Vininspo! Episode 47: Kelby James Russell, Apollo’s Praise

Kelby James Russell had the air of the whizzkid about him when I first met him, and that’s clearly what he was. It was Melbourne, 2015. Riesling Downunder, a now-defunct triennial trade event, had rolled into town. With it came winemakers from Clare, Eden Valley, Great Southern and Canberra. A couple of Alsatians were there, and Germanophones aplenty from the Mosel, Rhine and Danube. And among them, a sole, studious-looking American.Red Newt was the label Kelby was pouring—one of relatively few Finger Lakes estates I was familiar with. He wasn’t loud, and nor were the wines. But both were captivating. What struck me most was that, without apparent effort, he seemed calmly confident of holding my attention in that crowded room. He duly succeeded.It was great to get up to speed on Apollo’s Praise, the winery Kelby founded on Seneca Lake in 2023 with his wife, Julia Hoyle. (The wines are not yet imported into Australia; it would be wonderful to see that injustice rectified!) Julia is winemaker at Hosmer Winery on Cayuga Lake. Kelby tells us a bit about what’s so special about Julia, and a lot about what’s special about the Finger Lakes as a place to grow wine.Peter Bell is the name of Kelby’s first wine mentor in the region from his time at Fox Run Vineyards. Red Newt Cellars, where Kelby made his name, was founded by David and Debra Whiting in 1998, and is also on Seneca Lake.During his early vintages in the southern hemisphere, Kelby speaks affectionately about his time at Yalumba in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Louisa Rose, winemaker and head of sustainability at Hill-Smith Family Estates, was one of those he met there, as was now-retired Kevin Glastonbury. Peter Gambetta, meanwhile, has been a frequent visitor to the Finger Lakes, Kelby tells me.Speaking of outside influence, we name-drop Pfalz producer Koehler-Ruprecht and Franken grower Hans Wirsching when we talk about the Scheurebe grape variety. The variety was long thought to be a cross between Riesling x Silvaner, but subsequent DNA analysis refutes Silvaner’s involvement, suggesting a wild vine sampling is the other part of the equation. Scheurebe is regarded as a highly successful grape for its performance in cool climates and its flavour/structure profile. (Dr Georg Scheu did the work, and “Rebe” is German for vine.)The Germans also come up on the subject of the international ideas exchange — the kind that takes place at FLXcursion, the Finger Lakes Riesling Wine Conference. This effectively took the place of Washington State’s Riesling Rendezvous. The Australian equivalent morphed into Riesling Downunder, which was last held in 2018. International Riesling Symposium in the Rheingau, meanwhile, is ground zero.Kelby describes the Knoll—the single-site wine that made his name—as being Grosses Gewächs-style. This refers to a textural, dry style of Riesling from a grand-cru site in Germany. Knoll is also, coincidentally, the name of an exceptional Austrian producer known for ripe, multi-dimensional, dry, aromatic white wines. If you’d like to know more about the other Prädikat styles Kelby mentions, a good place to start is this chat with Erni Loosen.Finally, the name Apollo’s Praise comes from a glee named Glorious Apollo. If you want to hear notes whistling over your head like ghosts, here’s the version I checked out to witness the complex, harmonious heights Kelby and Julia’s wines aim to scale. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe