Posted by Neil Brody Miller on April 24, 2010
It’s been eight months since I moved outside of Syracuse, and even longer since I last visited the Central NY Regional Market. So although I was looking forward to today’s visit, I have to be honest and admit that I had some mixed feelings. I love the fact that the Regional Market has been operating continuously since 1933, is open on Saturdays throughout the winter, and is supposedly New York State’s largest market. Nice local history, and very convenient, at least when I was living in the city. But I was also a bit uneasy about the stacks of bananas, oranges, and assorted out-of-season fruits and vegetables I knew I would find at the market, which are trucked in and/or flown across the continent from Florida and California and places beyond. That’s not regional in any meaningful sense of the word, especially since much of this produce is identical to and more expensive than the produce sold in area supermarkets.
Still, it was a gorgeous, sunny morning, I hadn’t visited the market in months, and the drive from New Woodstock in my gas-sucking 1995 Subaru wasn’t exactly eco-friendly, either. Besides, I was looking forward to seeing some bright Spring flowers, of which there were plenty, and was hoping to run into Marty Butts, the owner of Small Potatoes Sales & Marketing, or at least to check out some of the producers Marty works with, especially Flour City Pasta, about which I had heard great things.
I clearly wasn’t the only person who thought it would be a nice day to visit the market. In fact, the first thing I encountered was a bottleneck of people trying to get into the first building, as the floor space was literally packed with shoppers moving slowly from vendor to vendor, eyeing stalls stocked full of out-of-state citrus and last season’s aged apples, and the occasional table of Amish baked goods.
Thankfully, things thinned out a bit in Building B, which is where many of the truly local, or at least regional, farmers and producers were congregated, and where I met some wonderful folks and purchased some terrific products.
For starters, I sampled the latest Treleaven wines from Kings Ferry Winery, including their 2008 Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc, and their 2009 Gewurztraminer and Semi-Dry Riesling. Although it was difficult to get a good sense of the wines from the thimble-sized samples, the Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc exhibited varietally correct cherry, and smoky, berry fruit flavors, respectively, although I thought both wines were noticeably light-bodied. I wasn’t wowed by the 2009 Gewurztraminer, either, although this may have been due to the near impossibility of enjoying the aromas, which for Gewurztraminer are essential. But the 2009 Semi-Dry Riesling offered up a nice, round mouthful of lemon-lime and melon fruit backed up by crisp acidity and a stony minerality.
Across the way a vendor by the name of Finger Lakes Family Farms displayed a broad range of products from a number of farmers and producers. I picked up a nice head of hydroponically grown Finger Lakes Fresh Boston lettuce, a brand owned by Challenge Industries of Ithaca, which employs individuals with disabilities, as well as some freshly harvested, locally grown spinach and a very tasty Old Fashion Granola from Adas Pastries of Ovid. The real find, however, was a delicious, soft goat cheese called Olive Bianco produced by Hawthorne Valley Farm, a Hudson Valley dairy every bit as good as Lively Run Goat Dairy, which Finger Lakes Family Farms also had available for sale.
From there, things just kept getting better. Rock Hill Bakehouse of Glens Falls, NY – near Saratoga Springs – offered some of the best artisanal breads I have yet seen in Syracuse. I have nothing against Pastabilities’s stretch bread, or venerable local institutions like the Columbus and Di Lauros bakeries. But we could definitely use a world-class artisanal bakery in Syracuse of the quality of Rock Hill Bakehouse, or Geneva’s Normal Bakery, or Buffalo’s Five Points Bakery.
What else. Let’s see, a very, very good ash-ripened, Valencay-style pyramid goat cheese called Eclipse from R & G Cheese Makers of Cohoes, NY, near Albany; and some delicious, exotic sprouts and baby garlic mustard greens from Dancing Turtle Farms of Ithaca.
The highpoint of the trip, however, was undoubtedly Flour City Pasta, a Rochester-area company that produces truly extraordinary, hand made dry pastas using organic ingredients, locally grown and milled flours (for the Whole-Wheat and Emmer flour pastas), imported Italian brass dies, and traditional Old World techniques. I waited nearly 20 minutes to be served, there were so many customers in line, but I felt like a kid in a candy store. Jon Stadt, the proprietor of Flour City Pasta, is clearly obsessed with pasta making, because he produces some of the most beautiful, artisanal dry pastas I have ever seen. I bought the Sweet Potato Pappardelle, which Jon says is his best-selling pasta, and can’t wait to try it out tomorrow night with browned butter, chopped walnuts, and Pecorino Romano, but I was equally tempted by the Wild Mushroom Fettuccini and the Lemon Pepper Fettucini, which seemed a clear favorite.
If there was any downside to the day, it was the realization of the distances many of these producers traveled to get to the Regional Market, and how difficult it would be to reconcile my purchases with a commitment to buy local. By my estimate, one producer I purchased from traveled 150 miles each way to set up his table, while the average distance traveled by these vendors was roughly 100 miles each way, which is hardly local and barely regional by any fair estimation. And then there was my own 45 minute drive into the city, and the 45 minute drive home. So no one was winning any awards for sustainability. Then again, I didn’t even look at the produce from Florida and California, and everything I purchased came either from a local farmer or a small, family-owned business. But perhaps I’m just rationalizing.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on April 14, 2010
This is another in a series of wine reviews I began a few months ago, in which I taste value-priced wines produced by Finger Lakes wineries in order to compare these local, under-$12.00 wines with the flood of inexpensive red wines from Portugal, Spain, and Argentina that consumers have turned to in their search for a decent, affordable table wine. This week’s wine is the 2008 Red Newt Cellars Red Eft ($12.88 at Liquor City in DeWitt; $11.99 at the winery), a dry red blend made from 36% Cabernet Franc, 23% Syrah, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Noiret, and 10% Merlot.
