Wild Arc Farm Directs the Wine World’s Spotlight Toward New York
With nothing added, removed or wasted, the farm is becoming one of the nation’s most interesting wineries
In 2016, in the palpable heat of a New York City summer, Todd Cavallo and Crystal Cornish shed themselves of a collective 30 years of city living for a new life upstate—one where they’d operate their own farm and vineyard and produce their own wine. Today, the pair runs the four-hectare sustainable farm “experiment,” officially titled Wild Arc Farm, in Pine Bush, New York. Their grapes are now entering their second leaf (this is their second season of growth) but they still source grapes and some essential supplies from other producers (including the Josephine Porter Institute), always sticking to the standards they’ll hold themselves to when they begin producing their own wine: biodynamic, low-intervention and no sulfites added.
“A colder, shorter growing season means that ripe grapes here make wines that fall into the 10-12% ABV range, rather than the higher ranges associated with California and most European wine regions,” Cavallo continues. “We also have more acidity for the same reason, which means the wines go great with food, which is how we like to enjoy wine—as part of a meal shared with friends or family.”
When it comes time to use their own grapes, the pair will do so with years of experience and the foundation to further their philosophy on winemaking—and that leaves plenty to be excited for.
“The agricultural history of the region lends itself to the kind of wine we make, which begins in the vineyard,” he concludes. “We are growing organically on our home vineyard, and helping to move other growers in that direction as well. There is a long history of wine-growing and organic food production in the region, and we are trying to show that you can successfully combine the two. Wine is a luxury product and there should be no reason to poison the land or its people in its production.”
COOL HUNTING always gets permission to use the images we publish; however, as an independent publication, we cannot afford to continue fighting unfair claims of copyright infringement, so the images have been removed from this post.
