Posts Tagged“2012”

Channing Daughters Winery 2012 Ribolla Gialla

Orange wine — that is white wines made in the style of red wines with extended skin contact — isn’t for everyone. Me, I find them fascinating and like them, though I’ll admit that my affection for them sometimes resides in my head instead of my heart. Intellectual stimulation over visceral enjoyment. Teasing apart the layers of flavor and texture that define James Christopher Tracy’s lineup of orange wines at Channing Daughters Winery is a fun parlor game among wine geeks — but I’ve poured them for non-geeks and the reaction is typically mixed. My wife doesn’t like them at…

Searching for — and Finding — Distinctiveness in Finger Lakes Pinot Noir

Producing pinot noir is the wine industry’s equivalent to a high-wire act. When done right, it can be spectacular and breathtaking. But it requires courage and commitment, and leaves little margin for error. Pinot noir is a thin-skinned grape that requires a cool climate with moderate temperatures to be successfully cultivated. Excessive heat can rob the fruit of flavor and acidity. While it is fairly adaptable to different soil types (provided that the soil drains well), it also requires a certain amount of precipitation and long hang time for the variety’s characteristic aromas and complex flavors to develop. Despite conventional…

Kemmeter Wines 2012 Sonero

The entry-level offering from winemaker Johannes Reindhardt’s recently launched Kemmeter Wines label, the Kemmeter Wines 2012 Sonero ($14) is a friendly, fruity expression of riesling with intense aromas of juicy pear, hard lemon candies and something vaguely soapy. Medium-light bodied with subtle mid-palate richness, the palate shows similar flavors –candied citrus and pear — with a faint gravelly mineral note. Though not flabby or cloying, there isn’t enough acidity to balance the residual sugar here, leaving the palate a bit flat and lacking verve. Producer: Kemmeter Wines AVA: New York Price: $14 | Buy now from Empire State Cellars (2.5 out of 5, Average-to-Very…

Red Tail Ridge Winery 2012 “RTR Estate Vineyard” Riesling

With each set of new releases, Nancy Irelan and Mike Schnelle — the husband-and-wife team behind Red Tail Ridge Winery — cement their place as one of the top wineries in the Finger Lakes.  The wine geek in me is drawn to Nancy’s (she’s the winemaker) Obscure Varietal Series, which includes things like dornfelder, teroldego and blaufrankisch, but those are small production and may never be anything more. To be a top-tier Finger Lakes winery, you need to do riesling well. Nancy does that consistently and Red Tail Ridge Winery 2012 “RTR Estate Vineyard” Riesling ($16) is just another example…

Waters Crest Winery 2012 Reserve Sauvignon Blanc

Despite the warm growing season and 2 months in French oak, the nose on Waters Crest Winery 2012 Reserve Sauvigon Blanc ($30) is surprisingly tame, offering light aromas of roasted apples, honey and lemons. Soft and mouth-filling, the palate combines candied green apple (think Jolly Rancher) and Golden Delicious apple flavors accented by light citrus, grassy herb and nutty notes. Good acidity balances the weight nicely and the finish lingers with citrus and candied apple flavors. Producer: Waters Crest Winery AVA: North Fork of Long Island ABV: 13% Price: $30* (2.5 out of 5, Average-to-Very Good)

Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2012 Gewurztraminer

A lot of wine drinkers buy they same — often big-production, commercial — wines because they want to know what they are going to get. They find comfort in knowing the wine buy is going to taste good to them every time they buy it. Cool-climate regions like the Finger Lakes don’t always offer that invariability. Cloudy, cool summers, poorly timed rain and potentially harmful frost are realities. Some years they all happen. Year-to-year consistency is difficult under these conditions… but it’s not impossible. Take Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2012 Gewurztraminer $18) — one of the most consistently delicious wines in the…

2012 New York Rosé: Some Standouts, But Mostly Mediocrity

When I endeavored to write the New York Cork Report’s first-ever comprehensive vintage/style report, I deemed rosé the target. Rarely profound, mostly affordable and made by a wide array of New York wineries — it just seemed like a good place to start. I’d treat it almost like a practice run for more “serious” categories in the future. But, mid-way into the tasting, I realized that rosé was anything but an easy a place to start. I was joined for this tasting by three members of the local wine community — Andrew Rockwell, Laboratory Director at Premium Wine Group, Regan Meador,…

Red Tail Ridge Winery 2012 Good Karma

It is a pleasure to write about wines like Red Tail Ridge Winery 2012 Good Karma ($14). Created in 2009 by winemaker and co-owner Nancy Irelan, Good Karma benefits regional food banks, with 10% of gross profit per bottle donated. Originally, the money went to Foodlink, a regional food bank that serves a ten-county area in the Genesee Valley and the Finger Lakes region. Starting with the 2012 vintage, however, that’s changed a bit. In an email, Irelan said “Wee have expanded our reach with Good Karma. Foodlink has agreed to redistribute the funds to the state in which it is…

Thirsty Owl Wine Company 2012 Riesling

You can’t smell sweetness of course, but the Thirsty Owl Wine Company 2012 Riesling ($15) does offer the impression of subtle sweetness on the nose, which is dominated by ripe and candied peach flavors with notes of musk melon and green apple. The palate, while well-balanced, lacks a bit of tension. The flavors range widely from the tropical to the floral to the delicately spicy. Nice mid-palate richness leads into a just-sweet finish dominated by apricot and perhaps a touch of botrytis (a good thing, here). Though delicious, a bit more focus would make it something really special. Producer: Thirsty Owl…

Hosmer Winery 2012 Dry Riesling

The last wine I sampled during that Finger Lakes 2012 riesling virtual tasting last week (there was one more wine, but my bottle was horribly corked) was this Hosmer Winery 2012 Dry Riesling ($15), which initially reminded me a bit of the first wine from the tasting, but ultimately impressed me much more. A bit tightly wound on the nose, there are hints of lemon-lime soda, saltwater, green apple, just-ripe peach and fennel here, but the nose isn’t particularly effusive. Dry and vivacious, the palate is mouthwatering in its mingling of bright citrus character with green melon, just-ripe peach, herbs…