Hermann Hill Newsletter

Dear Guests & Friends,

With the official arrival of spring just around the corner, signs of the new season are popping up all around town. Spring flowers are now evident in gardens as they awaken from their long winter's nap.

And, speaking of popping, corks are popping at the local wineries. Since champagne was discovered in the spring, this is the perfect time to talk about the champagnes, and ports, of Hermann.

A touch of the bubbly . . .
"Come quickly! I'm drinking stars!" Dom Perignon is quoted as saying when he tasted champagne for the first time nearly 400 years ago. It was Dom, an 18th-century monk cellarmaster at the Abbey of Hautvillers in the French Champagne region, who discovered the secret of making great sparkling wines, and it has been a method used by winemakers ever since.

The view from Hermann
Hill is always better
with champagne

This French method, or Methode Champenoise, means that the champagne has been made in "this bottle", the bottle purchased by the consumer. Dom's discovery happened purely by accident. While making wine for his colleagues, he failed to complete the fermentation before bottling and corking his wine. While the bottles lay in the cold cellars during the winter months, fermentation remained dormant, but the contents of the bottles began to ferment a second time due to increasing temperatures as spring approached.

Carbon dioxide that was created during this "secondary fermentation" became trapped in the bottles causing them to explode. Curious as to why this was happening, Dom opened an intact bottle and found a glorious sparkling wine. Champagne was born!

Two wineries in Hermann, Hermannhof and Stone Hill, produce champagnes using this traditional method. It is a time-consuming, labor intensive process, but it is the only way to create the tiny bubbles that define good champagne. Both wineries offer tours that include explanations of how they make champagne, but here's a quick lesson for our readers.

Selecting the cuvee: The cuvee is the base wine selected to make the champagne. It can be from a pure grape variety, or a mixture of varieties.

The tirage: After the cuvee is selected, sugar, yeast, and yeast nutrients are added. The entire mixture, called the tirage (French for to rest or lay), is put into thick-walled glass bottles that are sealed with a bottle cap. The bottles are placed in a cool cellar and allowed to ferment slowly to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. Because the carbon dioxide cannot escape, tiny bubbles are formed that produce the sparkling wine.

Aging on dead yeast: As fermentation proceeds, the yeast cells die, and after several months the fermentation is complete. However, the bottles remain in the cellars for a year or more so the champagne can continue to age, a period when the yeast cells split open and the insides combine with the wine. The flavors that are created result in a toasty, yeasty characteristic.

Riddling rack at
Stone Hill Winery

Riddling: Once the aging process is complete, the dead cells are removed through a process called riddling. Bottles are placed upside down in a holder, or riddling rack, and each day a "riddler" turns the bottle while keeping it upside down, forcing the dead yeast cells into the neck of the bottle. The neck is then frozen, resulting in the formation of a plug of frozen wine containing the dead yeast cells.

Disgourging: The frozen plug is disgourged when the bottle cap is removed and the pressure of the carbon dioxide gas in the bottle forces out the frozen plug, leaving behind clear champagne. The bottles are corked, wired down to secure the high internal pressure, and labeled. Now, it is ready for the consumer.

Paul Leroy, winemaker at Hermannhof Winery, uses 100% Vidal Blanc grapes to produce his Brut Reserve. In order to get the desired high acid base cuvee, the grapes are harvested in mid-September from vineyards with a high mineral content in the soil. Paul says, "Time is the best ingredient," so the tirage process takes at least five years in order for the champagne to reach the desired fullness and creaminess.

Currently, Hermannhof is selling 1997 Brut Reserve. Paul says the recommended shelf life of this champagne is 12-18 months, therefore he "pulls small amounts off tirage" at a time. The wine is described as having an attractive, fresh-baked bread nose with fruity and floral tones, and full lemon and grapefruit flavors with a long, creamy finish. It recently won a silver medal in the World Wine Championships.

Stone Hill's champagne production takes place at the New Florence facility at the intersection of I-70 and Hwy. 19. However, the entire process is explained during the cellar tours at the Hermann location. The Brut-style champagne is made from primarily Vidal grapes. It is naturally fermented in this bottle, riddled by hand in the traditional French method after aging on the yeast approximately three to three and a half years.

