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 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.