For a small Seneca Lake winery, Red Newt produces a wide range of wines, from their highly rated, vineyard designated red and white wines like the Glacier Ridge Vineyards Cabernet Franc and Sawmill Creek Vineyard and Curry Creek Vineyard Gewurztraminers, to inexpensive blends like the Red Eft and Salamander White. Some of these wines are off-dry, but none of them pander to the lamentable local taste for sweet wines. Although the Red Eft is technically off-dry, with 0.3% residual sugar, the wine tastes totally dry.
The Red Eft’s most noticeable characteristic is the aroma of Noiret, the hybrid varietal developed at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY, which a number of Finger Lakes winemakers have begun experimenting with. Noiret has a peppery, citrusy aroma which is immediately recognizable once you’ve experienced it. Although the aroma is not unpleasant, it is a bit unexpected. In the Red Eft, this citrusy aroma was quickly followed by the more familiar earthy, herbaceous aroma of Cabernet Franc, and the deeper red fruit bouquet of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot.
The wine has a rich, soft texture, a medium body, moderate alcohol (13.2%) and acidity, and soft tannins. The flavors of cherry and red berries are pleasant and matched by notes of rosemary and other dried or grilled herbs. The flavors are definitely fruit forward and carry nicely through the mid-palate, but they drop off pretty quickly on the finish.
For a Tuesday or Wednesday evening dinner at home, a glass or two of the Red Eft would be perfectly satisfying, which is all it aspires to be. The problem with this and other value-priced Finger Lakes wines, however, is that they are competing against heavily promoted imports from hot, Mediterranean-type climates. American palates unfortunately have become accustomed to these overly ripe, highly extracted wines, and many, perhaps most consumers are not used to a wine like the Red Eft, which displays a more classical weight and structure, less fruit, lower alcohol, and a different spectrum of flavors.
What I noticed with the Red Eft, however, and what I’ve noticed in other value-priced Finger Lakes wines like the Lamoreaux Landing Estate Red, which I reviewed a few months ago, is that there is a distinct freshness – not ripeness, but freshness – to the wine that I rarely find in imports. I think this is a critical point, and something that rarely gets mentioned in wine reviews.
Out of economic necessity (i.e., to keep down the transportation cost), most of the lower priced imports from Europe and South America are shipped to the United States in non-air conditioned containers. While not all of these wines are “cooked” in transit (although many of them are), I am beginning to realize that something subtle but important nevertheless gets lost. The distinction should be familiar to anyone who seeks out and consumes fresh, locally grown produce: a freshly harvested, vine-ripe tomato purchased at a local farmers market tastes ineffably fresher than even the ripest hot-house tomato shipped from Maine or California and purchased at the local supermarket.
The growing number of Slow Food and Buy Local devotees, and anyone else interested in supporting their local food economy, should take note. Wines like Red Newt’s Red Eft may at first seem a bit unfamiliar in terms of their flavors and characteristics, but they nonetheless are well made, competitively priced wines that offer the same freshness you look for in locally grown fruits and vegetables.
The more I investigate these value-priced Finger Lakes wines, the more of them I find, and the more impressed I am with them. Which doesn’t mean that I am going to forgo drinking top flight wines like Red Newt’s Viridescens or their extraordinary single-vineyard Gewurztraminers when I can afford to do so. But before I make that impulse purchase of this week’s over-hyped Portuguese wine bargain, I hope that I have the good sense to stop and remember that freshness is as desireable a quality in wine as it is in food, and that keeping my wine dollars circulating in the local economy is just as important as buying my food from local farmers.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on March 12, 2010
I’ve been thinking this week about two interrelated issues effecting Finger Lakes winemaking. First, I was excited to read James Molesworth’s article in this month’s issue of the Wine Spectator, in which he celebrates the quality of Finger Lakes wines and shines a spotlight on Sam Argetsinger, owner of the celebrated Argetsinger Vineyard on Seneca Lake, Lou Damiani of Damiani Wine Cellars, and Rob Thomas of Shalestone Vineyards. Molesworth rated several Finger Lakes Rieslings 90-91 points, including the Ravines Argetsinger Vineyards Riesling, the first Finger Lakes wine to receive two back-to-back 90+ point ratings. As significantly, Molesworth also rated several Finger Lakes red wines – the Ravines Meritage, Shalestone Cabernet Franc, and Damiani Cabernet Sauvignon, among others – between 88 and 89 points.
All this is a well deserved affirmation of the efforts of Finger Lakes winemakers to produce world-class wines, especially the efforts of dedicated red wine pioneers like Morten Hallgren, Lou Damiani and Rob Thomas. And yet, I’ve also been wondering this week whether Finger Lakes winemakers aren’t being toyed with by a capricious god, or perhaps like Sisyphus, are ill-fated, rolling boulders up a hill for all eternity. Because just as Finger Lakes winemakers achieve the respect and recognition they deserve, American wine drinkers, driven by the bad economy and a flood of cheap imports, have thrown themselves headlong into the abyss of ever-cheaper wines.
