November is a tough month. It comes after most of the harvests, after Oktoberfest, after Halloween, and before the religious and economic event that is Christmas. November does have Thanksgiving, but that is a largely American holiday (the Canadians observe, but on the second Monday in October), and more hopefully about family gatherings than prepping for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or Cyber Monday. It is more a reminder that the summer is truly over and, as the Starks say, "Winter is coming."

 Yet, because it is lean, it is able to exhibit what it possesses with a minimum of clutter. The third Thursday of November has for some time been worldwide Nouveau Wine day, when a particular style of wine, made in a lighter style from grapes that had been in the vineyard hanging on vines only a handful of weeks before, is released. Often the first of a year's vintage wines, it has purposely very little shelf life, a celebratory wine made to be best consumed soon after release, to mark a successful season.

 This Third Thursday in November (11/21) will be our third Nouveau release, made from the grape named for Marechal Ferdinand Foch. Long term Satek drinkers will be familiar with Foch as an award winning semi-dry red wine, but its profile suggested it would do well as a candidate for carbonic maceration, or unusual fermentation of whole clusters versus the more standard crushing/desteeming, which goes a long way to explaining the two month turnaround time and lack of longevity. The past two vintages have been well received if rapidly vanishing as Thanksgiving accompaniment, and Foch seemed to have found a new identity, yet we continually seek to push in new directions.

 This November 11^th, we will also debut Ferdinand, a brand new dry red form of the Marechal Foch. Before the 11/11 was Veteran's Day, it was Armistice Day, marking the end of the First World War, or the Great War before few thought there would be a sequel, though Foch was in that group. As a general in the French army, victor in the Second Battle of the Marne and a major architect of Allied victory, Ferdinand Foch saw the political forces playing out and in 1919 declared not peace, but a twenty year hiatus; astutely, he was off by a mere two months. November is very much his time.

The Foch grape was named for the man, nine years before his death in 1929, and two years after he was named a Marshal of France, an honor given to only the most exemplary of French military leaders. Wine is a core attribute of the French self-identity, and this honor was probably received in the spirit which it was given. Ferdinand will be our third facet of Foch, which isn't the extensive relationship we have with Steuben (not including the county), but it is a sign of adaptation. Would the author of the famous message- "My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking" deserve any less?

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