(Making Good Wine Requires Time and a Bit of Poetry)<\/i><\/p>\n
As a reporter for the Mayefield Messenger, Thomas Carroll captured the soul of his hometown by writing about \u201creal people,\u201d not just those considered newsworthy.\u00a0 His feature stories were well regarded and occasionally came to the attention of the metropolitan daily, the Beacon Light, which published Thomas\u2019 stories under the heading \u201cDispatch from Mayefield.\u201d\u00a0 The following is one of these Dispatches, published in 1975.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>Making Good Wine Requires Time and a Bit of Poetry<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>By Thomas Carroll<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>Mayefield Messenger<\/b><\/p>\n
Maybe there\u2019s a little bit of poet in all of us.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s more than a little bit in Clyde Shaffer.\u00a0 You walk with him up the hills, through the woods, and along the streams of his Bund Road home to inspect his vineyard.\u00a0 You know that just over the ridge are hundreds of homes crowded in the various West Mayefield communities, but for a moment you can ignore that, and drift back to another time.<\/p>\n
Imagine yourself strolling with Robert Frost through the woods of New Hampshire, going to mend fences or pick apples.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee this Blue Star,\u201d he says, carefully lifting a bunch of young grapes on the vine.\u00a0 \u201cIsn\u2019t it pretty?\u00a0 You should see it when it reaches a deep purple color in the fall.\u00a0 It\u2019s really a thing of beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n
One is reminded of Wordsworth admiring the beauty of \u201ca crowd, a host of golden daffodils\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But would Wordsworth consider picking the daffodils to make wine?\u00a0 Clyde Shaffer would.\u00a0 There are few things that grow, he says, that you can\u2019t make wine from.<\/p>\n
Clyde Shaffer, Ph.D. is less a poet than a scientist, a man who has spent his life studying nature and its practical effect on our lives.\u00a0 He is a professor at the University and was for many years head of the University\u2019s Department of Poultry Sciences.<\/p>\n
For nearly ten years, Dr. Shaffer has been making his own wine.\u00a0 It started with a simple winemaking kit he received as a Christmas present, but the hobby has grown into a full scale process that involves growing his own grapes and building a cellar for fermentation and wine storage.<\/p>\n
Legally the head of a household can manufacture up to two hundred gallons of wine each year for personal use, Dr. Shaffer explains.\u00a0 Personal use means for his family.\u00a0 \u201cLegally, I can\u2019t even offer you any in my own home,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n
Two hundred gallons are a little much for the Shaffers to consume in a year, so his annual production is usually limited to about 25 gallons.\u00a0 Grape wine is his favorite, but he also makes use of the elderberries that grow wild near his home to make wine for his wife, Nancy, and on occasion he has used various fruits, herbs and flowers.<\/p>\n
His vineyard is located on a hill in the middle of his 35-acre property.\u00a0 He is currently cultivating 15 varieties of grapes, but is narrowing his crop down to those that do the best in the area.\u00a0 The vines are ordered from the New York State Fruit Testing Association, but not all vines that do well in New York thrive here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe usually have a few warm days during the winter here,\u201d Dr. Shaffer says, \u201cand the grapes break dormancy.\u00a0 If they break too early, the crop is ruined.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weather isn\u2019t the only factor that threatens the grapes.\u00a0 Birds and diseases, such as dry rot, can also be deadly, but constant spraying and covering the vines with nets seem to offer adequate protection.\u00a0 The maturation process for the vines is about four years.<\/p>\n
While many gardens have dried up in recent weeks because of the drought and water crisis, Dr. Shaffer\u2019s vineyard and vegetable garden are doing fine, thanks to an irrigation system he rigged, utilizing a pump that moves the water from a stream on his property up the hill in hoses to the thirsty grapes.<\/p>\n
If they survive the weather uncertainties of the winter and summer, the grapes are ready to be harvested in the fall when they have reached their maximum sugar content.\u00a0 This can be determined by a scientific process, using a saccharometer, but in this case the scientist depends on his senses.\u00a0 \u201cI usually just pick one and eat it to see how it tastes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remaining winemaking procedure is simple, yet it takes a long time before you are able to pop the cork and savor the finished product.\u00a0 After the grapes are crushed, sugar and yeast are added for the fermentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the winemaking is done the first week,\u201d Dr. Shaffer explains.\u00a0 After a week, when the yeast has turned the sugar to alcohol, the juice is pressed out and put in a crock for the anaerobic fermentation (without oxygen).\u00a0 It sits for three to four months, after which it is \u201cracked over,\u201d and the dead yeast is siphoned out at six month intervals.<\/p>\n
The waiting continues.\u00a0 Dr. Shaffer says it should be aged for two years. A good wine is the product of \u201cgood grapes and patience,\u201d he says, although the waiting becomes very difficult, especially for the novice winemaker, who is anxious to test his first batch.<\/p>\n
After a few years, the waiting is easier since products of past efforts are bottled and ready to be consumed.\u00a0 Dr. Shaffer has a good stock in his wine cellar, stored not in normal wine containers, but in soft drink bottles, jars, or anything else that is handy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have many wine bottles since I don\u2019t buy it at the store.\u00a0 Here are a few, but they\u2019re communion wine bottles from St. Andrew\u2019s Episcopal Church.\u00a0 I\u2019m a Methodist, but the folks at St. Andrews are nice enough to save them for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fancy bottles are mere trappings.\u00a0 It\u2019s what on the inside that counts, and Dr. Shaffer is proud of the wine he has produced over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe very first wine I made was pretty good, otherwise I probably wouldn\u2019t have continued,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot since, and I keep improving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m certainly no connoisseur, but I know what I like.\u00a0 I have to admit that with commercial wines, I really don\u2019t know one from the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrankly, I like my own wine better.\u00a0 Of course, I\u2019m a little bit prejudiced.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s never complacent or satisfied.\u00a0 The scientist in him is always experimenting.\u00a0 Looking over his vegetable garden and fruit trees, he searches for new wine flavors.\u00a0 He ponders the tomatoes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something I\u2019ve never tried.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard of people making tomato wine.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine what it would taste like, but maybe I\u2019ll give it a try one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The poet\u2019s sensuousness takes over on a hot summer day.\u00a0 He treks back down the hill and into the woods.\u00a0 Covered by a hilly mound of dirt is the wine cellar.\u00a0 He pulls open the heavy door and steps into the darkened coolness.\u00a0 He takes a soda pop bottle off the shelf and pours a small glass of his favorite \u201cBlue Star\u201d wine.<\/p>\n
What better way to take a break from your labors?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Robert J. Marton)<\/p>\n
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