Nearly all the wines reviewed in Molesworth’s article are priced between $17.00 and $25.00 per bottle, with the least expensive wine costing $15.00. Aficionados and locavores are certainly willing to pay these prices, and given their quality, top-flight Finger Lakes wines are still comparative bargains. Overall, however, the trend in wine consumption over the past two years has been unmistakeable. American wine drinkers are moving en masse away from wines priced around $15.00, which for years has been the key price point for wine retailers, to wines priced at $10.00 to $12.00 or lower.
My concern is that, with a handful of notable exceptions – Red Newt’s Circle Riesling, for example – Finger Lakes winemakers produce few table wines from vinfera varietals that meet this price point. Another such exception, I am glad to say, is the Lamoreaux Landing Estate Red, a non-vintage red blend made from Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.
In the glass, the wine certainly looks like Pinot Noir, with a bright garnet-orange color. The nose, however, is overwhelmingly Cabernet Franc, with dominant aromas of wet earth and grilled meat and herbs, which were followed by a creamy vanillin note from the oak barrel aging. In the mouth, the Pinot and Cabernet Franc flavors intermingled nicely, so that I got a mouthful of cherry and red and black berries, along with that characteristic herbaceousness often found in Cabernet Franc. I don’t like grassy flavors when they are too pronounced, as they often are with Cab Franc, but when they compliment rather than overwhelm a wine’s fruit, as they do in this wine, the result is added complexity and a more compelling match for grilled or roasted meats.
Overall, this wine was surprisingly good. It is totally dry, with a medium body, good depth of fruit, well balanced acidity, reasonably soft tannins, and persistent length. The wine ended on a salty, minerally note that reminds you this is a Finger Lakes wine.
I can’t recall having previously drank a wine made from Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc, but if this wine is any indication of the blend’s potential, the two grapes were made for each other. Given the choice, I would much rather enjoy a bottle of this wine than a Bourgogne Rouge from Burgundy, which is a crap shoot even in the best vintages, or a Bourgogne Passetoutgrain, an overlooked, often value priced blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay. Indeed, given its price ($10.99 at MacKinnon Liquor in Cazenovia), the Estate Red is one of the best red wine values I have yet found in the Finger Lakes.
I’ve enjoyed other wines from Lamoreaux Landing, especially the 2007 T23 Cabernet Franc (an unoaked, fruit driven wine priced around $15.00). The winery, headed by winemaker Paul Brock, also receives high marks for its Riesling and Chardonnay: the 2008 Riesling Reserve received an 89 point rating in Molesworth’s article But this humble, non-vintage red blend may be the real star of Lamoreaux Landing’s line-up. It’s well structured for serving with food and competitively priced for the current wine market, which makes it an ideal everyday table wine and a good choice for anyone looking to support Finger Lakes wineries and the local economy.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on March 4, 2010
Things have been quiet of late across this great frozen wasteland, as beleaguered residents hunker down through the long shadows and cold nights, and decide which red wine to pair with Boeuf Bourguignon, or perhaps with a roasted free-range chicken and organic root vegetables. It’s a bitter struggle to survive winter’s ravages in style, but we look forward expectantly to the arrival of spring, which augurs warmer days of Finger Lakes wine and roses. In the meanwhile, we await the vernal equinox, give thanks to Bacchus for getting us through the winter, and keep our eyes fixed on the horizon, or the shelves of our local wine shop, for signs of a drinkable under-$20.00 Pinot Noir.
Nor has our vigil been in vain. Out of the western expanse comes a young contender, the 2008 Johnson Family Pinot Noir ($18.99 at Northside Wine in Ithaca), a strapping red wine in the full vigor of youth, already proclaimed a champion – and an excellent wine value – by clamoring critics. Hailing from the Russian River Valley in Sonoma, California, this wine-who-would-be-king nevertheless comes shrouded in mystery, as there is no Johnson Family winery in Sonoma County (the wine is produced by Hunter Wine Cellars of Sebastopol, CA for John Bowler Wines, a New York City importer and distributor). Whatever its pedigree, this wine’s reputation precedes it, and it seems determined to dethrone local pretensions that the Finger Lakes can produce world class, competitively priced Pinot Noir.
We are not without our own local champion, however, the 2007 Red Tail Ridge Pinot Noir, ($19.99 at Northside Wine in Ithaca), a brawny first-born hailing from the western shore of Seneca Lake, which has already been proclaimed by Vineyard and Winery Management Magazine “perhaps the most exciting pinot noir yet made in the Finger Lakes.”
So, we gather once again in the Vinodome, as did our fathers and mothers, and their’s before them, to bear witness to a timeless ritual of vino-a-vino combat, in which two wines do battle until one bottle is drained to its dregs. And the ancient cry goes up, “two wines enter, one wine leaves; Two Wines Enter, One Wine Leaves; TWO WINES ENTER, ONE WINE LEAVES!!!”
Don't let their sweet dispositions fool you, these two will kill for a decent bottle of $20.00 Pinot Noir
Judging today’s competition are three experienced veterans of the Vindome: myself, a wizened misanthrope who vents his rage on unwary winemakers; Stephany “You wish I was Nurse Ratched” Hess, who strikes terror into the hearts of ill-mannered or incompetent resident MDs; and her hushand, Tim “Slow Cooker” Hess, whose magical touch with a Crockpot masks the roiling emotions within. We three have been there, wherever “there” is, and done that, whatever “that” is (and whatever the definition of “is” is), and it takes a damn fine wine to excite our tired, jaded palates.
