Posts Written OnApril 13, 2009

Wine Importer Neal Rosenthal on Filtration

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Correspondent After the recent discussion regarding the effects of filtration on wine, I contacted wine importer Neal Rosenthal for his thoughts. Over the past three decades Rosenthal has been a leading voice calling for unfiltered wines. In his book Reflections of a Wine Merchant, Rosenthal writes often about how he routinely asked winemakers to stop filtering wines. He also wrote a brief defense of Brettanomyces, but he did not connect Brett and filtration in his book. I appreciate his response, and I learned a bit about the evolution of filtration. I'd love to hear from…

Quick Q&A with Chris Stamp, Winemaker, Lakewood Vineyards

On my recent trip to Seneca Lake, one of the wineries that surprised me the most was Lakewood Vineyards. Winemaker Chris Stamp is making some classic, well-priced riesling, doing some interesting things with New York oak in his chardonnay and cabernet franc programs and even impressed with some of the hybrid blends. This week, we pose our Q&A questions to Chris: What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? First, you should know that although I grew up on a grape farm, my parents rarely had wine, or any alcoholic beverages around the house. Not because…