Posted by Neil Brody Miller on May 10, 2010
TasteCamp East 2010 participants enjoying Keuka Lake and Canandaigua Lake wines at Heron Hill Winery.
Here are some photos I took this past weekend at TasteCamp East 2010. I’m still reflecting on the experience, and will post an essay on this memorable event in the next day or two. In the mean time, please enjoy the photos!
Morgen McLaughlin and Lenn Thompson with George DiTomasso of Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars at TasteCamp East 2010
Morten Hallgren of Ravines Wine Cellars, preaching the gospel of dry, vinifera table wines.
Seneca Lake Wine Mafia, from Left to Right: Tricia Renshaw of Fox Run, Peter Becraft of Anthony Road, Brandon Seager of Red Newt, Johannes Reinhardt of Anthony Road, and Peter Bell of Fox Run, at Red Newt Cellars.
A first taste of the 2007 Tierce before dinner at Red Newt Cellars.
Anthony Road winemaker Johannes Reinhardt, who clearly is more comfortable making great wines than talking about them.
Peter Bell, winemaker at Fox Run Vineyards, leads a tasting of Fox Run's library Rieslings.
Fred Merwarth, winemaker at Herman J. Wiemer Vineyard, leads a tasting of Wiemer's Reserve and vineyard-designated Rieslings.
The BYOB wines start flowing at the Stone Cat Cafe. The wines were great, the camaraderie was terrific, but the dinner menu was uninspired and overpriced.
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 August 5, 2009
The wines were great, the participants were friendly, and everyone appeared to have a good time. So what is there to criticize? Not much, actually. The tasting was conceived as an opportunity for winemakers, writers and bloggers, and retailers to assess the quality of the 2007 vintage Finger Lakes Cabernet Francs, compare these wines with Cab Francs from other wine-producing regions, and discuss the potential of the varietal for the Finger Lakes region. While the discussion never got around to this last question, the tasting established that Finger Lakes winemakers produce some very good, even excellent Cabernet Francs, and that their Cab Francs are regionally identifiable in comparison to French, and even to Long Island, Cab Francs. These are fundamentally important issues for anyone interested in the success of Finger Lakes wineries. From the perspective of what we intended to achieve, then, the tasting was largely a success.
That being said, by failing to consider the broader issue of Cabernet Franc’s potential, I think we missed an opportunity to bridge the gap between winemaking and marketing, and to forge a stronger sense of community and common purpose among regional winemakers and retailers. The discussions of balance and overcropping were interesting and important, and indicated, at least for the participating winemakers, that Cabernet Franc’s viticultural and enological potential are settled issues. From this perspective, the key concerns are not whether Cab Franc grows well in their vineyards, or ripens fully by fall crush, but whether individual winemakers are willing to restrict yields, forgoing quantity for quality, and to make the other hard decisions necessary to produce balanced, world-class wines. Retailers are keenly interested in these issues even if they lack a winemaker’s technical knowledge, because in today’s highly competitive market, where wines from well established regions compete for shelf space with up-and-coming regions and varietals, one or two poorly made wines are enough to forever turn off a customer to a particular varietal.
For retailers, accordingly, and perhaps for the writers and bloggers as well, Cabernet Franc’s potential remains an open question. As I noted at the tasting, wine shops are where the aromas meet the road, and where a wine succeeds or fails not simply because of its inherent quality, but also because of pricing, availability, public awareness, and successful marketing – had a good Carménère recently? How about a nice Torrontés? This is why I wish a winemaker had turned to a retailer during the discussion and asked, “So, what do you think? Can you sell this wine?” and why I am disappointed that we failed to consider market-oriented issues. Are Finger Lakes Cab Francs competitively good wines, and are they competitively priced? Is there sufficient public awareness of or interest in Finger Lakes Cabernet Francs for them to compete successfully in the marketplace? These are critically important issues, at least as important as whether winemakers can get away with four or more tons of Cabernet Franc per acre, and it is the retailers and writers who know the answers to these particular questions, not the winemakers.