So then, let the battle begin.
The 2007 Red Tail Ridge Pinot Noir opened with a bright garnet color, with a bit of pink/orange towards the rim. The nose was initially a bit volatile, but quickly settled down to reveal oaky, toasty notes and some smokiness, which the judges variously described as “earthy,” “tar” and “leather coat.” Overall, the aromas were interesting and complex but lacked a distinct fruitiness on the nose. In contrast, the 2008 Johnson Family Pinot Noir was noticeably darker in the glass, a dark ruby that could only come from a warm, sunny California climate. The aromas, however, were surprisingly unexciting, with some attractive cherry and plum aromas but nothing that leaped out of the glass. Even with time and swirling the aromas never matched the bravado of the wine’s deep ruby color.
In the glass, the two wine’s couldn’t have been more different, and really brought home the distinct differences that cool and warm climates have on Pinot Noir. The Red Tail Ridge was rich and ripe, with sweet plummy flavors, a nice full mouthfeel, and an unusual spiciness. At the time I knew I recognized the spices, but couldn’t put a name on them. It was only later, after the tasting that I realized I had tasted graphite – what some reviewers refer to as “pencil lead” – and sandalwood, which gave the wine a complex, interesting flavor profile.
In comparison, the Johnson Family was all West Coast machismo, with a fuller weight and mouthfeel, and rich, very ripe cherry and black plum flavors, but with noticeably less spice or complexity. Although both wines were clearly New World in style, in that neither wine offered up the mushroomy, barnyardy aromas or flavors associated with Burgundy, the cooler climate of the Finger Lakes produced a wine that was lighter colored, more aromatic and classically structured, and with higher acidity and more pronounced minerality, while the warmer Russian River Valley climate, as expected, produced a deeper, more fruit-driven wine.
The Johnson Family Pinot Noir, however, really fell apart in rounds 4 and 5, where we judged the mid palate and finish. While the Red Tail Ridge was persistent through the mid palate into the finish, with no drop off in the quality or weight of the fruit, the Johnson Family wine dropped off precipitiously, with the fruit declining in the mid palate and finishing quickly. Overall, the judges agreed that the Red Tail Ridge showed better structure and balance, with more persistent flavors and a longer, more compelling finish, while the Johnson Family showed its best up front, with a big, fruit-forward mouthful of ripe Pinot fruit.
In the end, the judges were unanimous that the Red Tail Ridge was the better wine, and clearly bested the Johnson Family Pinot Noir. We also agreed that, at $19.99, it represented an outstanding value that easily rivaled or surpassed wines from Oregon in the $30.00 to $35.00 price range. The tasting also dramatically reinforced our appreciation that Pinot Noir produces more aromatic wines and better overall balance and structure in a cool climate like the Finger Lakes, than in California, despite the fact that California can produce some fabulous, if expensive Pinot Noirs. We were very impressed with the 2007 Red Tail Ridge Pinot Noir, and were surprised to learn that the grapes, which were estate grown, were harvested from vines that were only planted in 2005. That is very young for any wine, but extraordinarily young for a wine of this quality and complexity.
The biggest issue, however, is what one gets for their money. In California, $20.00 buys you an entry-level Pinot Noir, typically sourced from grapes grown in several locations within one or more large AVAs, which yield a somewhat generic fruit-driven wine that lacks complexity or a sense of terroir. Hunter Wine Cellars produces a half dozen single-vineyard Pinot Noirs under its Chasseur label that regularly earn scores in the low-to-mid 90 point range from the Wine Advocate. They also cost between $40.00 and $60.00 a bottle.
It’s not difficult to do the math. For the same $20.00, one gets in the Finger Lakes a wine made from the best grapes grown in a winery’s own vineyards. I’m really excited about what the Red Tail Ridge vineyards will yield in 8-10 years, when the vines reach the level of maturity that winemaker’s say can produce truly noteworthy wines. Of course, by that time they may also be charging $40.00 to $60.00 for a bottle of wine. In the mean time, however, I and my fellow judges are already planning a trip out to Red Tail Ridge Winery to pick up more of their 2007 Pinot Noir while it is still available, and still priced under $20.00 a bottle.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on February 13, 2010
Over the past year, Lemberger, also known as Blaufrankisch, has received a surprising amount of attention from wine writers and bloggers, especially given the fact that the grape is virtually unknown to American consumers. New York Times wine columnist Eric Asimov recently blogged about a Blaufrankisch tasting organized by David Schildknecht of the Wine Advocate and eRobertParker.com, who has taken the lead in promoting Blaufrankisch and other Austrian wines. Readers of the New York Cork Report (formerly Lenndevours.com), moreover, may recall that the 2007 Keuka Spring Vineyards Lemberger was named one of the NYCR’s Wines of 2009, and that Evan Dawson and Lenn Thompson posted several pieces on whether Finger Lakes winemakers should continue to market the varietal as Lemberger or switch their labeling to Blaufrankisch.
