La Ciguapa is back – alongside two more cuvées, and made by an expanded team.

With some of New York’s most talented sommeliers behind it, and a consciousness for community that touches every aspect of their work, this is an intensely local wine. Meet: Mito Americano.

It starts with 2020 La Ciguapa – a vinifera and hybrid based wine made by Nicolle Borrero from all New York fruit, which was the jumping off point for her story and insights on our rapidly flexing industry.

Nicolle’s work has expanded from that single barrel to become a bigger negociant project, now alongside partner (and fellow sommelier) Sam Lefalher White and with the support of their dear friend Mariel Frankl. With the release of their inaugural vintage as Mito Americano (2022), we caught up on the three cuvées (an updated La Ciguapa, a pet-nat and a Northern Rhône-inspired red), and their work at large.

In many ways, it’s a snapshot of the larger New York beverage community.

While the inaugural La Ciguapa was made upstate at Wild Arc, the project’s expansion has folded in an impressive list of New York producers whose guidance, fruit and workspaces graced the process: Wild Arc (of course), Floral Terranes, Osmote Wines, Long Island grower Jon Viviano, Red Hook Winery, Brooklyn Brewery, and Brooklyn-based Honey’s and their Enlightenment Wines.

MITO AMERICANO = AMERICAN MYTH

“We have been inspired by myth and folklore at several stages along the way. La Ciguapa is a Dominican myth, and one of the hybrids we worked with (Aurora) is named after the Roman goddess of the Dawn. Incidentally, our logo (designed by the incredible James Madison Mitchell) became this mythological construction...three partners in the project; three cuvees; three ingredients (Vinifera grapes, hybrid grapes, and apples); and three NY state points of origin (FLX, Long island, and Brooklyn); a three-headed mythological creature that is finally seeing the light of day after several years.” – Sam and Nicolle

In a time when uncertainty and disruption seem to permeate everything – even within our industry – on a massive scale, Sam and Nicolle find themselves grounded in their community:

"We think it's important to pay attention to your communities and local issues. There are no answers coming down from the top :) You need to find ways to help your neighbors, to feed people around you that can't feed themselves. Volunteer to clean up your park, or work in the local soup kitchen. Support progressive local candidates like Zohran Mamdani! And continue to engage no matter how uncomfortable it is."

It's an approach that is certainly felt in the wines below.

2022 Mito Americano 'Triple A', Finger Lakes $30

A sparkling co-ferment of equal parts hybrid grapes and apples. After two weeks of skin contact, the grapes (Aromella and Aurora, same as the ‘22 La Ciguapa) were blended with freshly pressed Empire and Gala apple juice:

“We love apples! At the risk of over-generalizing, I think it’s fair to say that fruit orchards are a lot more sustainable than vineyards. One way to foster biodiversity is to have many different species co-planted in the same agricultural space….The first co-ferments we fell in love with were from Hiyu Farm and Art + Science wineries in Oregon. In 2022, we wanted to make a grape-apple wine that could be taken seriously as “wine” but also encourage people to think more fluidly about co-ferments.”

We’re within the boundaries of pet-nat here, but the style here is noted as Col Fondo, a very traditional bottle-fermented method of making Prosecco:

“We fermented the cider with the same cépage from La Ciguapa together in glass demijohns and let that go completely dry. At racking, we dosed the coferment with biodynamic honey from Weimer in the Finger Lakes. After a few nervous months of waiting for bubbles, this triggered a secondary fermentation. We call Triple A 'Col Fondo' playfully, because the bottle fermentation occurred with a dosage, on the fine lees, never disgorged.”

2022 Mito Americano 'La Ciguapa,' Finger Lakes $35

50/50 Aromella and Aurora, both hybrid varieties, with two weeks of skin contact and a year of élevage in used oak from Red Hook Winery, followed by a year in bottle prior to release. The cuvée retains the name of Nicolle’s 2020 wine (the history and context of which you can dig into here); but pivoted from being a blend of vinifera and hybrid fruit to fully hybrid composition:

“2022 saw a lot of frost and bird damage in the Finger Lakes (especially for the vinifera varieties), so we didn’t source any Riesling. We decided to go ahead with the cuvée, using only Aromella (a simple hybrid, cultivated at Cornell) and Aurora (a complex hybrid, originally from the Rhône, which has a lot of natural acidity). It's a low-ABV, partially skin-macerated, aromatic white wine. After time in barrel, this vintage has shown much more complexity than we expected. In general, we think long elevage is necessary for 100% hybrid wines with minimal sulfur.”

2022 Mito Americano 'Duck Soup,' New York $38

90% Merlot and 10% Vignoles, inspired by Northern Rhône blending ratios of Syrah and Viognier, and the emerging PIWI blends of vinifera and hybrid fruit. The Merlot was macerated partially whole cluster for 3 ½ weeks, punched down every other day; the Vignoles directly pressed and fermented in tank; and like La Ciguapa the wine was raised a year in used oak followed by a year in bottle:

“A lot of blending decisions for us come from a tight ratio of inspiration with happenstance logistics…We wanted to make red wine and asked around for fruit. Erik Longabardi (who makes Floral Terranes) connected us with one of his growers, Jon Viviano [Cuthogue, Long Island]... The Merlot turned out a little bolder, stemmier, and slightly more tannic than expected. We had some Vignoles at our disposal (which is a Rhône Valley hybrid dating back to the early 20th century) so we decided to blend a little into the Merlot at barreling.”

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