Posts Written ByBryan Calandrelli

Finger Lakes Wine Festival Love, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fruit Bomb

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent Perhaps the only thing crazier than attending the Finger Lakes Wine Festival as an attendee is actually pouring wine at it. Now, I’d conceded that the crowds, party atmosphere and prevalence of sweet wine kept me from attending in the past, and I would never want to be the ringleader for a team of winery employees planning the logistics of participating in the festival. But, when I was given the opportunity this year to pour for a local winery, I just couldn’t pass it up — especially because all I had to do was show…

Day Dreaming About Pinot Noir in the Niagara Region

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Regional Correspondent When I venture out to other wine regions in New York State and introduce myself as being from the Niagara region, the most common response is…”Oh pinot noir, huh…how’s Warm Lake doing?” I usually give a generic answer and then talk about the other wineries that have just opened and more importantly, the other grapes that have been planted. The reality is that Warm Lake Estate and the creation of the Niagara Escarpment AVA has intentionally branded the region for pinot noir. Given the climate, length of growing season and abundance of clay over…

Storm Chasing in Niagara Wine Country

  By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent As if grape growing in true cool climate areas wasn’t hard enough with extreme winter temperatures, early and late frost dangers and a constant battle with humidity, time after time severe storms add to the risk with hail outbreaks that can spoil an otherwise great vintage. The vineyard pictured above is owned by Schulze Vineyards & Winery in Burt, NY. These very same vines took a nasty hit from hail last year and left grower Martin Schulze with his share of damaged fruit. Martin, who came over from Germany as a child, has been…

Snapshot from Niagara Wine Country

  By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Escarpment Correspondent I took this photo while heading towards Lewiston to pick up a picnic table for the farm. There are hundreds of scenes like this up here and I am finding new ones everyday. The tree line above is the top of the Niagara Escarpment and the vineyards just below represent the potential of this area to me. I’ve never noticed this vineyard before, and I couldn’t even tell you what road to take to get up there. From what I can tell these are native vines, probably Niagara, growing in what would be…

Did You Hear We Make Icewine Up Here in Niagara USA?

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent The more I get out and see what some other wine regions sell as dessert wine, and specifically how much they charge, the more I realize just how precious the climate of the Niagara USA wine region really is. While they do get a lot of local press, it's great to see national recognition of these small wineries' icewines. Schulze Vineyards & Winery just received a gold medal for their 2008 Vidal Icewine at the Riverside Wine Competition in California. Ann and Martin Schulze were thrilled when they read the news on the New York…

Spring Brings Some Niagara Region News

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent With only twelve wineries in the Niagara region, news just doesn’t happen everyday. During most of the winter, a few wineries may only open on weekends, or in one case, one weekend out of the month. So now that winter is loosening its grip, some good news has surfaced with the melting snow. The 2009 Finger Lakes International Competition was good to several Niagara wineries, and there was one standout result. Leonard Oakes Estate Winery was awarded a double gold medal for its 2007 Frontenac. If you haven’t heard of this grape, don’t worry, it’s…

A Tale of Two Niagaras

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent Lately, it’s been frustrating for me to keep fresh information about Niagara wines flowing to the readers of LENNDEVOURS. I’ve written about a handful of wineries producing dry wines that I’ve been excited about, but I’ve dealt with some trepidation concerning some of the others in the region. It’s the same feeling you might get when a new girlfriend comes home with you to meet your family. There’s always that one aunt or uncle that you haven’t quite mentioned before everyone meets face to face. Well, it’s about to get awkward as I introduce you…

The Ice Wine Cometh

By Bryan Callandrelli, Niagara Correspondent This year’s Niagara region ice wine harvest is underway, with three local wineries braving temperatures that barely broke single digits (windchills were well below zero) to collect those precious frozen grapes during seemingly perfect harvest conditions. The harvest window this year was a long one, as frigid temperatures have lingered in the region for several days. Niagara Landing in Cambria, Schulze Vineyards & Winery in Burt and Leonard Oakes Winery in Medina all had crews out last week collecting either Vidal or Catawba grapes. Domenic Carisetti, winemaker/consultant for all three wineries, was busy overseeing the…

Looking Back at 2008 in the Niagara Region

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Escarpment Correspondent When Lenn asked me to write about the five most exciting wines of 2008 from the Niagara region, I assumed that I could rattle them off in a heartbeat. But when I really sat down to put my list together, I realized something; it takes a lot these days to really get me going – at least when it comes to wine. In established wine regions, I usually reserve my excitement for estate-grown wines or hard-to-find varietals. In Niagara wine country, however, things are a bit different. For one, we’re still in the pioneer…

Niagara’s 2008 Vintage: Growing Season Expectations

Bryan working the harvest at Freedom Run Winery By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent This year, only a handful of growers and wineries were expecting anything close to a full crop from their young vines here in the Niagara Escarpment. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn’t kind to many of them. With at least three hailstorms, relentless humidity and warm, soggy conditions, this was not the season to have your sprayer break down. Those that survived hail damage had to spray often to battle mildew and the not-so-noble sour rot. Ripening was slightly delayed with most varieties, but there’s one silver lining: if…