When I first heard this buzz, I thought it was much ado about nothing, as I saw little interest among consumers in Lemberger or Blaufrankisch, and even less likelihood that the varietal would catch on and compete successfully against up-and-coming international superstars like Carmenere or Nero d’Avola. I’ve given the matter a bit more thought, however, and I’ve come to better appreciate why Finger Lakes winemakers are and should be interested in Lemberger and other lesser known varietals. What Lemberger offers winemakers is an opportunity to experiment, both in the vineyard and in the winery, to see how well the grape performs given the region’s difficult climate and short growing season, and what flavors, textures, and structure can be coaxed from the wine using different winemaking techniques – cold stabilization, stainless steel versus barrel fermentation, etc. And a winemaker interested in experimentation, I’ve concluded, is a winemaker interested in learning more about his or her craft, which is a good thing for anyone interested in Finger Lakes wines.
And yet, my initial point still stands, which is, virtually speaking, that far more ink has been spilt about Lemberger than the wine itself (this review ironically being a case in point). Wine writers understandably want to taste everything, and generally are as interested in winemaking, at least in terms of the fruit of the winemaker’s labors, as winemakers themselves. Correctly predicting the Next Big Thing, whether it be an obscure grape varietal or an emerging winegrowing region, also earns one bragging rights and pays other professional dividends. Hence, all the chatter in the past few years about Pinotage, Hungarian and Greek wines, German and Alsatian Pinot Noir, and other wines that few consumers seem to care much about.
Lemberger too, seems destined to fall into this category, despite its suitability to the Finger Lakes region,. And in terms of flavor profile and pricing (the wine lists for $18,99, and I paid $15.99 at a local wine shop), there are valid reasons for it doing so. What I liked most about the 2007 Keuka Spring Vineyards Lemberger was how unapologetically European it tasted out of the bottle. When I think of European-inspired wines from the Finger Lakes, I turn first to the Rieslings produced by Dr. Konstantin Frank, and then to the fiercely dry red and white wines produced by Morten Hallgren of Ravines Wine Cellars. Yet, the meaty, gamey aromas wafting from my glass of Keuka Spring Lemberger suggest that Mark Wiltberger, the winemaker at Keuka Spring, also looks to the Old World for inspiration. In fact, if I hadn’t known what I was drinking, I almost certainly would have pegged this wine as a Chinon or another Loire Valley red.
That’s the good news. After these impressive aromas, however, which were followed by the cherry, berry and black pepper flavors for which the varietal is known, the wine quickly lost my interest, and is likely destined to end its days in a stew pot alongside some mirepoix, stew meat, and Hungarian sweet paprika, which, not surprisingly given the wine’s popularity in Central and Eastern Europe, is the spice with which this varietal seems most compatible.
Heron Hill’s winemaker, Thomas Laszlo, got it exactly right, accordingly, when he described Lemberger/Blaufrankisch as tasting like “a Syrah with a Burgundian profile.” That might sound like an interesting combination, but I found the wine to be somewhat one dimensional, and lacking in fruit and weight from the mid-palate to its rather abrupt finish. Paired with the right dish, such as goulash or beef Stroganoff, or perhaps with roasted duck or goose, where the wine’s naturally high acidity and unusual salinity would cut against the fattiness and rich flavors, this wine might really shine. Lemberger might accordingly find its raison d’etre as a specialized, niche wine that pairs well with game and Central or Eastern European cuisine. But the Next Big Thing, as several wine writers and Finger Lakes winemakers have predicted? I think not.
The disconnect between the prognostications of wine professionals and the realities of the market highlight once again the difficulty many winemakers and wine writers have in seeing things from the consumer’s perspective. Undoubtedly, a handful of dedicated vinophiles sought out the top-rated examples of Austrian Blaufrankish after reading Asimov and Schildknecht’s reviews, and perhaps a determined fan or two of Finger Lakes wines ponied up $35.00 for a bottle of Heron Hill’s 2007 Reserve Blaufrankisch after reading Evan’s piece in the NYCR. In the mean time, however, Chilean winemakers sold millions of dollars of Carmenere to American consumers, not because of media hype, but because they produced stunningly good wines, including many Reservas, for under $15.00 a bottle. The same holds true for the dramatic uptick of interest in Portuguese wines. American wine drinkers are voting once again with their dollars, this time for world-class red wines with names they cannot pronounce, made from native Portuguese varietals few Americans have ever heard of or feel compelled to learn about, that cost around $10.00 a bottle.
So I say again, I think the discussion about whether these wines should be labeled Lemberger or Blaufrankisch, along with the complaint that Lemberger sounds too much like and is unfairly associated with Limburger, the smelly German cheese, are silly distractions that further alienate winemakers from the retail market. If Finger Lakes winemakers can produce a competitively priced, world-class table wine from the varietal, consumers will buy it regardless of what it is called. If not, they should continue to experiment with the varietal for their own purposes, follow Thomas Laszlo’s lead in producing small quantities of high priced Blaufrankisch for the cognoscenti, and look elsewhere for a red wine suited to the Finger Lakes region that can compete successfully for a fair share of the American market. To that end, my money and my best hopes remain pinned on Pinot Noir.
I intended this piece to be a relatively straightforward wine review, not a rant about Finger Lakes winemaking, so before concluding I want to say a few more positive things about the 2007 Keuka Spring Lemberger and about Keuka Spring Vineyards, because neither the wine nor the winery fairly deserve to bear the brunt of my criticism. For starters, anyone interested in tasting a Finger Lakes wine with a clear sense of terroir should check out this wine, which reveals a definite sense of the vineyards and the region where the grapes were grown. The same is true for Keuka Spring’s Gewurztraminer, which I first tasted not long after moving to upstate New York, and which remains one of my favorite examples of a Finger Lakes Gewurztraminer.
