Wild Arc Merlot 2022
Location: United States, New York, Hudson Valley
Winemaker: Todd Cavallo & Crystal Cornish
Grape: Merlot
Winemaking: Oragnic farming. Hand harvest. Indigenous yeast fermentation
From the Importer Jenny & Francois: “Yeah, most of my wines are now not getting scoffed at tastings,” Todd Cavallo comments on his boutique production as we follow him from a small shed filled with tanks and barrels to a couple of newly planted rows of vine on his Hudson Valley property. What an understatement: Wild Arc’s stuff has become so popular that, unless you jump on a bottle with the characteristic minimalist white labels right when you see one, you’ll probably risk waiting until the next vintage.
All this happened very quickly — the former Brooklyn IT specialist and his wife Crystal moved upstate in 2016 without any previous agricultural experience. A couple of years later, they’re growing their own fruit & veg in biodynamic permaculture, looking forward to the first vintages from their recently planted two acres of Cabernet Franc, Pinot, and Chardonnay, all while getting mad props for their current produce.
Their low-sulfur, often carbonic macerated wines offer a generously fruity character with lively acidity, definitely checking all the boxes of drinkability and current tastes. Being a small farm at the beginning of its journey, Wild Arc sources fruit from other people in the area: “Our hope is to establish relationships with growers and help them move towards organic production, which we feel is “greener” and more sustainable than continuing to replace the native habitat with more vineyard plantings. We are also sneaking codes onto all our labels now that delineate growing practices and sulfur usage, so the consumer can know exactly what the differences are in our bottlings,” Todd explains.
But the one thing that has created the buzz around Wild Arc Farm is not exactly wine: it’s Piquette. By adding his own touch to the centuries-old French practice of making a “second wine” for the vineyard workers from the already pressed skins, Todd has hit that soft spot that many of us have for drinks that are light on alcohol but strong in fun, fizz and freshness.
“Rather than a watered-down wine, it’s actually a boozed-up piquette,” Todd explains what has made his endeavor so different and successful. In his method, the skins (called pomace) are soaked in water for a couple of days, pressed, left to ferment, and then blended with some of their original wine. Bottled at about 7% ABV with some local honey that acts as a re-fermentation starter in the bottle, the resulting beverage bears the aromatic profile of the grape but in a lighter version, all accompanied by a pleasant sparkle and an exotic flavor-kick from the honey. It’s the wine cooler that’s actually cool, as the Piquettes’ own labels state.
Given their instant success,zero-waste, and low-ABV appeal, it’s no wonder that Piquette has become ubiquitous over the last couple of years, with winemakers around the globe willing to put their own skins into the trend. As for the one who (re)started it all, he seems to have his eyes on new horizons again: be it arak, wine’s role in climate change, or PiWis, you can be sure that Todd Cavallo won’t be resting on his laurels.
Location: United States, New York, Hudson Valley
Winemaker: Todd Cavallo & Crystal Cornish
Grape: Merlot
Winemaking: Oragnic farming. Hand harvest. Indigenous yeast fermentation
From the Importer Jenny & Francois: “Yeah, most of my wines are now not getting scoffed at tastings,” Todd Cavallo comments on his boutique production as we follow him from a small shed filled with tanks and barrels to a couple of newly planted rows of vine on his Hudson Valley property. What an understatement: Wild Arc’s stuff has become so popular that, unless you jump on a bottle with the characteristic minimalist white labels right when you see one, you’ll probably risk waiting until the next vintage.
All this happened very quickly — the former Brooklyn IT specialist and his wife Crystal moved upstate in 2016 without any previous agricultural experience. A couple of years later, they’re growing their own fruit & veg in biodynamic permaculture, looking forward to the first vintages from their recently planted two acres of Cabernet Franc, Pinot, and Chardonnay, all while getting mad props for their current produce.
Their low-sulfur, often carbonic macerated wines offer a generously fruity character with lively acidity, definitely checking all the boxes of drinkability and current tastes. Being a small farm at the beginning of its journey, Wild Arc sources fruit from other people in the area: “Our hope is to establish relationships with growers and help them move towards organic production, which we feel is “greener” and more sustainable than continuing to replace the native habitat with more vineyard plantings. We are also sneaking codes onto all our labels now that delineate growing practices and sulfur usage, so the consumer can know exactly what the differences are in our bottlings,” Todd explains.
