one of my favorite summer weekends out East as it is a pure celebration of all of the wonderful things that make summer on the North Fork so special—good friends, great local foods, backyard BBQs, day spent on the water, and an all around good time outdoors and it doesn't get better than that!

There are always a plethora of events happening across the North Fork and Forth of July weekend is no exception. We've listed a few of our favorite July 4th activities but for a complete list of what is happening out East this Weekend checkout the Northforker!

Shop Local for a Backyard BBQ

One of the best things about the North Fork is our plethora of local seafood and produce, stop by a farm-stand and pickup all of the necessities for your weekend BBQ—asparagus, tomatoes, fresh berries, corn, the list goes on! Plus if you want to really impress and take your BBQ to the next level, head over to Braun Seafood or Southold Fish Market to pickup some fresh seafood, shrimp cocktail, or baked clams. Then swing by one of the local oyster farms for a couple dozen oysters to throw on the BBQ (check this out for a favorite grilled oyster recipe!)

Enjoy a glass of Wine Poolside

With the hot weather we have been experiencing nothing sounds better than lazing by the pool this weekend! Put together a delicious cheese spread with local cheeses from Catapano Dairy Farm and crack open a bottle of wine and you have a weekend fit for the kings! Just be sure to drink some water too, its hot out there!

Vist a Tasting Room

Wineries and Tasting Rooms across Long Island are open for the weekend both for tastings as well as to pop in to pickup a few bottles for your backyard BBQ so dont forget to shop local and pickup a few of your favorites this week to enjoy with family and friends.

As always, but particularly on these busier weekends be sure to <make a reservation or call ahead at your favorite wineries to ensure you have a table. At Suhru we are open Thursday - Saturday and Monday from 12noon to 6pm and will be closed on Sunday, July 4th to allow our staff to enjoy some well deserved time with family and friends this holiday weekend!

Spend some Time on the Water

Summer time means boat season! Grab a 4-pack of Suhru Pinot Grigio or Rosé cans and hit the beach, boat, kayak, or paddle board! So easy and convenient, our Suhru cans make all of your outdoor summer activities nice and simple. As we like to say, Suhru cans, wine made easy for wherever life takes you! Wherever life takes you this holiday weekend we hope you have some Suhru in hand!

Stay safe, stay hydrated, put on SPF, and have a wonderful July Fourth holiday weekend with family and friends! From our family to yours, cheers to Summer!

 

 

Cooking with Suhru: Easy Strawberry Shortcake & Rosé

There are few things that say "Summer has Arrived on the North Fork" quite like Strawberry Season! All of the local farm stands have gorgeous pint containers of bright red berries filling their shelves and the U-Pick strawberry fields are open and ready for the picking!

Given the plethora of delicious, fresh, local strawberries on the North Fork it seemed only appropriate to feature a paring of Strawberries with everyon's favorite summer beverage—Rosé!

When it comes to strawberry shortcake there are lots of different options, however I like to keep it simple as the strawberries are, and should be, the star of the show! Therefore I skip the fancy cake options and go for personal strawberry shortcake towers that are fit for a king. Pair with a glass or can of our Suhru Rosé and you will be dreaming of summer no matter the season!

Strawberry Shortcake Tower

How White Wine is Made

If you have spent much time on the North Fork of Long Island or in any wine country in the Fall you likely know that September and October are harvest season. Typically starting the second week of September on the North Fork the white wine grapes begin reaching optimal ripeness and harvest season begins! 

When the grapes have reached optimal ripeness they are harvested either by machine or by hand depending on the winemaker's preference and brought into the winery. Once they arrive at the winery, the grapes are destemmed and then loaded into the press where all of that delicious grape juice is gently extracted from the grape skins.

Fun Fact: The sugar content in a grape is measured using a system of measurement called "Brix" the higher the brix number, the more sugar in a grape. 

Once the grapes have been pressed, the grape juice is pumped into a tank where it is chilled and settled. The settled juice is then racked off any remaining grape pulp and brought back up to temperature to prepare to start the fermentation process. At this point the juice is inoculated with yeast and fermentation begins.

During fermentation the yeast cells consume the naturally occurring sugars in the grape juice. As the yeast consumes the sugar it produces alcohol and releases carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 as it is released creates a protective barrier at the top of the tank, preventing oxygen from coming in contact with the wine. Once all of the sugars have been consumed and converted into alcohol the yeast cells die and precipitate out of the liquid, settling to the bottom of the tank. Once everything has settled, the clear wine is racked (aka transferred) off the solids (aka dead yeast cells) into a new tank where it undergoes the final finishing touches (heat stabilization, cold stabilization, filtering, etc) before it is bottled, chilled and served! 

Learn More About Our White Wines

At Suhru we make a number of crisp, bright, dry white wines with each grape variety specifically selected to offer a wonderful compliment to our local cuisine. If you are looking for a big, bold white wine with lots of acidity look no further than our Pinot Grigio! Made in the Italian style, this dry white wine is crisp and refreshing making it an excellent compliment to our local seafood and a perfect wine for sitting by the pool, zipping around the bay, or lounging on the beach!

For a wine with softer flavors leaning into the minerality of the grape our Sauvignon Blanc is an excellent choice! While also an excellent accompaniment to our local seafood and all of the wonderful outdoor activities available to us here on the North Fork, one of our favorite pairings for this wine is a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and fresh local oysters! The brininess of the oysters offers the perfect balance to the soft, subtle fruit flavors and light minerality present in the glass.

