By Melissa Dobson, Finger Lakes News Correspondent A shared passion and commitment to the "buy local, sell local" mindset brought Shaw Vineyard to select Elmira Distributing as its new distribution partner. Shaw Vineyard has a reputation for high-quality wines across their entire line and owner Steve Shaw is happy to be in the company of other wineries in Elmira Distributing's portfolio. Elmira Distributing represents a handful of Finger Lakes wineries, including Atwater Vineyards, Castel Grisch, Sheldrake Point Vineyards and now Shaw Vineyard. Both Shaw and his son, Steve Shaw Jr., respect the roots and good record that Elmira Distributing has…
Posts Written OnJuly 30, 2009
Cabernet Franc: What We Learned From 656 Glasses of Wine
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Photos by Morgan Dawson When the demonstration room at the New York Wine & Culinary Center filled up at 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, 328 glasses of cabernet franc lit up the amphitheater like strands of single-color Christmas lights. It was a bit daunting for the 42 winemakers, winegrowers, industry professionals, newspaper writers, retailers and bloggers. And that was just the first flight. When the event (get some back story) finally ended three hours later we had tasted through 13 Finger Lakes 2007 cabernet francs, 3 Loire Valley cabernet francs, one Long Island cabernet franc,…
Hunt Country Vineyards 2008 Valvin Muscat
By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief Back in mid-June when Evan visited Hunt Country Vineyards, new winemaker Jonathan Hunt singled out Valvin Muscat as the grape he is most excited about working with. At the time, I thought it an interesting, even surprising choice. The Finger Lakes region shows limitless potential with classic aromatic white varieties like riesling and gewurztraminer. Why would a winemaker with long-time family roots in the region choose a hybrid developed by Bruce Reisch at Cornell University that was only released in 2006? Apparently, he truly believes in the grapes potential. And, after tasting this wine…