A weekend job in the tasting room of Three Brothers Wineries and Estates led Justin Paolicelli ’07 down an unexpected career path. Today, he’s the winemaker at the Seneca Lake business, which features three wineries and a microbrewery on its estate.
Paolicelli graduated from ESF with a focus in plant pathology and physiology. His then-girlfriend/now wife, Erica, was working at Three Brothers Winery to earn money for graduate school. On weekends, Paolicelli helped out in the tasting room. During those shifts, he would talk to owner Dave Mansfield about the vineyards.
“I would point out diseases and what was being done incorrectly and what could be done better and ways to improve the vineyard, and eventually he offered me the job (of vineyard manager),” Paolicelli said.
Paolicelli worked in that capacity for two years, drawing on his ESF education to bring renewed vitality to the 30-plus-year-old vineyard.
When the winemaker left in 2010, Mansfield offered the job to Paolicelli. Having grown up 20 miles west in Seneca Falls, Paolicelli felt he had the right background for winemaking. “Growing up in the Finger Lakes, you have the palate for wine, and wine making is 50 percent science and 50 percent art. I felt like I maybe had the art part down.” For the other 50 percent, he drew on his organic chemistry classes.
“I can remember taking several organic chemistry classes at ESF and not enjoying them much,” he said, “but they’ve proved to be very useful.”
“A lot of people are not as fortunate to be able to get every last dollar out of their degree,” Paolicelli said, “but I draw on those experiences continually.”
Three Brothers and Paolicelli are intertwined as a vine and a trellis. Instead of going to graduate school, Erica became a partner at Three Brothers. The couple got engaged and married at the winery and bought a house no more than 50 feet off the vineyard property.
Winemaking is a year-round business and there is no “average day” at Three Brothers, Paolicelli noted. “Depending on the time of year, it’s very different.”
In the spring, the staff is in at 7 a.m. making wine. “We’re either filtering or bench trialing with new blends,” he said. Along with the wine, Three Brothers makes ciders using locally sourced apples. “We’re constantly fermenting new ciders and turning them out.”
Summers are taken up with long days of wine bottling. The winery produces 35,000 cases a year. “That’s fairly large for the Finger Lakes, and we bottle just about everything in house,” Paolicelli said.
“Fall is extra crazy,” he said. The tourist season runs from July 1 through December. “We’re probably the most-visited winery on the (Seneca) Wine Trail.” A typical weekend can see up to 1,400 people pass through the winery.
“Most of the growing season is dedicated to ‘How are the grapes doing?’ because you can’t make great wine without great grapes,” he said. Paolicelli works closely with his vineyard manager to ensure the chemistry of the grapes is progressing as it should and the plants are healthy and disease-free. The winery has won numerous national and international awards for its wines.
Harvest starts around Sept. 1. “That’s basically what people refer to as ‘30 Days of Hell,’” he said. “It’s really not hell. It’s a very enjoyable time of year, but it’s very labor-intensive.” Working 50- to 60-hour weeks for a month straight is common. The grapes on the 30-acre farm are handpicked, meaning it takes almost a full month to bring in the approximately 120 tons of grapes.
During the same time period, the fermentation process is occurring. It has to be monitored three to four times daily. “It’s why it was critical for me to live really close where I could nurse these things. You’re smelling them every day, you’re tasting them every day, you’re recording chemistry and changes in chemistry. There’s so many crucial parts to winemaking that happen right at that time that influence the outcome of the finished product.”
When Paolicelli became Three Brothers’ winemaker, the winery was producing approximately 4,000 cases of wine a year. The output has since increased to more than eight times that amount and 5,000 cases of hard cider have been added. The staff also makes root beer, orange cream soda and ginger beer; craft beer will soon join the mix.
Not one to stand still, Paolicelli intends to learn the beer-making trade as well.
Share
The Spirits of ESF
