Wild Arc Farm, Sweetheart 2023

Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Gamay, Northern Spy Cider

Pine Bush, New York, United States

Todd on this wine: A fun experiment in blending apples and grapes. Named after one of Todd’s old bands that never played more than a couple of shows, which felt appropriate for this originally experimental endeavor.

Apples: Northern Spy Apples from Ontario County, North Fork + pomace from Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Gamay grapes.

The cider was pressed directly into tanks containing spent red grape pomace that had already been pressed for wine and then soaked and pressed again for Piquette. After 4 weeks in tanks, we pressed the juice into neutral French oak barrels where it aged for 4 months. Bottled with local wildflower honey to referment in bottle. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2 added.

Todd Cavallo & Crystal Cornish are lifetime New Yorkers, having been born in central New York and spending most of their adult lives in Brooklyn. After finding the farmhouse of their dreams on a former perennial nursery in the upstate New York town of Pine Bush, they gradually shifted to a full-time farming mode. The cool, wet climate of the area calls for resistant hybrid grapes and yields wines with distinct acidity. The word Farm plays a proud and important role in the winery’s name—they pursue a holistic regenerative approach, growing their own vegetables and fruits. In addition to wine, Wild Arc also experiments with cider, beer, and kombucha with a total annual production of around 24,000 bottles.

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. 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.