I am not blaming the winemakers for this missed opportunity. Indeed, there were several moments when retailers could have jumped into the discussion, as when one winemaker denied that overcropping was an issue and asserted that retailers needed simply to sell more wine. This overly simplistic statement, along with the fact that the retailers remained silent even when directly challenged, is an indication that there is at present little sense of community or common purpose among Finger Lakes winemakers and regional retailers. And yet we are bound together not merely by economic interest, but to a degree that we fail to appreciate, by a shared history. This is nowhere more evident than in the controversial subject of sweet table wines, which are both an existential scourge and a financial godsend. The account books of more than a few Finger Lakes wineries end up in the black, I suspect, because of sweet wines, as do the ledgers of many regional wine shops. Even boutique wine shops like The Savvy Wine Cellar, where I work, blow through more cases of Red Cat than we care to admit. More is going on here than economic necessity. Historically, culturally, put it however you want, this region – its consumers, wineries, and retailers – grew up on sweet wines, and we can no more easily escape our past than we can evade death or taxes. We can and should, however, push back harder against this history.
This is why fostering a closer sense of community is so important: everyone has something at stake in the debate over the historically- and culturally-rooted production of sweet wines. One of the biggest surprises of moving to Central New York and getting involved in wine sales was seeing the strength of local demand for sweet wines, and how unapologetic consumers are about their preference for treacle despite the decades-long international trend towards dry table wines. I can’t tell you how many customers have come into the wine shop who tell me they grew up drinking Lake Niagara, switched in early adulthood to Red Cat, and have never moved beyond semi-sweet Rieslings, not even to semi-dry wines. No one at the tasting was shocked, accordingly, when Peter Bell of Fox Run Vineyards acknowledged that his best selling Cab Franc is a back-sweetened red wine blend called Sable. Nor did anyone need to point out the obvious: sweet wines sell well in tasting rooms and at local wine shops, which is why winemakers continue to produce and retailers continue stock these wines
In addition to Peter Bell, a handful of other winemakers who participated in the tasting also produce off-dry red wines. To be fair, these off-dry reds are not the real villains, but are rather reasonably well made, fruit-driven summer wines that compare well with the lower priced dry red blends produced by nearly all Finger Lakes wineries. I myself have enjoyed a chilled glass of Tony’s Red on a hot afternoon, and I neither burst into flames nor have I as yet been tormented by the offended spirits of wine critics past. But we need to be honest and admit a few simple truths. First, despite the progress made over the past 20 years, the Finger Lakes are still awash in sweet wines. More than a few local owners and winemakers suffer from what I call “Red Cat envy,” as evidenced when Dick Reno, the owner of Chateau Lafayette Reneau, told me earlier this summer, and in all seriousness, that Red Cat is the best red wine produced in New York State. Not the most successful red wine, the best red wine. Alternately, one need only visit a warehouse-style discount retailer like Liquor City in Syracuse to see how few fine wines from the Finger Lakes are inventoried in comparison to locally produced plonk.
Second, and of greater import, I believe the region as a whole faces a not-too-distant day of reckoning for this short-sighted pandering to local demand. Here again, we need to be honest. Continued production of so much second-class wine undermines the efforts of forward-thinking winemakers to move the Finger Lakes region beyond its provincial adolescence, to full maturity as a world-class appellation. It may even, eventually damage the reputation of Finger Lakes winemaking beyond repair. All the more reason, then, for the region’s winemakers, retailers, and writers to recognize their interdependence and common purpose, and to find more opportunities to discuss the full range of issues that surround Finger Lakes winemaking, including those market-oriented issues we failed to consider at the tasting, but which profoundly effect us all.
Posted by Neil Brody Miller on July 31, 2009
[Author’s note: Given that this essay is part report and part editorial, I've decided to publish it in two installments. Part Two will be posted in a day or two.]
Winemaking in the Finger Lakes region is at an interesting, if awkward, crossroads, akin to an adolescent caught momentarily between the innocence and exhilaration of a first kiss, and the difficult decisions and delayed gratifications of adulthood. Due largely to the critical and commercial success of Riesling, professional wine writers and local enthusiasts have proclaimed the Finger Lakes a world-class winemaking region capable of competing successfully in the international marketplace, and look expectantly to the production of other fine wines, reds as well as whites, by local wineries. Although I count myself among the region’s most enthusiastic supporters, however, I came away from the Cabernet Franc tasting that took place earlier this week at the New York Wine and Culinary Center, which I helped organize, with mixed feelings, and with a sense that the owners and winemakers of Finger Lake’s wineries face some difficult decisions as the industry continues to mature.