Last but certainly not least is our Dry Riesling! Made using fruit grown in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, this fruity white wine offers a dynamic wide range of flavors. Dry Riesling is commonly referred to in the wine world as one of the most versatile food pairing wines because while it has all of the brightness and crispness of a dry white wine it also has a small amount of residual sugar that softens that bright acidity allowing it to compliment a much wider range of foods than your typical white wine. The classic pairing suggestions for Riesling are Asian dishes such as sushi and curries and while both of those are delicious we tend to gravitate towards blackened fish tacos and dry rub BBQ with this wine. It's a great wine to play around with as you'll see as you taste it, every sip holds something slightly different. Happy sipping! 

Explore White Wines

June 2021 Wine of the Month: Pinot Grigio

At Suhru we have always focused on making Pinot Grigio in the classic Italian style which characteristically is known for big, bold, fruit notes with a bright, crisp acidity.

When we first opened Suhru Wines and were deciding which grape varieties we wanted to work with Pinot Grigio was the first one we selected. In our cool maritime climate we grow crisp, bright, fruit expressive whites so well that making a Pinot Grigio in the Italian style seemed like the obvious choice, although no-one was doing it.

Pinot Grigio was the first wine we made under the Suhru label and now over 10 years later it still remains one of our most popular wines! 

What's the Difference Between Pinot Grigio & Pinot Gris?

Domestically here in the US Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris have become synonymous, however they describe two different styles of winemaking for the same grape, Italian vs French. 

Pinot Grigio when made in the Italian style is all about lightness and fruit forward flavors culminating in crisp acidity, a perfect compliment to our Maritime cuisine. Pinot Gris made in the Alsatian style however are characteristically made using riper fruit, which results in lower acidity with enhanced viscosity on the mouthfeel and is typically finished with some residual sugar remaining in the wine. This style although enjoyable, is stylized behind a totally different cuisine than what we see in our region.

If you're interested in learning more about the differences between the two styles, checkout our History of a Grape: Pinot Grigio vs Pinot Gris blog post where we take a deep dive of these two styles!

A Closer Look at the Vineyard

Of all of the vineyards we work with, the Pinot Grigio vineyard sees the most consistency from year to year. Located slightly further west than the rest of our vineyard partners, this particular parcel of land is extremely flat and uniform across the entire block which allows for uniformity in ripening leading it to be one of the first vineyards to ripen each year.

In the 2020 growing season we saw nice growth on the vine with warm days and lots of sunshine however as we entered the harvest season we experienced cooler than normal temperatures with very cool evenings. This delayed ripening which allowed the berries to retain the acidity in the grapes much longer, allowing for riper flavors to develop at lower sugar ripening stages.

As a result our 2020 Pinot Grigio has rich fruit flavors and more complexity and depth than years past while still maintaining that crisp acidity that makes this wine so wonderfully refreshing! 

Fun Fact: Pinot Grigio grapes ripen to have red rather than green skins and give off an orange tinge to the grape juice when it is pressed that dissipates as it undergoes fermentation.

Want to Learn more about this wine? Checkout our 2020 Pinot Grigio!

Blending Trials: How Blends Are Made

From the outside looking in, winemaking is a glamorous profession filled with days spent drinking wine, nibbling cheese, and wandering the vineyards. And while we do do all of that sometimes, the majority of a winemaker's time is spent doing the hard work. As our winemaker Russell is so fond of saying, "Winemaking is 70% sanitation, 20% perspiration (doing the sanitation), 9% inspiration, and 1% degustation but only at the end of the day!" However the exception to that is blending season!

At Suhru, one of our favorite activities (and not just because we get to sit and taste) are blending trials, which are the fascinating and often painstaking process of selecting the best expression of a wine in that particular vintage. 

When you are making a blend, be it red or white, you have two main courses of action. You can either make a field blend or a traditional blend. Field blends are made up of two or more types of grapes planted alongside each other in the vineyard, brought in together at harvest, and co-fermented in the winery. The other method— which we employ at Suhru—is to make a traditional blend, harvesting, fermenting, and barrel aging each of the varietals individually allowing each to develop independently before bringing the flavors together. 

Each Spring—typically in April and May—we blend our reds. The main blend that tends to take the majority of our focus is Ember, our Bordeaux style red blend. Once our winemaker has deemed the individual varietals ready, he puts together a series of blends for us as a group to blind taste. After collecting barrel samples of each of the wines—Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Petit Verdot—he pours them into labeled beakers and assesses them each individually for their strengths and weaknesses. It is these strengths and weaknesses that determine how the wines will be blended together. For example, if we had an early winter then the later ripening reds (think Petit Verdot) may not have developed as fully so may not have as much tannic structure in which case we will lean more heavily on the early ripening varietals (think Merlot and Malbec), and barrel influence.

Once the wines have been assessed individually, Russell measures out samples of each variety into a graduated cylinder using a pipette. By doing this he is meticulously selecting the amount of each varietal as he blends them together into a series of different blends (typically 4-5) that best showcase the different directions we can take the wine. Of these 4-5 blends he typically makes one that he feels is the best overall expression, one that mimics as closely as possible the previous vintage and then 2-3 that fall in between those two starting points.

After all that work (by Russell) comes the fun part! We all get together and taste the blends blind so that none of us  knows which wines are which. As we taste we discuss each blend, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses, what we like and dislike, providing feedback that Russell will take back to the winery with him to fine tune the blends. This is our opportunity to give any and all feedback and leave our thumbprint on the wines. We repeat this blending and tasting process as many times as necessary until we find the one that we all love and best represents the vintage, our style, and the individual varieties in the wine!

While of course important work, this is one of our favorite decisions to make and is a great way for us as a winemaking family to come together to share ideas, opinions, and shape the next vintage of Suhru Wines! 

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