Posts Written OnJanuary 12, 2010

Finding the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wines of the Year — and Finding a Region’s Emerging Personality

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Photos by Morgan Dawson Photography In a chic western New York wine bar called Sapore, on a quiet Sunday afternoon, a group of colleagues and competitors did something they had never done before. They poured one another's wines in an introduction to the New York Cork Report and an effort to promote the Chautauqua-Lake Erie wine trail.   Producers chose to feature only white and dessert wines for this tasting, and while these wines represented the best of this wine region, they're not showing the same quality that consumers can find in the Finger Lakes and Long Island. But for now, they don't…

Ravines Wine Cellars 2008 Argetsinger Vineyard Dry Riesling

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Often in the wine world certain wineries or vineyards are noticed by a writer or two and a huge mountain of hype ensues — sometimes warranted and sometimes not. If you've been paying attention to the Finger Lakes region for very long, you've heard the hype about Ravines Wine Cellars and winemaker Morten Hallgren. If you're a bit more of a geek, you've probably heard about Sam Argetsinger and his vineyard on Seneca Lake. In this case, the hype is warranted. If I were to start a winery in the Finger Lakes, Morten would be on…

Taste Live Tomorrow Night: Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Just a reminder that tomorrow night I'll be co-hosting a live Twitter tasting of four cabernet franc-based Finger Lakes wines as a part of TasteLive. My co-hosts are the folks from Finger Lakes Wine Country (FLWC) and at least two of the winemakers whose wines we'll be tasting. FLWC launched a TasteLive page a month or so ago, and this will be the first event to really kick off the page. There will be many more, so stay tuned for more announcements. For this edition, we'll be tasting these four wines (in this order) starting at…

What We Drank (January 11, 2010)

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief This week's What We Drank is a good one for two reasons. First, almost everyone on the team chimed in with something noteworthy. Second, it really shows that we're as big of beer geeks as we are wine geeks. Enjoy! Evan Dawson: Max Ferd. Richter Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese 2006 If this were a Finger Lakes riesling it would be labeled "semi-sweet." My feeling is that critics and perhaps more fanatical consumers stay away from that designation in the Finger Lakes; I've heard people say it's a riesling line to please the sweet wine drinkers. Perhaps…