Second, there is a lot to like in this wine, from the low 12.5% alcohol level and high acidity, cold climate characteristics that make the wine ideal for pairing with rich dishes or creamy sauces, to the medium body and supple tannins, which are very reminiscent of Pinot Noir. Lemberger has been described as a cross between Pinot Noir and Gamay, and were it not for the wine’s Syrah-like black pepper note, the description would be apt. As noted earlier, I personally have problems with this wine’s flavor profile and with its price, and am likely to look elsewhere for wines better suited to my taste and budget. But I look forward nonetheless to seeing how the story of Lemberger/Blaufrankisch unfolds in the Finger Lakes (Evan Dawson says that Keuka Spring will begin labeling their wine Blaufrankisch, beginning presumably with the 2008 vintage), and to tasting more of these wines when the opportunity arises.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on January 24, 2010
In the coming months I hope to publish a series of reviews of Finger Lakes wines produced from French-American hybrids and native American grapes. Folks who were born and raised in Central New York likely grew up hearing of if not drinking wines with names like Baco Noir or Traminette, not to mention Concord and Niagara. As a relative newcomer to the region, however, I was largely unfamiliar with these varietals, and even now I have sampled only a handful of these wines. To make matters worse, the skepticism of my downstate and out-of-state friends threatened to reawaken my own wine snobbery, an inner demon against which I have long struggled. Can wines from French-American hybrids or native American varietals really compare favorably with European Vitis vinifera varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir or Riesling? The only way to settle the issue, I realized, was to make a concerted effort to taste these wines.
I initially decided to review the 2008 Hunt Country Vineyards Valvin Muscat, which I heard was worth checking out, but a search of local wine shops failed to turn up a bottle. Peter’s Skytop Liquors, an unassuming wine shop over by Syracuse University with a good selection of Finger Lakes wines, however, offered a number of interesting alternatives, and after a bit of consideration I selected a bottle of the 2008 Hosmer Winery Cayuga White. Cameron and Maren Hosmer have been farming their 60 acre vineyard, located on the west side of Cayuga Lake, since the mid 1970s, and released their first wines in 1985. Like the majority of Finger Lakes wineries, Hosmer is best known for their dry and off-dry Rieslings, which have won numerous awards, but they also have earned a reputation for producing some serious Cabernet Franc, Lemberger and Chardonnay.
Cayuga White, as I subsequently learned, is one of the hybrid varietals developed at Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY, and is a cross between Seyval Blanc, a French-American hybrid, and Schuyler, an American Vitus labrusca varietal (the native American grape species that includes Concord and Niagara).
The first noticeable quality of the wine was how pale it was in the glass. At first glance it appeared almost as clear as water, but closer inspection revealed a very pale yellow hue. The initial aromas were also pretty subdued, but a bit of coaxing – giving the wine a good swirl in the glass – released aromas of tangerines and clementines, as well as a slightly astringent note that reminded me of the orange-flavored St. Joseph’s aspirins I took as a child.
The citrusy aromas carried over to the wine’s surprisingly delicious flavors, which married citrus with the flavors of Golden Delicious apples and ripe Anjou pears. The taste also triggered another childhood memory, that of orange creamsicles, a summertime favorite. With 2.5% residual sugar the wine was off-dry but not as sweet as I expected, and was offset by moderate acidity. Although the wine was light-to-medium bodied, it delivered a good mouthful of ripe fruit flavors that continued through the mid-palate into a reasonably long finish.
If this wine is a fair example of what Cayuga White can produce in the hands of a skilled winemmaker, it can’t match the structure or complexity of a good Finger Lakes Riesling. But it comes close, and on a warm July evening, with friends and light summer fare, it would be very quaffable and satisfying. Which, I expect, is all that the winemaker intends, and – at $8.99/bottle – all anyone can reasonably ask of the wine.
My downstate wine buddies, who think they’re getting a deal when they pay $39.99 for an Aussie Shiraz on CinderallaWine.com, will never be impressed with this wine. But as I have learned from experience, more specifically from a year-and-a-half without full-time work, a well made, reasonably priced wine like this is all I need to wrestle my wine demon into submission, and it makes the hard times all that more liveable.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on January 20, 2010
I’ve been obsessing for the past few months about Finger Lakes Pinot Noir. Maybe it’s just the lucky coincidence of having moved to Central New York a few months before the 2007 vintage red wines were released, which many winemakers believe are the best red wines they’ve produced in the last ten years (the timing was similarly fortuitous for the terrific 2008 Rieslings). Lucky timing aside, however, it’s confounding to visit local Syracuse-area wine shops and find few or no Finger Lakes Pinot Noirs on the shelves. More often than not there are one or two Finger Lakes Cabernet Francs, a handful of inexpensive red blends made from French-American and native varietals, and plenty of Red Cat and Red Cat wannabes. There are also any number of California and Oregon Pinots, with the Oregon wines priced at $30.00 and up, as well as Pinots from just about everywhere else in the winemaking world except the Finger Lakes: France, New Zealand, Australia, and yes, even Chile. In fact, I’ve seen a growing number of Chilean Pinots showing up in local wine shops, which may be very good, reasonably priced wines. But I want Finger Lakes Pinot Noir.