In addition to Riesling, nearly all Finger Lakes wineries produce a range of wines from vinifera varietals. There is a lot of excitement and uncertainty about these varietals: excitement that one of them could emerge as the “next big thing” for Finger Lakes winemakers, comparable to what Pinot Noir has meant for Oregon vintners, Malbec for Argentinian winemakers, or Shiraz (Syrah) for the Australians; and uncertainty about which varietal – specifically which red wine varietal, if any – is best adapted to the Finger Lakes’ soils and microclimates. Some winemakers are zealously devoted to a single varietal, such as Tom Higgins of Heart and Hands Winery, who produces only Pinot Noir (see Jason Feulner’s blog entry on Lenndevours.com for more information about this winery). Other wineries are less willing to bet the farm on a single grape, and produce several dry red table wines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Bordeaux-style blends or Meritages, Pinot Noir, Lemberger (also known as Blaufrankisch, see Evan Dawson’s video entry on Lenndevours.com for what I see as a meaningless debate about a commercially marginal varietal), as well as a variety of dry and off-dry wines from French-American hybrids.
This is where the idea for the 2007 Cabernet Franc tasting originated. Among winemakers and professional wine writers, there is an emerging consensus that Cabernet Franc may be the red wine varietal best suited to the Finger Lakes region. The 2007 growing season, moreover, was unusually long and hot, and provided growers with some of the best conditions for harvesting fully ripened grapes of the past 20 years. With the 2007 Cab Francs coming to market, it seemed an ideal moment to gather a group of trade professionals – winemakers, food and wine writers and bloggers, and regional wine retailers – to taste the 2007 Cabernet Francs, compare them to Cab Francs from other wine growing regions, and assess and discuss the potential of the varietal for the Finger Lakes region. Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes editor for the New York Cork Report (formerly Lenndevours.com), and Peter Becraft, assistant winemaker at the Anthony Road Wine Company signed on in mid June as co-organizers; Alexa Gifford, Executive Director of the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, generously offered to host the tasting at the NYWCC, and Shannon Brock and Stephanie Wadhams, also of the NYWCC, worked out the details and planned the logistics of the tasting and the follow-up luncheon. By mid-July, an impressive group of winemakers, writers, and retailers had committed to participating in the event.
Winemakers:
Vincent Aliperti, Billsboro
Paul and Shannon Brock, Lamoreaux Landing
Peter Bell, Fox Run
Amy Cheatle and Phil Davis, Damiani
Kim Engle and Debra Bermingham, Bloomer Creek
Morten Hallgren, Ravines
Tom Higgins, Heart and Hands
Bob Madill and Dave Breeden, Sheldrake Point
Fred Merwarth, Hermann J. Wiemer
Johannes Reinhardt and Peter Becraft, Anthony Road
Rob and Kate Thomas, Shalestone
Dave Whiting, Red Newt
Mark Wiltberger, Keuka Spring
Writers and Retailers:
Jennifer Baskerville-Barrows, Cookin’ in the ‘Cuse, Edible Finger Lakes
Andrew Bowman, Andrew’s Wine Cellar, Oswego
Don Cazentre, Syracuse Post-Standard
Matt Christen, The Wine House, Manlius
Evan Dawson, The New York Cork Report
Holly Howell, RIT, Mountain Home Magazine
Rob Lane, Finger Lakes Weekend Wino, Mountain Home Magazine
Tom Mansell, Ithacork
Morgen McLaughlin, Finger Lakes Wine Country
Neil Miller, Stressing the Vine
Thomas Pellechia, VinoFictions
Dale and Allison Record, The Savvy Wine Cellar, Camillus
Gavin Sacks, Cornell University
David Sparrow, Sparrow’s Wines, Ithaca
Tom Tucker, Balloon Juice
Paula Valeri, BDL Wines, Rochester
Jason Wentworth, Northside Wines, Ithaca
As impressive as is this list, it was clear from the beginning that not all winemakers or retailers could participate (the NYWCC Demonstration Room seats 44 people), and that not all of the 2007 Finger Lakes Cab Francs would be sampled and discussed. Several winemakers were suggested who could not be accommodated, and several wines were recommended that were not selected. Altogether, however, I believe that a credible representation was assembled of the region’s trade professionals and 2007 Cab Francs. Evan Dawson, who led the tasting, arranged the tasting in two flights of eight wines each, with an additional flight of six reserve Cab Francs served with lunch.
