Posts Written ByBryan Calandrelli

A Sampling of Arrowhead Spring’s 2008 Estate Reds

Duncan Ross, owner and winemaker of Arrowhead Spring Vineyards, pours his new reds. By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor Arrowhead Spring Vineyards billed their last tasting event at the winery as a “Release Event Special.” The tasting, which included five new reds grown in the winery’s own vineyard and one pinot noir sourced from Demaison Vineyard just down the road, wasn’t hyped as their first big estate-grown-red release, but that’s exactly what it was in my view. Since many wineries are still buying grapes outside the county here, any time a winery releases the first wines made from their own…

Bringing Leland’s Vineyard Back to Life

Pinot Noir from Leland's Vineyard being pressed at Arrowhead Spring Vineyards. By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Editor As I make my way up the steps of Arrowhead Spring Vineyards with Leland Mote, the local vineyard owner compliments me on a recent story I wrote for this site about Warm Lake Estate. But before I have a chance to thank him he adds, “Oh yeah, but you left out a few things.” When I first met Mote three years ago I knew him as the guy from California who bought prime Escarpment property and made a deal with Warm Lake to plant,…

The Obsessions of a Home Winemaker

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Regional Editor The combination of my three previous years’ experience making wine at home and this year’s epic growing season has created incredibly high expectations for my personal 2010 wines. No longer am I content to just make a wine that is “not bad.” Once again I'm getting pristine fruit from some of the Niagara region's best vineyards and I have no excuse not to make wine just as good if not better than the pros. This season I’m sticking to grapes that I know and love: pinot noir and cabernet franc. Leading off this year’s…

2010 Harvest Update: Niagara USA Early Harvest Report

By Bryan Calandrelli, Regional Editor Niagara Wine Country USA is in the middle of its most significant — and exciting — harvest to date. Never before has their been this many vineyards producing vinifera, hybrid and native grapes for wine. My first glimpse of this year’s crush was at Schulze Vineyards & Winery, where owner Martin Schulze was in the middle of crushing cabernet franc grown by one of the region’s newest vinifera growers, his longtime friend Kimball Paterson. Schulze usually produces a nouveau-style cabernet franc along with his reserve dry, so it should be fascinating to taste his estate-grown…

Living With the Ghost of Warm Lake Estate Vineyard & Winery

Driving past the “Wine Tasting Today” sign on the side of Lower Mountain Road in Cambria, I’m reminded of my first months in the Niagara Region – a feeling that’s compounded when my eyes invariably train toward the “Help Wanted” sign right next to it. It’s the same sign that I read four years ago that led me to my first job in the wine industry. As I follow the arrows pointing up the hill toward Warm Lake Estate’s tasting room, I don’t remember the road being as potholed and bumpy as it somehow feels today. When the winery itself…

Looking back at the Niagara Wine & Culinary Festival

Two weeks ago the Niagara Wine Trail hosted its second annual Niagara Wine and Culianry Festival at Artpark in Lewiston, NY, welcoming close to 1,100 guests to taste local wine and eat local food during a weekend that saw perfect weather. In its second year, the event drew twice as many people as its first. I had an insider’s look at this year’s festival as I spent all day Sunday pouring wine and schmoozing with food vendors. Having just participated in the much larger Finger Lakes Wine Festival I was impressed at how coordinated the Niagara event was despite its…

The Finger Lakes Wine Festival Deserves Our Attention

Wine tasting at the Schulze Vineyards & Winery table. By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor The annual Finger Lakes Wine Festival draws tens of thousands of visitors to the region, pumping money into the local economy while helping to promote and support one the country’s largest wine industries. So why don’t we take it seriously? To come away with a well-rounded story about this year’s Finger Lakes Wine Festival, I should’ve gotten a VIP pass and media credentials. I should’ve had time to go the vintner’s room and participate in the various seminars and tastings. I would’ve needed the whole…

What Niagara Brings to the Finger Lakes Wine Festival

Yours truly with the staff of Schulze Vineyards & Winery at last year's Finger Lakes Wine Festival By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor Niagara region wineries don’t often get the chance to pour for large audiences and even if they did, most don’t have the volume of wine that they can just pour away as samples. Luckily the annual Finger Lakes Wine Festival is open to any New York State winery that wants to brave the crowds and take advantage of the opportunity to hand sell their wines to thousands of eager drinkers in Watkins Glen, NY. This year there…

Expansion and a New Direction at Schulze Vineyards

Schulze Vineyards & Winery doubled its production area this spring. by Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor When I arrived at Schulze Vineyards & Winery to sit down with owner Martin Schulze to discuss his namesake winery’s expansion, I shouldn’t have been surprised that there wouldn’t be any actual sitting. Martin is someone who is well known on the trail for working 25 hours a day — this day wasn’t any different. And Schulze was getting ready to rack his latest batch of Ruby in preparation for bottling. “I only have 2,000 gallons left of the Ruby and what is this,…

Heart & Hands Wine Company TasteCamp Finale: Finger Lakes Pinot Noir In Its Purest Form

Owner Tom Higgins addressing TasteCamp attendees before the tasting. by Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor Last Sunday TasteCamp 2010 came to a close with a memorable visit to Heart &Hands Wine Company on the east side of Seneca Lake. We’d all heard about this boutique winery that specializes in pinot noir but most of us had never had the opportunity to experience unfinished wines in the barrel room with owners Tom and Susan Higgins leading the way. As a home winemaker, I was once again using this opportunity to ask some of the questions that build up over a season…