I get quite excited, accordingly, when I come across a Finger Lakes Pinot, especially if it is made by a winemaker I know and respect, which was the case with this 2007 Billsboro Winery Pinot Noir. I first met Billsboro’s head winemaker Vinnie Aliperti (who with his wife Kim are co-owners of the winery), this past summer at the Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc tasting I organized with Peter Becraft of Anthony Road winery and Evan Dawson of the New York Cork Report. The Billsboro Cab Franc was one of my favorite wines at that tasting, and I since have enjoyed their Dry and off-dry Rieslings. Vinnie and Kim acquired Billsboro in 2007, so this presumably is their first release of Pinot Noir.
I enjoyed this wine over lunch at Circa in Cazenovia, NY, my favorite local bistro, with Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, author of the Cookin’ in the ‘Cuse blog and a writer for Edible Finger Lakes magazine (I’ll write about our lunch at Circa, and our visit to the Red & White Cafe in DeRuyter for coffee and dessert in a follow-up post). I later finished the bottle at home, where I took the following notes.
My overall impression is that this wine will improve with a few more months of bottle age, but that at present it is still young and a bit tight. As one would expect, the wine is a bright ruby garnet in the glass, which a hint of orange towards the rim. Although the wine was not particularly aromatic, likely another sign of its youth, swirling in the glass released aromas of black cherry, plum, and strawberry rhubarb pie, with a bit of baking spice and some earthy/leathery notes.
In addition to varietally correct flavors of cherry, plum and cranberry, there was an interesting, slightly tart, citrusy component that reminded me of kiwifruit. The wine was medium bodied, with a good upfront mouthful of ripe red fruit followed by moderately firm tannins and noticeably high acidity. After a bit of dry tannins on the back end, the wine finished with long, lingering fruit flavors.
I liked this wine, and hope to try it again in 6-12 months. It needs some time for the tannins and high acidity to settle down and better integrate with the fruit, but with a bit more bottle age I think all the elements will come together. At $22.00, this is a reasonably priced Pinot Noir that is certainly better made and more varietally correct than the majority of similarly priced California Pinots, and is significantly less expensive than Oregon Pinots. I don’t usually score wines, but at present I would score this wine 86-87/100, with the expectation that within the next year it will improve to 88-89/100. Although it is not a profound wine, it is yet another encouraging sign that Finger Lakes winemakers are producing some very good, competitively priced Pinot Noirs. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, local wine shops will get the message and make some shelf space for these wines.
A final note: Readers may have noticed that the tag line for the blog header has been changed to “A blog on Central New York food, wine, art & culture.” Although I will continue to post reviews and other pieces on Rieslings and other Finger Lakes wines, I want to expand the blog to include pieces on regional restaurants and local food producers, as well as on Central New York’s terrific arts scene and cultural resources. Hopefully, the loss of focus will be offset by more regular postings on a broader range of interesting topics and events.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on December 19, 2009
Standing Stone Vineyards was one of the first Finger Lakes wineries I got excited about when I moved to Central New York. At the time, I knew nothing about the winery’s history and had no reason to suspect that the winery would consistently impress me as producing some of the Finger Lake region’s best wines. As soon as I tasted the 2006 Standing Stone Gewurztraminer, however, I knew I had encountered a world-class wine that compared favorably with the classic Alsatian Gewurztraminers I had enjoyed for the past 20 years. That first impression was soon reinforced by tasting Standing Stone’s Riesling and Cabernet Franc, and most recently by their 2007 Pinot Noir.
As much as I love Finger Lakes Rieslings, I secretly have hoped that the region’s viticulturalists and winemakers would figure out how to produce Pinot Noirs that rival the best wines from Oregon and California, and would pin their hopes for producing a great red wine on Pinot Noir, rather than on Cabernet Franc. Admittedly, this is based on personal preference. I am learning to like Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc, especially since attending the Cab Franc tasting held this past summer at the New York Wine and Culinary Center, which clearly confirmed that several Finger Lakes winemakers – Paul Brock of Lamoreaux Landing, Rob and Kate Thomas of Shalestone Vineyards, Lou Damiani of Damiani Cellars, and Morten Hallgren of Ravines, among others – are producing delicious Cab Francs. Nevertheless, I may never love this varietal.
Not so with Pinot Noir. Two of my fondest memories from when I first began collecting fine wines are of uncorking the 1985 Saintsbury Carneros after several years of cellaring, which was a revelation, and of enjoying my first Oregon Pinot Noir, the 1985 Ponzi. I became very excited, accordingly, when Evan Dawson of the New York Cork Report and other regional wine writers began favorably reviewing Finger Lakes Pinot Noirs. The problem, I soon discovered, is that almost none of these wines are available in Syracuse-area wine shops, even in shops that otherwise carry a good selection of Finger Lakes wines. It was a big deal, accordingly, when Allison Record, co-owner of The Savvy Wine Cellar, offered me a bottle of the 2007 Standing Stone Pinot Noir she had received as a sample, enough of a big deal that I didn’t want to drink the wine by myself. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to convince a friend and fellow wine lover, Stephany Hess, to join me for the tasting.