Stone Hill currently is selling the award-winning 1999 Missouri Champagne, which won three silver and six bronze medals in 2004. It was made from grapes harvested on September 13, 1999, and is described as having a crisp and delicate taste, with just a hint of yeast and toast aromas.

A word about Port . . .
Port is a sweet fortified wine, traditionally from Portugal's upper Douro Valley. It contains about 20% alcohol, and is served as a classic way to end a meal and celebrate an evening.

Port wine is produced by a unique process that captures the fruity flavor of the grapes in wine. During fermentation, prior to reaching the point where all of the natural grape sugars have been converted to alcohol, high-proof brandy is added to stop the fermentation, leaving a wine with great depth of color and a high natural sweetness. Once fermentation is complete, the wines are usually put in oak barrels.

Port wines
available at OakGlenn Winery

Vintage Ports are the wine of a single harvest and show the characteristics of that year. They tend to be very "grapey" as a result of bottling the wines after they have spent two years in the barrel. They are usually held in the bottle for a long time. Some great vintages can take twenty or more years to reach optimum maturity. Through bottle aging, they develop bottle bouquet, a special quality found only in bottle aged wines.

On the other hand, Ruby Ports are generally young wines that have had the chance to assimilate the brandy which was added during fermentation, but have not lost their youthful ruby-red color. They are fruity on the nose, and tend to be very fresh in the mouth. They are an average of two years old.

White Ports are available in several styles, associated with different degrees of sweetness and the manner by which they are made. In addition to traditional styles, some are available with a very floral and highly complex nose. With a minimum alcohol content of 16.5%, they are of interest to those looking for a less alcoholic port. All three styles of port wines are available in Hermann.

Hermann Ports: Adam Puchta Winery produces two varieties of port wine. Both are made from the Norton grape. The Signature Port is a ruby-style port with no oak aging. Winery owner Tim Puchta describes the port as "exhibiting ripe jammy fruit and tons of chocolate" with an alcohol content of 17.5%. It received a silver medal in the Missouri State Fair competition in 2002 and 2003. In 2003, it won a gold, silver, and bronze medal in three national competitions, and a bronze in one international competition.

The Vintage Port also is made from the Norton grape. It is a traditional-style port, aged in oak for approximately two to four years. It has an alcohol content of approximately 18.5% and a more refined fruit and chocolate characteristic. The 2000 Port received silver medals in the 2003 and 2004 Missouri State Fair competitions. While neither port is being sold at this time, the Signature Port will be available in late spring and the 2001 Vintage Port should be available in late fall.

Hermannhof Winery's Port is a vintage blend of estate-grown Chambourcin and Norton grapes, crafted in the classic European style, fortified with a high-proof grape brandy, and aged two years in mature oak barrels. The winemaker describes it as "a wine of rich, complex aromas and flavors with superb balance and structure that will reward further cellaring."

OakGlenn Winery produces two port wines. Carol Warnebold, who with her husband, Glenn, owns the winery, reports that the Red Port was crafted in 2002 from the Norton grape. "We fermented the crushed grapes with seeds and skins to a desired brix (sugar) level and added grape spirits to the must to stop fermentation. The must was then pressed to release just the desired richness. The wine was then aged in new American oak barrels until it had developed a mellow, vanilla characteristic. It is a very rich, dessert wine with deep berry overtones."

The White Port was developed from late harvest Chardonel grapes. After extracting the juice and fermenting it to a desired brix level, grape brandy spirits were added to stop fermentation. Having aged in American oak barrels, Carol says the wine "has developed wonderful honey, orange liqueur characteristics, and is very smooth."

Stone Hill Winery is selling 2001 Port, a vintage-style port that is produced in very limited quantities using traditional Portuguese methods. Stone Hill 2001 Port is matured in oak casks. It can be enjoyed now, but should continue developing in the bottle for many years. The 2001 Port was featured in the December 2004 issue of Bon Appetit and has won 21 medals in national competitions in the past 18 months.

Each winery is open daily for sales and tasting. The Hermann Hill staff can provide directions to the wineries. In fact, both Stone Hill and Hermannhof are part of the three-mile walking tour.

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