Jamesport Vineyards
Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, 2007, $29.95
By Amy Zavatto

“You can’t take high-quality grapes and make bad wine,” says Ron Goerler. “We’re really just babysitters.” Be that as it may, it’s hard to ignore Goerler’s influence on Jamesport’s 2007 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc.

The 2007 growing season was undeniably about as good as it gets on eastern Long Island, which was certainly welcome weather circumstance for Goerler, vineyard manager and owner of Jamesport Vineyard. But while he might like to think of himself as merely a babysitter of vines, maybe he’s more like the kind of caregiver who lets the kids stay up a little later and have a little more fun, shuttling them off to bed before they’ve hit the punchy point of no return. Not everyone might agree with this type of
chaperoning, but the kids are happy and none the worse for wear. Some might say these particular kids are even a little better off.

“In the early days [1980s], we were picking at the end of September and it was over,” says Goerler. “We’ve learned that if you can push it an extra two weeks on the whites, and more on the reds, we make some really beautiful wines.”

Case in point: Bring a glass of the 2007 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc to your nose—if you were expecting typical grassy, flinty, herby aromas, your nostrils are in for a big surprise. There’s nothing austere here—you might say it’s downright sensual, in all its tropical, lusty flair. When I sniff, I smell bananas, a little bit of lily and freshly torn bay leaf. Its creamy texture is mildly oily, but its nice acidity keeps it from falling from grace as it my fills my mouth with flavors of white pepper and Meyer lemons. It’s not your typical sauv blanc—certainly not in the parameters of the Old World—and Goerler doesn’t particularly want it to be.

One of the early vintners to literally set down rootstock on Long Island, Ron’s dad started planting in Cutchogue in 1981. A few years after, Ron was on board, too.

“Back in the ’80s, my dad came out here and planted chardonnay, because, then, chardonnay and cabernet [sauvignon] and merlot were the things that were recognized. We planted sauvignon blanc after that because we both loved it. We have a total of 7½ acres of it now.”

Still, for years Goerler wasn’t finding the expression he wanted from the wines made from this plot in Cutchogue. It was at the urging of Les Howard, Jamesport’s former winemaker who is now keeping watch over Pindar’s vintages, that things began to change. When Howard pressed Goerler to go for a richer, more new-world style of sauvignon blanc for a reserve, he wasn’t completely sure it would work, but Goerler liked the adventure and agreed to give it a shot.

“It was [Les’s] input that made this a reserve-style sauvignon blanc. I’ve never been a big fan because reserves can end up being in that fumé blanc–California style; they’re overdone and so blah to me.”

But after experimenting with extended hang time for the grapes, both Goerler and Howard were pleased with the result. “We sat there and tasted through the lots and were like, ‘Wow!’ People tend to pick it a little earlier and you get that green, herbal, grassy quality, which drives me nuts. I think sauvignon blanc has a lot more to offer if you can push it to the next level, which is a tropical style. But you have to be willing to gamble on the weather.”

For 2007, the gamble paid off. (Not so in 2008; 12 inches of rain during harvest put the kibosh on a reserve for that vintage.) After pressing, Jamesport puts the sauvignon blanc juice into new puncheons, which are new 132-gallon oak barrels. “The reason we put it into puncheons is because you have more oak surface with a 60-gallon than you do with a puncheon, so you’re not going to have a big influence of oak going into that wine,” Goerler explains. “You’re going to get a little bit warmer fermentation; you’re going to get maybe a little bit more of the sweetness coming from the oak.”

After the fermentation, the wine is left on the lees and stirred in order to reach that creamy texture the 2007 offers. (“Lees” are the dead yeast cells that remain after fermentation stops. For whatever scientific or magical reason, leaving wine in contact with the lees can add a creamy quality to a wine.) “We don’t want to overdo that process,
though,” Goerler says, “because then you have this chardonnaylike effect. I’ve learned that over the years; that’s just trial and error.”

Babysitting, happy accidents and experimentation aside, the result is a wine that begs and pleads for shellfish. “It screams for food!” says Goerler, whose recent favorite pairing was with a lobster bisque. “The soup came alive with it because it was so rich and the acidity of the wine cut right through it; it was a natural.”

Mike Mraz of North Fork Table & Inn appears to agree, as he’s been pouring it by the glass since all 250 cases were released last January. Manhattan’s Aquavit is selling it, too, finding its luscious qualities and good balance a great match for chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Swedish-minded menu.

“Wine is an expression of who works with that wine, who grows the wine,” says Goerler. “For the end product, you have to, I think, express yourself in many different ways, and that’s the beauty of wine for me.”

Amy Zavatto grew up on Shelter Island and writes about food, wine and spirits from her home on Staten Island.