Free Casa Parisi by Janet Albert Page B

is so perfect, why don't we go out to the vineyards after we finish lunch? We can spend all day tomorrow in the cellars."
     
     
    LUKE DROVE HIS truck up the hill to the main road and turned right. After about a half mile or so, he made another right onto a set of dirt tire tracks that led them into a vast stretch of vineyards. After another two or three hundred yards, he stopped the truck and turned off the engine. "Let's get out here."
    Juliet followed Luke as he walked between the rows of trellised vines.
    "I hope I didn't embarrass you when I told you to use the bathroom before we went out," Luke said. "I'm so used to telling my kids to do that because as soon as we get way out in the fields, one of them has to pee."
    "You didn't embarrass me. How many children do you have?"
    "We have a boy, Jaden and a girl, Carly. He's nine and she just turned seven. My wife, Natalie, is an elementary school teacher in Ithaca. She works in the gift shop during the summers whenever she can. My kids will be hanging out with us a lot after school lets out, so you'll meet them all soon enough."
    "I'll look forward to it," Juliet said.
    Luke steered the conversation in another direction and began to tell her about the vineyards. "We own all the vineyards on both sides of the road as far as you can see and we also have large tracts of land down the road a piece. I suppose that's why we have such ambitious plans." Reaching with his hand, he touched a cluster of tiny grapes. "I love growing grapes. Incidentally, you won't have to worry about any of the grunt work in the fields. My crew and I will take care of everything."
    "If you need help I don't mind doing physical work."
    "I'd rather you concentrate on making the wines. I'll be happy if you come out here with me once in a while to monitor the grapes."
    "I have to do that. I need to know the grapes, see them, touch them, smell them and care about them. If I don't, I can't turn them into wine." Juliet wondered if Luke would understand what she was saying. "Does that sound crazy?"
    "No. I get that, I really do. Come out and visit them anytime you want to."
    Juliet glanced up at him. "Do you have any riesling grapes?"
    "Acres of them," he said. "There were a few acres of mature riesling vines here to begin with but I planted more the first spring we were here. Those new vines should be producing clusters this coming fall. And while we're on the subject, I have some riesling wine aging in the cellars that should be bottled."
    "I'll take care of that as soon as I can," Juliet said. She loved making wines from riesling grapes. "Riesling grapes have such refined structure and loads of delicate floral and fruity flavors. Most of all, I love the mineral qualities they impart. It reminds me of fresh water flowing from a mountain stream."
    "I'd like to have several rieslings in our inventory, including a sparkling one."
    "You will," Juliet said. "What about gewürztraminer? Do you have any?"
    "Plenty of them. They're down the road."
    "That's another favorite grape of mine," Juliet said.
    "We could use a really good gewürztraminer," Luke said, matterof-factly. "The first year, I replaced the majority of our native grape varieties with French-American hybrids and a few European varieties. You'll have plenty to work with this year."
    "It sounds as if you've been doing all the right things. If you want to be one of the top wineries you have to have good red wines and a variety of premium wines that have vintage years. You obviously know that."
    "I couldn't agree more. Were you at the conference last July in Rochester where the Cornell labs introduced the new red varieties?"
    Juliet indicated that she had been there.
    "I planted the Noiret and the Corot Noir grape varieties. They're not bearing fruit yet, but we should have good grapes in a couple of years."
    "I'm glad to hear that. We ought to be growing the grape varieties developed for this climate. Maybe someday, if we make good quality wines from