Stephany, with her husband Tim, who unfortunately had to work that evening, had enjoyed other wines from Standing Stone, so we were expecting good things, even though neither of us had ever tasted a Finger Lakes Pinot Noir. From the first sniff and sip, however, we both were blown away by this wine, which offered classic aromas of New World Pinot Noir: ripe cherry fruit and cola with some spicy notes that reminded me of sarsaparilla, but with none of the earthy, mushroomy aromas I associate with a good Burgundy. The flavors of ripe, as well as tart, cherry and red berries carried over to the palate, and were complimented by hints of pepper, cinnamon, and cigarbox. Both the aroma and flavors were varietally correct and compared favorably with a well-made Oregon Pinot Noir from a good vintage. What really knocked us out was the wine’s supple, velvety tannins, unctuous texture, and medium-to-full body, which reminded me of nothing so much as umami, the uniquely satisfying mouthfeel associated with rich, savory foods. To put it simply, the mouthfeel of this wine made us both smile.
Learning about fine wine may one day save this young man from a life of petty larceny and cheap tattoos.
I liked this wine so much that I took the remainder of the bottle home with me, an inexcusably selfish act that I justified, at least to my own satisfaction, by claiming that I wanted to taste the wine again the next day. As it turns out, the wine did in fact taste better on the second day, the tannins were even softer, the acidity seemed better balanced with the fruit, and the wine displayed a longer finish and a broader range of red fruit flavors and spice.
Priced around $25.00, this wine is well worth seeking out, and compares favorably with a good Oregon Pinot Noir in the $30.00 to $35.00 price range, which makes it a relative bargain. I especially liked the fact that this wine exhibited pure, varietally correct New World Pinot Noir flavors and aromas, without the overly extracted fruit I find in many lower-priced California Pinot Noirs that have been adulterated (legally), with Petite Sirah or Syrah. Anyone interested in Finger Lakes Pinot Noirs should look for wines from the 2007 vintage while they are still available, as 2007 is widely considered the best vintage for red wines of the past 10 years. The 2007 Standing Stone Pinot Noir clearly reflects the strength of the vintage, and indicates that dedicated Finger Lakes winemakers can produce world-class Pinot Noir, which makes me very hopeful about the future of Pinot Noir in the Finger Lakes.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on October 21, 2009
Okay, I admit upfront that this is a shameless rip-off of the always interesting “What We Drank” entries published weekly by the New York Cork Report (formerly LennDevours.com). It’s not just that the New York Cork Report has become the 800 lb. gorilla among New York wine blogs (i.e., imitation is the highest form of flattery). It’s also that I am way, way overdue for a blog entry of my own. I have been trying unsuccessfully for the past several weeks to organize a multi-wine, multiple judge Vinodome wine competition (you’d think an offer to pour several really good wines for free for friends would be more than enough to get folks motivated, but noooo…). And finally, I drank something so unusual and so freaking delicious that I just had to post an entry.
I’ve always loved hard ciders. As much as I enjoy wine, there is something about a clean, crisp, refreshing, and yes, food friendly, hard cider that I find almost irresistible. Several of my favorite pubs usually have one or two hard ciders on tap, which is typically where the beverage really shines (just try a freshly poured pint of Woodchuck at The Blue Tusk versus the relatively uninteresting bottled version to see what I mean). But recently, I came across several different bottlings of hard ciders by Eve’s Cidery at Red Feet Wine Market in Ithaca, NY. After talking about the different ciders with MP and Empar, I purchased a bottle of Eve’s sparkling Bittersweet Cider.
Wow. The color is a striking amber gold, much deeper than I expected, with a nice thick mousse and small perlage. Very intense fresh apple bouquet, not just the aromas of the apple flesh, but the skin and the slightly astringent core. Big nose. The intensity carries over to the palate, which marries mostly tart green apple flavors with some residual sweetness, noticeably high acidity, and dry but not overly dry tannins. The tannins, as well as the relatively full body, were both surprises. This cider has structure, which is not to say that it is age-worthy (although with wines, residual sugar, high acidity and tannins usually translate into age-worthiness). The sweetness is really a background note, as the tart apple flavors and acidity more than balance the bit of residual sugar. The finish is long, complex, and lingering.
The flavors are more complex and compelling than I can fully convey. Eve’s Cidery states on their website that they use 20 different varieties of French, English, and American apples in this sparkling cider, and since these are bittersweet varieties, which Eve’s Cidery describes as very different from eating apples, some of the flavors are simply unfamiliar to me. The best I can do is to describe these flavors as I would a wine, there is a slightly peppery quality, although it is different from and more exotic than white or black pepper, maybe closer to pink peppercorn or Sichuan pepper. There are also equally complex, complimentary spice notes, something in the range of freshly ground cardamon or coriander.
Altogether, this is a much more serious cider than I was expecting, with a refreshing, palate-cleansing acidity that makes this a great food-wine pairing. I think it would be outstanding with hard cheeses, pork dishes prepared with apples or dried fruits, a simple roast chicken, foie gras, or a complete Thanksgiving dinner. At $14.00 it is well worth the price, and at 10% alcohol it offers an excellent low alcohol alternative to the many excellent Rieslings and Pinot Grises produced by Finger Lakes wineries. This is a noteworthy, truly artisanal beverage produced by an obviously dedicated, local cidermaker, and you can taste the passion and expertise in the glass. Highly Recommended.
Posted by stressi1 on September 13, 2009
I apologize for not having posted a new entry in so long. I moved over the past two weeks, and started teaching courses at Morrisville State College and Onondaga Community college as an adjunct professor. So it’s been a busy couple of weeks. Things are beginning to settle down, however, and I hope to post a new entry by week’s end.