Usonia
About
Their first vintage was, of course, marked by the 2020 pandemic, which was a good introduction for making wine in central New York, where loneliness and crises are impossible to escape from. They didn’t quit, and by their 2021 vintage, they were beginning to express a philosophy beyond the endless parades of rieslings and adirondack chairs that define their region – a philosophy of unbounded winemaking and an almost radical acceptance of the challenges that they faced. The terroir of the finger lakes is, it’s safe to say, omnipresent – not just in the deep shale but in the cold winds and the pouring rain and the wide empty skies and the empty towns. If you shave off all those rough edges, you’re left with a wine that doesn’t have anything to say. Usonia’s wines, we’re pleased to announce, simply won’t stop yapping and before you know it you’re opening another bottle.
The two are currently tenants in the cramped cellar of Ben Riccardi of Osmote wines, itself sharing space with a tow truck company in Burdett, 45 minutes north of Ithaca. Next year, they hope to move all their production to their tasting room in Ovid, but for now, their barrels and tanks are crammed in near a massive press that broke the evening before we visited and underneath a large Sade Poster. Every one of their natural ferments (a rarity in the FLX!) is from a single vineyard and intended to be bottled as such – always with the vineyard’s name as a nod to their partnership. Says Alex: “I want to support people doing cool things. We want to only get fruit from people we’d get a beer with.” Winemaking is low intervention but decidedly non-dogmatic, with each wine being treated on its own merits, but never with a heavy hand, generally with less than 40ppm sO2 addition and little to no fining and filtering.
Near their home and their new tasting facility, the most exciting part of Usonia is taking shape – their home vineyard, a 8.5 acre slice of heaven surrounded by forest, undergoing conversion to organics, with the goal of being fully there by 2025. Currently fruit is coming from 3.5 acres mostly planted to riesling and cabernet franc (the latter of which is, as of the 2024 vintage, fully biodynamic and delicious off the vine) along with roughly 20% interplanted hybrid varieties. The remaining 5 acres comprise just planted French Hybrids, American Hybrids and a few PiWi varieties, which both Alex and Julia believe are the future of the region, and which require far far far far less inputs. We’re beyond overjoyed to have on offer very soon the first bottlings from this vineyard, which the pair believe will eventually be a third of their production.
While one cannot help but think of potential when tasting Alex and Julia’s wines (encouraged by their relentless and sharp self criticism), it’s important to note that while the future at this winery is beyond bright, their current offerings are absolutely delicious and truly heads and shoulders over nearly anything else in the Finger Lakes. With so many different varieties and styles on offer, it can be hard to pinpoint a through line, but expect lifted aromatics, clean and ringing acid profiles and, especially on the reds, a lip-smacking concentration of fruit that tastes like phenolic ripeness from, frankly, a warmer and safer locale. The wines are wildly approachable and a breath of fresh air for New York Wine - open, bright and clever; as Alex told us in their tasting room, “all the wines have a bit.”
Please note: Currently on offer are the last drops of their ‘22 vintage, which was rainy but on the normal end of the spectrum, and the ‘23 vintage, which was marked by an incredibly profound late spring frost that killed huge swaths of fruit. To ensure that they had enough wine to sell, Alex and Julia bought grapes from Macari Vineyards in Long Island and made several New York State blends. All of these wines are marked by a white and blue label denoting the frost vintage and are unlikely to be repeated. Despite the circumstances, they are some of the best examples of Usonia’s flexibility and resourcefulness and are, frankly, pretty damn good as well. We celebrate their deliciousness, but do hope they don’t have to get remade for a few more years at least.
Products
Riesling 'Shaw Vineyard' Finger Lakes
100% Shaw Vineyard Riesling, planted in 1995 on the West side of Seneca Lake. Soils are a combination of silt loam, clay, and shale. The fruit was harvested by hand, foot crushed, and macerated for 24 hours. Spontaneous fermentation proceeded for over a year in stainless steel, without temperature control. Sulfured after fermentation and at bottling. Aged entirely in stainless steel, bottled unfined and unfiltered April 2022.
Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes
Hand harvested, destemmed, and spontaneously fermented. Gentle extraction during the 17 day maceration. Aged in 60% stainless steel and 40% neutral barrel for 8 months with sulfur added after malolactic and before bottling. Unfined and unfiltered.
Blaufrankisch Finger Lakes
Sustainable. Nutt Road Vineyard on the west side of Seneca Lake, soils of loam and shale. Hand harvested on October 10. Fermented ⅔ whole cluster, with gentle extraction, during an 18 day maceration. Aged in neutral 400L cask and neutral barrique. Sulfur added after malo and at bottling (15/35 free/total). Bottle unfined and unfiltered in May 2023.
Friulano Finger Lakes
Sustainable. 100% Tocai Friulano from Ventosa Vineyards, east die of Seneca Lake on Cazenovia silt loam soils. As far as we know, it's the only planting of Tocai in the Finger Lakes. Hand harvested on October 10. Fully destemmed and fermented on skins for two weeks with daily punchdowns. Yes, we know the wine isn't actually "orange." It just seems to be the way Tocai behaves. Aged in a combination of stainless steel and neutral barrique for nine months. Sulfured after malo and before bottling, unfined and unfiltered. 55ppm total, 10ppm free SO2.
Cayuga White 'Cayuga Cayuga'
100% Cayuga, a hybrid variety developed by Cornell University in 1945. This bottling is taken from the first commercial Cayuga planting in the Finger Lakes, located on the west side of Cayuga Lake on silty loam soils. Hand-harvested, whole-cluster pressed; fermented in 2/3 stainless steel and 1/3 neutral barrel. Six months' fermentation, full malolactic. Unfined, unfiltered, zero added SO2.
