Sign up for our Newsletter

Chardonnay grapes are pressed for Martha Clara Vineyards sparkling wine at the Premium Wine Group in Mattituck on Wednesday, Sept. 7. (Credit: Randee Daddona)

Looking at a murky, bubbling pool of grape juice (see below), it can be hard to believe it will be turned into something as refined as sparkling wine. But therein lies the magic of winemaking. 

Many of us have seen professional shots of grape vines and artfully staged tasting room photos posted on vineyards’ websites and social media pages. But unless you are a part of the industry, the work done in the winery at harvest — clusters loaded into the presses and then into barrels and steel tanks for fermentation — is rarely seen.

It’s harvest time on the North Fork and northforker contributing photographer Randee Daddona captured these chardonnay grapes pressed at the Mattituck custom crush facility, Premium Wine Group, earlier this month. They are chardonnay grapes and will become Martha Clara Vineyards’ 2016 Northville Crémant Blanc Sparkling Wine.

Crémant is sometimes used to denote sparkling wine made in the Methode Champenoise style outside of Champagne, France (you can’t call it champagne unless it comes from Champagne.)

We loved the above shot so much that a version of it will appear on the cover of the fall 2016 edition of northforker’s Long Island Wine Press.

And we figured highlighting this pretty fruit from Martha Clara was one way to pay tribute to the vineyard’s founder, Robert Entenmann, who died earlier this week.

It’s your North Fork Sunday Scene.

North Fork Sunday Scene features weekly snap shots of life on Long Island’s top fork.

Martha Clara chardonnay grapes. (Credit: Randee addona)
Martha Clara chardonnay grapes. (Credit: Randee Daddona)
Chardonnay grapes get pressed for Martha Clara Vineyards .
Chardonnay grapes get pressed for Martha Clara Vineyards . (Credit: Randee Daddona)
Pressed charddonay grapes.
These pressed chardonnay grapes will become Martha Clara’s Northville Crémant Blanc Sparkling Wine. (Credit: Randee Daddona)
X
X