Hunt Country Vineyards is a

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

and

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

located near

Keuka Lake Keuka Lake ( ) is one of the major Finger Lakes in the U.S. state of New York. It is unusual because it is Y-shaped, in contrast to the long and narrow shape of the other Finger Lakes. Because of its shape, it was referred to in the past as Crook ...

in the

Finger Lakes AVA The Finger Lakes AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Upstate New York, south of Lake Ontario. It was established in 1982 and encompasses the eleven Finger Lakes, but the area around Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, and Cayuga Lakes contain ...

region of

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, US.

History

Hunt Country Vineyards was founded in 1981 by Arthur C. Hunt and Joyce H. Hunt. The property was first purchased by Arthur Hunt's great great grandfather, Ambrose Hunt (b. 1803) in 1852 and has been farmed continuously by his descendants until the present day. The oldest grapevines on the vineyard were planted in 1904 and are of the

concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

and

Niagara Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada *Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River *Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border *Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ov ...

varieties. When the current generation of Hunts took over the farm in 1973, there were of the two varieties planted. In 2008, of grapes were harvested.

Geography

The farm is located west of

Branchport, New York Branchport is a hamlet in the town of Jerusalem in Yates County, New York, United States. It is a "crossroads community" which contains about 85 dwellings, six stores, two churches, a library and a firehouse. The name "Branchport" comes from its ...

. The

vineyard soil The soil composition of vineyards is one of the most important viticultural considerations when planting grape vines. The soil supports the root structure of the vine and influences the drainage levels and amount of minerals and nutrients that the ...

s are glacially deposited gravelly loam, with a 5–7% slope.

Viticulture

The Hunts enrich the soil with natural

compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

made from the grape

pomace Pomace ( ), or marc (; from French ''marc'' ), is the solid remains of grapes, olives, or other fruit after pressing for juice or oil. It contains the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems of the fruit. Grape pomace has traditionally been used to prod ...

(seeds and skins) left after pressing the grapes, mixed with manure from a neighboring farm. Between 1984 and 1988, the Hunts collaborated with Cornell Cooperative Extension Grape Specialist Dr. Tom Zabadal to convert undesirable grape varieties to more promising wine varieties by the use of field grafting in cold climate vineyards. Under normal conditions, it takes seven years to convert a vineyard to a new variety. This includes removing old vines, planting other crops to replenish the soil and remove all traces of the old root stock, replanting new vines and allowing them to grow to maturity. The field grafting process reduced the time to two years. The vineyard produces several French-American varieties, including

Seyval blanc Seyval blanc (or Seyve-Villard hybrid number 5276winepros.com.au ) is a hybrid wine grape variety used to make white wines. Its vines ripen early, are productive and are suited to fairly cool climates. Seyval blanc is grown mainly in England,wine ...

, Vignoles,

Vidal blanc Vidal blanc (or simply Vidal) is a white hybrid grape variety produced from the ''Vitis vinifera'' variety Ugni blanc (also known as Trebbiano Toscano) and another hybrid variety, Rayon d'Or (Seibel 4986). It is a very winter-hardy variety tha ...

, and

De Chaunac De Chaunac is a French-American hybrid wine grape variety used to make red wines. It was developed by Albert Seibel c. 1860. It is also known as Seibel 9549 and is a cross of Seibel 5163 and possibly Seibel 793. The grape was named after Adhemar ...

, as well as three Cornell varieties:

Cayuga White Cayuga White is a mid-season ripening wine grape developed from crosses of the ''Vitis labrusca'' hybrids Schuyler and Seyval Blanc at Cornell University's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York. It is a hardy vine with ...

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

and

Valvin Muscat Valvin muscat is a hybrid grape variety for use in white wine production. It was developed by grape breeder Bruce Reisch at the Cornell University New York State Agricultural Experiment Station and released on July 7, 2006. Valvin muscat is th ...

. Two ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curre ...

'' varieties are also produced:

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

and

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...

, and three native varieties: Concord, Niagara and

Delaware grape The Delaware grape is a cultivar derived from the grape species '' Vitis labrusca'' or 'Fox grape' which is used for the table and wine production. The skin of the Delaware grape when ripened has a pale red, almost pinkish colour, a tender skin ...

. The vines yield an average of 4-6 tons of grapes per acre.

Experimental and sustainable practices

Hunt Country Vineyards current experimental agricultural techniques include English ground ivy (partly funded by the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

SARE Sare may refer to: People * Bakary Saré (born 1990), Burkinabé football player * Clyde W. Sare (1936–2015), American politician and businessman * Haig Sare (born 1982), Australian rugby union player * Hamit Şare (born 1982), Turkish alpine sk ...

program, planted under and between rows of grapes to reduce the need for herbicides and mowing),

biodiesel Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat (tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil with ...

from waste grease (to power tractors), along with a

small wind turbine Small wind turbines, also known as micro wind turbines, are used for microgeneration of electricity, as opposed to large commercial wind turbines, such as those found in wind farms. Small wind turbines often have passive yaw systems as opposed ...

for producing electricity, and bat houses to encourage natural insect predators. In 2020, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation awarded Hunt Country Vineyards the Sustainability Award for “noteworthy sustainable practices and a commitment to conserving natural resources, protecting our environment, and contributing to the overall success of the New York State economy.”

Wine production and distribution

Hunt Country Vineyards produces an average of 12,000 cases per year of 21 different wines, and has a production capacity of 70,000 gallons.Hunt Wines
/ref> The winery is perhaps best known for its Vidal

Ice Wine Ice wine (or icewine; german: Eiswein) is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing for a more concentrated grape ...

, which is a dessert wine produced in colder wine regions when grapes are left on the vine late into the winter. The grapes are hand picked and pressed frozen, leaving the water behind as ice. The concentrated juice is then fermented to produce this intensely sweet

dessert wine Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines in the United Kingdom, are sweet wines typically served with dessert. There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal ...

. The Vidal ice wine was featured on NBC'
Today Show
in 2006.

References

External links

Hunt WinesKeuka Wine Trail
{{Coord, 42, 35, 54, N, 77, 10, 15, W, display=title Wineries in New York (state)