By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor If you wanted to gain an understanding of what a winemaker is trying to accomplish, how long would you need? How many wines would you want to taste? How many steps would you need to take in the vineyard? How many questions would you want to ask? There is no set standard, obviously. But one of the most valuable exercises we have is the in-person visit to the winery. It helps writers get to know the winemaker, and perhaps the owner and the grower and the staff. It helps us comprehend why certain decisions are…
Posts Written ByEvan Dawson
Red Newt Prepares to Launch Deb Whiting Foundation with Kick-off Dinner Event this Friday
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Seats still remain for what Red Newt Bistro is billing as "the wine and food event of the season." This Friday, December 2, Red Newt Bistro host a special dinner that will raise funds for the new Debra Whiting Foundation. The cost to attend is a $100 donation to the foundation. "Debra was a woman of passion," says Dave Whiting, owner of Red Newt Cellars and Bistro. "We were passionately in love, and she worked, breathed, and lived with a passion. This event is an expression in so many ways of what Debra lived…
Five Things I Learned From a Night of Bartending
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor There is so much to learn from a single night of tending bar. On a recent Saturday, I was one of several bartenders for a charity fundraiser in Rochester. It was a farm-to-table event put together by the fine folks at Breathe Yoga, and it featured local food and all Finger Lakes wines. I recruited the wine donations, then tended bar myself. Here's what I learned. 1. People like red wine, and Finger Lakes reds are plenty passable for the masses I divided the red wines into two main groups: lighter-bodied reds (mostly pinot…
Some Finger Lakes Wineries Favor Synthetic Corks for Their Best Wines; Should They?
By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor, and Tom Mansell, Science Editor Serious wine consumers are not, generally speaking, fans of synthetic cork. Most recoil at the sight of a plastic cork being pulled from a bottle they had otherwise been excited to open. Is this bias unfair? Maybe. Companies are working to improve the quality of synthetic corks. We'll get to that in a bit. But there's no denying that synthetic corks make a clear statement to the serious consumer, whether intended or not. "Cheap," said one of the many tasters on the evening of the recent Finger Lakes Riesling Hour.…
Cheap vs. Quality: Is Wine Different?
By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor Last week I read the San Francisco Chronicle's Jon Bonne's outstanding takedown of cheap, bulk wine. I sent it to a few friends who are marginally interested in wine, but occasionally gripe that wine is too elitist. I thought Bonne's piece was direct and, if you pardon the pun, on the money. But a friend sent a reply that had me thinking. Here's the full email: Evan Nice piece by Bonne, but there's one thing he leaves out. He writes about wine as if it's the same as burgers or cars. Basically, he makes it…
Mud, Sprays, and Compromise: Veteran Lakewood Grower Explains How He Handled a Tough Vintage
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Dave Stamp, the vineyard manager at Lakewood Vineyards on Seneca Lake, wears shorts every day during harvest, which he says "might be tradition, and it might be just stupid." If it's the latter, then it's one of the only stupid things Dave does in the vineyard; everything else is carefully considered and based on 25 years of experience. That doesn't mean he makes the right call every time, and it doesn't mean every other grower will agree with his decisions. But it does mean that there are few people more qualified to tell the story…
Most Demanding Vintage Ever? Sounds Like Hyperbole, but in the Finger Lakes, 2011 Just Might Be
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Photos courtesy Lakewood Vineyards. Above: Vineyard Manager Dave Stamp rides the harvester on a gloomy harvest day. Below: Early October riesling grapes at Lakewood showed clean fruit with occasional affected berries Up and down Seneca Lake, no one was sleeping. No one was going home. After weeks of slowly building rot among the vines, the rains departed and the sun had gloriously returned. It was the 10th day of October, and this was the window, the chance, the opportunity to do the work and pull the 2011 vintage out of the fires of rot…
Harvest Update: Sorting Pinot for the New Forge Cellars
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Get used to this image: sorting lines, rare in the Finger Lakes, will be making regular appearances as wineries deal with fruit that varies wildly in quality. At the new Forge Cellars (a small project run by winemaker Justin Boyette, Rick Rainey, and Frenchman Louis Barruol from Gigondas), sorting will be a routine part of the operation. In this photo, Boyette inspects the fruit with the crew. Rainey's comment is particularly telling: "See you in the wee hours," he said. "Luckily, we have beer!" The commitment to sorting would benefit every winery that doesn't…
Harvest Update: Most Finger Lakes Pinot is in, as Seen at Keuka Lake Vineyards
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Photo courtesy Tricia Barry Pinot noir is always one of the first off the vine, as it ripens early in the season. Many Finger Lakes wineries picked their pinot during a long stretch of sunshine that lasted from the middle of last week until this past Tuesday. Only a small percentage of vineyards still have pinot hanging, and most will wait until another forecasted run of warmth and sun that could last for much of the next week. It has been a struggle. Disease pressure has soared this year, thanks to wildly inconsistent weather…
At Ravines Wine Cellars, Relying on Honesty with Customers About a Challenging Growing Year
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Winery owners can spin all they like, but consumers won't forget how miserable the early spring was, or how brutal July became. And it doesn't take an expert grower to know that these are not ideal vineyard conditions. And yet spin is a common part of any business, wine not the least among them. So when grower Sam Argetsinger (blue shirt at right) and Ravines Wine Cellars winemaker Morten Hallgren addressed the annual Ravinous Club luncheon, it was refreshing to hear tell their customers exactly what they were thinking. "Spring started wet and cold,…