But the one thing that has created the buzz around Wild Arc Farm is not exactly wine: it’s Piquette. By adding his own touch to the centuries-old French practice of making a “second wine” for the vineyard workers from the already pressed skins, Todd has hit that soft spot that many of us have for drinks that are light on alcohol but strong in fun, fizz and freshness.
“Rather than a watered-down wine, it’s actually a boozed-up piquette,” Todd explains what has made his endeavor so different and successful. In his method, the skins (called pomace) are soaked in water for a couple of days, pressed, left to ferment, and then blended with some of their original wine. Bottled at about 7% ABV with some local honey that acts as a re-fermentation starter in the bottle, the resulting beverage bears the aromatic profile of the grape but in a lighter version, all accompanied by a pleasant sparkle and an exotic flavor-kick from the honey. It’s the wine cooler that’s actually cool, as the Piquettes’ own labels state.
Given their instant success,zero-waste, and low-ABV appeal, it’s no wonder that Piquette has become ubiquitous over the last couple of years, with winemakers around the globe willing to put their own skins into the trend. As for the one who (re)started it all, he seems to have his eyes on new horizons again: be it arak, wine’s role in climate change, or PiWis, you can be sure that Todd Cavallo won’t be resting on his laurels.
Location: United States, New York, Hudson Valley
Winemaker: Todd Cavallo & Crystal Cornish
Grape: Merlot
Winemaking: Oragnic farming. Hand harvest. Indigenous yeast fermentation
From the Importer Jenny & Francois: “Yeah, most of my wines are now not getting scoffed at tastings,” Todd Cavallo comments on his boutique production as we follow him from a small shed filled with tanks and barrels to a couple of newly planted rows of vine on his Hudson Valley property. What an understatement: Wild Arc’s stuff has become so popular that, unless you jump on a bottle with the characteristic minimalist white labels right when you see one, you’ll probably risk waiting until the next vintage.
All this happened very quickly — the former Brooklyn IT specialist and his wife Crystal moved upstate in 2016 without any previous agricultural experience. A couple of years later, they’re growing their own fruit & veg in biodynamic permaculture, looking forward to the first vintages from their recently planted two acres of Cabernet Franc, Pinot, and Chardonnay, all while getting mad props for their current produce.
Their low-sulfur, often carbonic macerated wines offer a generously fruity character with lively acidity, definitely checking all the boxes of drinkability and current tastes. Being a small farm at the beginning of its journey, Wild Arc sources fruit from other people in the area: “Our hope is to establish relationships with growers and help them move towards organic production, which we feel is “greener” and more sustainable than continuing to replace the native habitat with more vineyard plantings. We are also sneaking codes onto all our labels now that delineate growing practices and sulfur usage, so the consumer can know exactly what the differences are in our bottlings,” Todd explains.
But the one thing that has created the buzz around Wild Arc Farm is not exactly wine: it’s Piquette. By adding his own touch to the centuries-old French practice of making a “second wine” for the vineyard workers from the already pressed skins, Todd has hit that soft spot that many of us have for drinks that are light on alcohol but strong in fun, fizz and freshness.
“Rather than a watered-down wine, it’s actually a boozed-up piquette,” Todd explains what has made his endeavor so different and successful. In his method, the skins (called pomace) are soaked in water for a couple of days, pressed, left to ferment, and then blended with some of their original wine. Bottled at about 7% ABV with some local honey that acts as a re-fermentation starter in the bottle, the resulting beverage bears the aromatic profile of the grape but in a lighter version, all accompanied by a pleasant sparkle and an exotic flavor-kick from the honey. It’s the wine cooler that’s actually cool, as the Piquettes’ own labels state.
Given their instant success,zero-waste, and low-ABV appeal, it’s no wonder that Piquette has become ubiquitous over the last couple of years, with winemakers around the globe willing to put their own skins into the trend. As for the one who (re)started it all, he seems to have his eyes on new horizons again: be it arak, wine’s role in climate change, or PiWis, you can be sure that Todd Cavallo won’t be resting on his laurels.