Posts Written OnMarch 2010

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief The differences between this Finger Lakes syrah and the one I reviewed a couple weeks ago might be the simple result of vintage variation — 2007 was far hotter than 2008. Not that this wine is completely underripe, mind you. It's just not as ripe as the 2007. It has some nice qualities, but it isn't going to convince anyone that syrah is anything more than a bit player in the region. Black pepper dominates the nose, with spicy, earthy notes over top of restrained black cherry and blueberry fruit. After being open for a day,…

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Are you familiar with La Paulée, the traditional Burgundian celebration held at the end of the grape harvest? No? I wasn't either until Kareem Massoud from Paumanok Vineyards introduced me to it a while back. At its core, it's a big BYOB party — but so much more. It's a chance to open up that special bottle of older or large format local wine, sharing it with fellow local wine geeks and industry members. (Read about the history of La Paulée) At the time, Kareem also mentioned that he wanted to bring the concept to Long…

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief In 2007, Dave Whiting, winemaker and co-owner of Red Newt Cellars made two single-vineyard cabernet francs, one from Sawmill Creek Vineyards and this Red Newt Cellars 2007 Glacier Ridge Vineyards Cabernet Franc ($39). The two wines are quite different — particularly in the way in which the oak reveals itself. Smoky and decidedly more vanilla-tinged, this wine's nose also shows wonderful, lush blackberry, plum, bittersweet chocolate and subtle rosemary herbal accents. Impressively hefty a rich on the palate, fruit flavors of plum and blackberry are masked a bit by the smoke, oak and vanilla flavors. With…

Six vintages of Paumanok Vineyards Grand Vintage Merlot By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Let's say you own a winery. A good winery. One that is often pointed to as one of your region's best, in fact. Wouldn't you dip into your library, enjoying maturing and mature bottles of your own wine regularly, just because you can? Apparently not, at least not if you're the Massouds from Paumanok Vineyards. Between tasting wines that are still being made — from tank and barrel — tasting upcoming releases to determine when they are ready for the public,  selling current releases, selling those wines and…

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Despite all the naysayers in the media and various wine geek circles, some Hudson River Valley wineries have really embraced hybrids and are making far more serious wines with them. Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent is one such winery. They make a line of vinifera reds, but that fruit comes from Long Island. Their riesling is made with Finger Lakes fruit. The most interesting wines in the portfolio — the ones that deserve the most attention — are hybrids like baco noir and this soon-to-be-released Chelois. Winemaker Steve Casscles has been growing and vinifying hybrids for years…

  By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor The easy part was the business plan. The hard part was the wine. For a family of three boys and their wine-loving father, the business side would work itself out. The boys had known since childhood that they'd figure out a way to work alongside their energetic, labor-loving father. It didn't hurt that he was a long-time cardiologist who made a good living — good enough to support a new winery. But Dr. Fred Zugibe was more than just the money. He surprised his three sons — Fred III, 34; Brendan, 32; and…

Some announcements and happenings from around New York wine country. If you have news that you'd like to be considered for this almost-weekly column, please let us know via email.  Finger Lakes Vineyard Training Series at Damiani Wine Cellars Damiani Wine Cellars is offering a five-part vineyard training designed to allow participants to "follow a vineyard from dormant vine pruning to harvest." Grower Phil Davis will lead the sessions, which are slated to run 90 minutes each. The first is April 3 and will provide a vineyard tour and lessons on pruning. Later sessions will focus on trellis work, shoot…

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-ChiefPhoto courtesy of East Coast Wineries A friend of mine in the Hudson Valley gave me this bottle of El Paso Winery NV "Just Plain White" ($10) and I knew next to nothing about it when I tasted it. And, after visiting the winery's website I don't know much either, other than that it's a "medium to semi-dry Chenin Blanc blend" even though the label says "Dry Table Wine." I tasted it before visiting the website however, and I wouldn't have guessed chenin blanc at all. The nose is very seyval blanc-like to me with apple and…