Red Blend 'Change The Weather or Change Your Mind'
Sustainable. Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Grüner Veltliner, Friulano, Chancellor, and Verdelet. A freeze event in the Finger Lakes caused them to look beyond the region for fruit for the first time, as well as to experiment with more varieties. This wine is an encapsulation of the vintage, comprising fruit from every grower Usonia works with. The Merlot comes from Macari Vineyards in Long Island with the rest of the fruit coming from their Finger Lakes growers. All varieties were fermented separately, whites on the skins, the reds a combination of semi-carbonic and carbonic. Aged in a mix of stainless steel and neutral barrel. Sulfur added after fermentation and just before bottling. Wines were blended in March 2024 and bottled in mid April.
Riesling 'Standing Stone Vyd' Finger Lakes
Biodynamic. 100% Riesling. Standing Stone Farms on the east side of Seneca Lake, planted in 2006 on Honeoye silt loam. Biodynamically farmed by the team at Hermann J. Wiemer. : Grapes were hand harvested on October 11. Whole cluster pressed, settled and spontaneously fermented in 85% stainless steel and 15% neutral barrel. Two month fermentation, full malolactic. 30 ppm total so2 added after fermentation and at bottling in August 2024, 15ppm free.
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White Blend 'Who, Whom?' Finger Lakes
A freeze event in the Finger Lakes caused Usonia to experiment with more varieties, as quite a few vinifera vineyards lost all their fruit. “Who, Whom” is a blend of Geneva White #2 (80%) and Gruner Veltliner (20%). The Geneva White #2 is an old Cornell hybrid, a "sibling" of Cayuga White from Arrowhead Vineyard on the west side of Seneca Lake, farmed by the Hermann J. Weimer team. This is said to be the last planting of the variety. The Gruner Veltliner comes from Rasta Ranch on the east side of Seneca Lake. The Geneva White #2 was was destemmed and left on the skins for 24 hours before pressing and fermented in stainless steel. Sultur was added after alcoholic fermentation The Grüner Veltliner was fully destemmed and fermented on the skins for 10 days, pressed, then aged in neutral barrel for four months. Sulfur was added after malolactic fermentation. The varieties were blended in late spring, bottled unfined, unfiltered, with 15ppm SO added just before bottling.
Red Blend 'Schmeritage"
A freeze event in the Finger Lakes caused Usonia to look beyond the Finger Lakes region for fruit for the first time, as well as to experiment with more varieties. “Schmeritage” is a take on the classic Bordeaux blend. The primary components are Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) and Merlot (20%) from Macari Vineyards on the North Fork of Long Island. The Cabernet Sauvignon was fermented partially carbonic and partially semi carbonic and the Merlot was given a two day maceration and pressed as a dark rosé. In addition, there’s 10% of Cabernet Franc from Usonia’s home vineyard, New Suns, which was fully destemmed and macerated for 10 days. To lighten up the blend, there’s a touch (10%) of Tocai Friulano from Ventosa Vineyards on East Seneca Lake, which was destemmed and macerated for 18 days. All varieties were vinified separately and blended at bottling. Sulfur additions were added after Malo and before bottling.
Cabernet Franc 'New Suns' Cayuga Lake
Biodynamic Conversion. 100% Cabernet france from New Suns, Usonia’s home vineyard, on the west side of Cayuga Lake. From two acres of Cabernet Franc planted in 2005 & 2017 on Cazenovia silt loam soils. The vineyard is treated without herbicides or insecticides and it is conversion to organics for the 2025 vintage. A cold snap in January resulted in lower yields across most vinifera varieties, while drought conditions persisted through much of the growing season until late August. As such, quantities were sharply reduced, but the fruit retained acidity and concentration at low sugar levels. The grapes were hand harvested on October 12th. Fully destemmed, with a gentle 3-week maceration and aged in neutral barrique for nine months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered in August 2023, with SO2 additions after malo (25ppm) and at bottling (25ppm).
Red Blend 'Good Spirit'
Sustainable. 40% Baco Noir, 40% Chenlois, 20% Traminette, all sourced from a 20-acre vineyard of both hybrids and vinifera, lovingly cared for by two of the best people in the Finger Lakes, Mike and Ria of Ria's wines. Mike once told Alex and Julia of Usonia, "to make good wine, you have to have good spirit," hence the name. Baco Noir was harvested at the beginning of September, fermented entirely whole cluster with a few punchdowns by hands. Chelois and Traminette co-fermented entirely whole cluster with no cap management. 25ppm total SO2, 10ppm free.
Sparkling Red 'West! West!! West!!!'
Sustainable. A freezing event in the Finger Lakes in May 2023 caused us to experiment with more varieties. When our friends called and said they had hybrids to sell, we said yes. Chancellor and Cayuga White are from Plane's Block on the west side of Cayuga Lake, farmed by Dave Pittard. Verdelet from Arrowhead Vineyard on the west side of Seneca Lake, farmed by the team at Hermann J. Wiemer. Diamond from Rita's on the east side of Seneca Lake. The winemaking is inspired by the Italian "rifermentato" sparkling wines we love. Chancellor, Veredelet, and Cayuga all hand harvested, fermented, and blended in 2023. Aged in a mix of neutral barrel and stainless until harvest 2024. Diamond juice from 2024 added to the blend, and then bottled to capture CO2. Hand disgorged over the winter by us, with around 30ppm added SO2. Fun fact: "crackling wine" is a TTB recognized category of sparkling wine.
