
Heron Hill Winery
Late Harvest Vidal Blanc Reserve
Finger Lakes, New York
NECTAR WINE STYLE
A very refined and balanced dessert wine. The aromatics are concentrated but not overwhelming with floral notes, pineapple, peach, cantaloupe and honey. The palate is medium bodied with fresh acidity, balancing the sweetness and making this wine a lovely sipper.
- Varietal: 100% Vidal Blanc
- Vineyard: Keuka Estate
- Appellation: Finger Lakes, New York
- Analysis: 10% alcohol / volume
- pH: 3.14
- Total Acid: 9.0 g/L – 0.9%
- Residual Sugar: 74 g/L – 7.2%
- Fermentation: Stainless Steel – after whole cluster pressing of the fruit, the juice was cool fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks
- Malo-Lactic Fermentation: 0%
- Production: 152 Cases of 12 Bottles
- Winemaker: Jordan Harris
FOOD PAIRING:
A wonderful wine on its own or with medium sweetness desserts like fresh fruit and custard, créme brûlée with persimmon, or a cheese course. If you are feeling indulgent, pair with foie gras.
WineStyles’ Wine and Cheese Pairing: Sweet wines from our ‘Nectar’ section will pair well with any rich or blue cheeses. Learn more about our wine and cheese pairings here.
VINEYARD INFORMATION:
Keuka Estate – the winery’s on site vineyard comprising of 10 acres of Riesling, 1 acre of Vidal Blanc and 2.5 acres of Cabernet Franc. Most of the vineyard is a relatively gentle east facing slope towards Keuka Lake; at one of the coolest points along the lake due to the gap in the hills behind the winery, which allows cool air to flow through their site, draining down to the lake. The soils comprise of shale and loam, allowing for a very well drained and mineral driven site; these, combined with the cooler temperatures, lead to fruit with wonderful purity, mineral expression and fresh acidity.
VINTAGE CONDITIONS:
Many growers may have been a little worried about drought like conditions through the peak of the summer in July and August, but it did remain cool enough to keep the vines healthy and thriving through the summer.
The season began like it often does with sub-freezing temperatures coming later in May. Luckily most varieties and pretty much all vinifera was delayed from a cool and wet spring, so there was little impact on them. The main variety that was impacted was Concord which is not made at Heron Hill (they do however grow some for juice). Once the season warmed up, it never really stopped. That wet spring gave the vines the water they needed to catch up in the season that was nearly ideal and created almost no disease/pest management issues. It also allowed for slow, steady vine growth that was balanced throughout the entire season.
Harvest remained dry and warm with cool nights. The result was the ability to allow flavors to develop slowly but progressively while maintaining acidity and structure. The fruit that was harvested had significantly higher than normal brix levels and, in some cases, record breaking, while still having high acidity and fabulous concentration and flavors. A great year.
WINEMAKING:
The Late Harvest Vidal was harvested as slightly concentrated fresh fruit from slight dehydration on the vine prior to harvesting at a ripe 27.6 brix with still bright acidity. After whole cluster pressing the fruit, the juice was cool fermented in stainless steel and then continued to age in stainless steel after racking once. The wine was never fined (not necessary) and was simply cold stabilized before being sterile filtered and bottled.
Information and photos © Heron Hill Winery – All Rights Reserved.
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