By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes CorrespondentPhoto by Morgan Dawson I nearly sprinted down to my basement — ahem, cellar — when Lenn made a bit of a shocking announcement last week: His 2007 Ravines Argetsinger Riesling was closed with a synthetic cork. This is a very highly regarded wine (Lenn included it in his 2008 wines of the year) and it seems destined to improve with time. Wine Spectator gave it 89 points and advised readers to "drink now through 2009;" I found that assessment to be wholly misguided and actually wrote, in silver marker, the words "drink after 2020"…
Posts Written OnJanuary 2009
Why the Pessimism, Howard?
In last weekend's New York Times, columnist Howard Goldberg penned a piece "More Trouble for Vintners" that paints an uneccessarily bleak picture for New York wineries in 2009. In the story, he points to Governor Paterson's proposed budget, the possible elimination of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF), and the closing of both Vintage NY wine shops (which only sold NY wines) as the reasons for "more trouble." All three could potentially be detrimental to Long Island and other New York wineries, but they are only a part of the story. A small sliver in fact. The closing…
Channing Daughters Winery 2007 Rosso Fresco
Chris Tracy, winemaker at Channing Daughters Winery, thinks of Long Island as a white wine region, which is a unique stance in the industry. It's hard to argue with him when you taste the white wines in Channing Daughters' portfolio though. He creates some unique-to-Long Island blends with Northern Italy as the model and the results are often delicious and always interesting. His red wines, however, are sometimes a bit less polished. This wine, Channing Daughters 2007 Rosso Fresco ($18) is a blend of 80% merlot, 14% syrah, 2% blaufrankisch, 2% cabernet franc and 2% dornfelder. It's the second vintage…
Quick Q&A with Anthony Nappa, Winemaker, Shinn Estate Vineyards
Anthony Nappa (left), winemaker at Shinn Estate Vineyards, on the 2008 crush pad. For the first Q&A of 2009, we pose our standard questions to Anthony Nappa, winemaker at Shinn Estate Vineyards in Mattituck, NY. Anthony is still a relative newcomer to the region and is one of the East Coast's youngest winemakers. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? Outside of Boone’s Farms when I was young, I didn’t drink much wine except on holidays with the family, mostly Italian wine or homebrew. Asti Spumante at Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving is still a favorite.…
Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Dry Riesling
Of all the Finger Lakes wines that I review every year, those from Dr. Konstantin Frank are among my favorites. Why? Well, for one, the whites are consistently good, especially the aromatic whit varieties like riesling and Gewürztraminer. For another, these are often the only quality New York wines that my friends and family back in Pittsburgh have any chance of seeing in their local, state-run liquor stores. Much like the other wine regions of New York, the Finger Lakes enjoyed a long, hot growing season in 2007 and that is apparent in many of the wines I've tasted from…
News Clips about Christian Wolffer and His Passing
The Wolffer family is expected to give a brief statement today during which we'll hopefully learn about any memorial services here on Long Island. In the mean time, Christian Wolffer's death has been covered extensively in media outlets throughout the U.S. and beyond and I thought you might appreciate a few links to the stories: Vineyard owner Christian Wolffer killed by boat (Newsday) Hamptons Wine Mogul Killed (NY Post) Models Swim to Try to Save Hamptons Mogul (NY Post) German-born US winery owner dies in Brazil in apparent boating accident (LA Times) Brazilian model tries to save wine mogul (Daily…
Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Reserve Gewurztraminer
Too often the descriptor "food wine" is used in a negative way, used to describe wines that aren't all that pleasing on their own. This is, of course, preposterous, and is just a way for writers to soften the blow when writing reviews of mediocre wines. Wine is meant to be enjoyed with food. At least it should be. Saying that a wine needs food, should be a given. This Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Gewuztraminer Reserve ($25) doesn't need food, but it sure does shine with it (or at least it did with the green Thai curry chicken and zucchini…
Winter in Long Island Wine Country
Wolffer Estate 2005 Caya Cabernet Franc
Wolffer Estate's winemaker, Roman Roth, made some delicious and unique wines to commemorate the winery's 20th anniversary, and this wine the Wolffer Estate 2005 "Caya" Cabernet Franc ($40) is one of them (even if I liked the 04 a bit better). The commemorative wines are all named for horses in the Wolffer Stables and this one bears the name of Caya, a 16- year old Hanoverian Warmblood and a Grand Prix winner. This blend of 86% cabernet franc and 14% merlot shows ripe, intense blackberry and cassis fruit aromas on the nose, which are accented by vanilla, toasty oak and…
In Memorium: Christian Wolffer, Owner, Wolffer Estate
Some sad news has hit the Long Island wine community today in the form of a report that Christian Wolffer, entrepreneur and founder/owner of Wolffer Estate has died in a boating accident in Brazil. I haven't heard any details beyond that yet, but this is obviously a terribly sad day for the Long Island wine community. As Charles Massoud, co-owner of Paumanok Vineyards (who emailed me about Wolffer's passing) said "Christian was one of our early wave wine producers who has committed himself to quality and excellence. And I think he has accomplished what he set out to do, with…