A Celebratory Wine for the Winery's 50th Anniversary

A Celebratory Wine

Sparkling wines and champagne are most often purchased for celebrations and we thought that a sparkling wine would be apt for the winery's 50th anniversary.  We named this sparkling Traminette,  Golden Sparkles, in honor of those 50 years.  Traminette is Cornell University's version of a Gewürztraminer. It is, in fact, Gewürztraminer crossed with Seyval Blanc (a French-American hybrid that makes a lovely aromatic dry white) and then crossed back again with Gewurtz.  This is about our seventh year growing Traminette; we have two very pampered vineyard blocs of about an acre each right out the back door of the winery.  One bloc is on grafted rootstock, the older bloc is not.  Both are irrigated.  About four weeks before harvest, we selectively trim the leaves covering the fruit on the east side of each row.  This allows the morning sunlight to shine directly on the berries causing them to further develop the aromas that will bloom from a newly poured glass.

And a Spring Recipe - Frais Royale

Made with Johnson Estate’s Golden Sparkles

1 tbsp of raspberry liqueur, like Chambord or other berry liquer
2 tbsp of pureed fresh strawberries (may be partially frozen)

Pour the liqueur into the bottom of a champagne flute. Add pureed strawberries. Then pour the
Sparkling Traminette to fill the glass. Take care not to overfill too quickly since the bubbles will
be profuse!