Flight One.
Red Newt
Lamoreaux Landing
Shalstone
Anthony Road (Cabernet Franc-Lemberger)
Charles Joguet Chinon Clos de la Dioterie (2005)
Sheldrake Point
Ravines
Billsboro
Flight Two.
Weimer
Fox Run
Bloomer Creek
Damiani
Shinn Estate (Long Island)
Dr. Frank
Domaine des Valettes Bourgueil (2005)
Keuka Spring
Luncheon Flight:
Lamoreaux Landing T23
Anthony Road Martini-Reinhardt Selection
Red Newt Glacier Ridge Vineyards
Red Newt Sawmill Creek Vineyards
Charles Joguet Chinon Les Varennes du Grand Clos Franc de Pied (2005)
Sheldrake Point Barrel Reserve
Of the 16 wines poured for the tasting, my personal favorites were, in the order tasted: the Red Newt, Shalestone, Billsboro, Damiani, and Keuka Spring. All of these wines exhibited rich ripe cherry, plum, and berry flavors, with additional aromas and/or flavors of herbs, tobacco and mocha or chocolate. They were all flavorful, well made wines with good balance, concentration, and varietal expression that I would recommend enthusiastically to anyone interested in checking out a good Finger Lakes Cab Franc.
My least favorite wines, to my surprise, turned out to be the Joguet Chinons and the Valettes Bourgueil, which exhibited what the French insist is the unique terroir of their vineyards, but which were simply funky aromas and flavors. And I don’t mean P-Funk, Bootsy Collins, “get down with your bad self” funky, I mean freshly manured farm field, dirty sweat sock funky. Several of the winemakers and the more enologically savvy participants – Gavin Sacks of Cornell University, and Tom Mansell of Ithacork – attributed these off-putting aromas and flavors to “Brett” or brettanomyces, a problematical yeast strain. For my purposes, however, “funky” sufficed. More than I realized, my continued criticism of Parkeresque “fruit bombs,” excessive alcohol levels, and overly ripe wines notwithstanding, my taste has turned decidedly towards clean, fruit-driven, New World winemaking. Here, at least, I found myself in good company, as four of my top rated wines also numbered among the winemakers’ personal favorites (see Evan Dawson’s blog entry on the tasting for a more detailed breakdown of the results).
This is the point with which I want to conclude Part I of my essay. It became clear by the end of the second flight that the Finger Lakes Cab Francs were recognizably distinct from the French wines and the Long Island Cab Franc from Shinn Estates, and possessed general characteristics indicative of an emerging regional identity. In addition to the clean, varietally correct flavors typical of New World winemaking, the Finger Lakes Cab Francs were less deeply extracted (but no less flavorful), a bit lighter in terms of color and weight, tending towards a brilliant ruby garnet and medium body, highly aromatic, and with higher levels of acidity. Several of the wines were overly tannic, but many exhibited surprisingly soft tannins for what are still very young wines, as well as good structure and aging potential. Several participants commented on a lack of balance or overly high acidity in some of the wines, but I didn’t note either of these issues in the better wines. The reserve wines, which I forgot to mention earlier, were also uniformly excellent. The Lamoreaux Landing T23, technically not a reserve bottling but a “Loire style” wine fermented in stainless steel, was deeply fruity, consumer friendly, and very affordable ($14.99). The Red Newt single-vineyard Cab Francs, especially the Sawmill Creek Vineyards bottling, although pricey and a bit hard to find outside of the winery, were world-class wines well worth the effort and expense of tracking them down.
The best Cab Francs from the tasting, accordingly, were outstanding wines, with a weight and texture closer to Pinot Noir than to Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. This may be good news for Finger Lakes winemakers if they can figure out how to educate consumers about Cab Franc’s many attractive qualities, and how better to position and promote their Cab Francs in the marketplace. Pinot Noir consumption has been rising steadily for years, and more and more customers come into the wine shop every week seeking classically structured red wines that pair better with food than over extracted fruit bombs. These are big “ifs,” however, and I found little evidence at the tasting that either issue was being adequately addressed. The idea that consumers need simply to “buy more wine,” which was one winemaker’s off-the-cuff response to the topic of over production, is hardly a plausible or practical business strategy.
Next: Part II: There’s the Rub