willowhomestead
Member
Marechal Foch or Leon Millot
Which do you prefer to work with? Which do you prefer to drink?
Which do you prefer to work with? Which do you prefer to drink?
I’m up to sharing a bottle when my vintage is ready. Foch is so versatile. My daughter is a wine maker in Oregon, she loves the Foch in the region. It’s prolific, grows like a weed. In July I hedge and leaf pull. It’s easy to harvest to early when the numbers are in. Don’t. Please don’t. When the numbers hit start tasting. Foch has a bland taste unlit ripe. If you start tasting the grapes when the numbers hit, you will understand. It’s a beautiful grape.I had some spectacular Leon Millot in Michigan last year. It had a bit more deep dark fruit and a little less tannins than the Foch I have had. It was better than the Foch I had on that trip but it was a different winery, so hard to compare. However, the wine was so good, I’m growing 3 vines of Leon Millot now to test it out. I have access to a bit of Foch this year (in Utah like @mgmarty) and I’ll see if I can differentiate the flavors a little more. My vines won’t be producing for a while and I’m going to the Midwest again this year and I am intending on finding ways to do direct comparisons of those varietals.
Here’s my ultimate thought: Foch is becoming a “mainstream” grape outside of the cold hardy world it seems, which may be meaningful to you. Leon Millot in my opinion has huge potential but seems less tested. I guess it’s a question of slight differences in tannin and maybe some aspects of the flavor profile. As always, farming and preparation are a huge factor.
I love the way you speak about it, it's like an art and a science at the same time. We are in Massachusetts but maybe someday we will be able to do a countrywide vineyard tour of all our forum growers! Wouldn't that be fantastic!I’m up to sharing a bottle when my vintage is ready. Foch is so versatile. My daughter is a wine maker in Oregon, she loves the Foch in the region. It’s prolific, grows like a weed. In July I hedge and leaf pull. It’s easy to harvest to early when the numbers are in. Don’t. Please don’t. When the numbers hit start tasting. Foch has a bland taste unlit ripe. If you start tasting the grapes when the numbers hit, you will understand. It’s a beautiful grape.
And I you. My Aromella turned out very well and I’d like some otherI’m up to sharing a bottle when my vintage is ready.
And I you. My Aromella turned out very well and I’d like some other pallets on my Frontenac.
And @willowhomestead if only there were an easy way to send bottles to each other.
I don't know why this showed up on my computer but I'll go with it. What was SG at picking Foch and Leon Millot? What yeast(s) did you use to ferment.? Did you add nutrient? Did you hand or machine de-stem or ferment crushed fruit? How do you like the wine that you got from your blend?Grow both. I made a wonderful field blend of 2/3 Foch and 1/3 Millot. They were harvested the same day. I’m so pleased, I plan to repeat. They did need MLF. I hope to barrel this year’s crop.
Note: The birds will attack Foch and Millot so be prepared to net early and often. I had to add more nets to my Foch zone nets.
Marechal Foch 2023
Leon Millot is too vigorous in my area. Jungle like growth. Flavour is fine. But I can grow really good Marechal Foch up to SG 1.098 which is always my target and ferment it with RC212/71B yeast combo with vitamin B containing nutrient which the RC212 yeast seems to like. Here is my taste of 100% homegrown organic Foch hand destemmed and uncrushed from a bottle the I just pulled out of my cooler.
Appearance - clear, inky purple
Smell - good clean nose of coffee, chocolate, roast duck, blackberries
Tannin - good high enough for this wine to age
Acid - Foch is usually acidic even after malolactic fermentation. Maybe slightly high but not by much which should allow it to age.
Flavour - Until I started using 71B yeast I couldn't get a Foch flavour that I liked. This is better than what I have made in the past unblended. It is rich and complex. In future I'll leave it longer in the carboy before I bottle it. Right now I'd rate it as good with the potential as it ages and drops tannin and acid to become good-very good.
So then I tried 75% Marechal Foch with 25% Regent Black Iris (blackberries, wild cherries and elderberries)
Appearance - clear, inky purple
Smell - good clean nose of coffee, chocolate, roast duck, blackberries
Tannin - good
Acid - good
Flavour - this is good. I think it needs more time. Wild cherries in Black Iris improves it.
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