Posts Tagged“cabernet franc”

WBW #29: Shinn Estate Vineyards 2004 Cabernet Franc (North Fork)

I don’t mean any offense to Jack or anyone else who believes strongly in biodynamic farm practices. Really I don’t and I think that there are some great wines being made with biodynamic-grown grapes. Anyone who has tasted any can see that. But I don’t buy into the benefit some of the more ‘hocus pocus’ techniques. Maybe it’s the former scientist in me. I was a biology major after all. I’m all for organic and sustainable farming. The benefits to the land, environment and those living there are obvious and much more provable. In my mind, biodynamic gets a little…

Meet Mickey Mouse. Drink New York Wines.

I just got an email telling me that Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort’s Blue Zoo restaurant will soon be pouring six, count em six, New York wines. So, now you can take your kids to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse…and then enjoy some some delectable Finger Lakes and Long Island wines with dinner. The wines chosen by Blue Zoo’s team are: Atwater Estate Cabernet Franc Heron Hill Ingle Vineyard Riesling Heron Hill Semi-Dry Riesling Sheldrake Point Riesling (my review) Raphael La Fontana Wolffer Estate Selection Chardonnay I’ve had all of these wines with the exception of Atwater’s cab…

WTN: Kinkead Ridge 2004 Cabernet Franc

As someone who was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, four things come to mind when I think about neighboring Ohio: Bad drivers Sea World Cedar Point amusement park The much-hated Cleveland Browns. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I was raised to loathe our neighbors to the west, but they definitely weren’t looked upon fondly. Now, after tasting the wines of Kinkead Ridge Estate Winery, there is at least one thing I can say that I love about the Buckeye State. Located just outside of Ripley, Ohio, Kinkead Ridge Winery grows only vinifera grapes in their…

My First Cabernet Franc Harvest

Well everyone, all of the cabernet franc from my adopted vines at Raphael have been harvested, crushed and are now fermenting (with Lalvin M05, a Loire Valley isoloate yeast) in an open-top oak barrel. Average brix was around 22. The fruit was flavorful and the tannins ripe, so I’m pretty excited about how the wine is going to turn out. Let me first say that I have a whole new level of respect for the hard work that goes into winemaking. It took me about four hours to harvest just a single row of grapes. After I was done Don,…

WTN: Sheldrake Point 2002 Cabernet Franc

Sheldrake Point — both the geographical point and the vineyard — jut prominently from the western shore of Cayuga Lake and those vineyards stretch almost the whole way to the water. The combination of deep glacial soils and the moderating effects of Cayuga Lakes deep waters provide superior conditions for growing fine quality vinifera wine grapes — a unique microclimate that they call the ‘Sheldrake Effect’. The 400-foot depths just off of their beach heat and cool more slowly than the surrounding land. The resulting hillside microclimate lengthens our growing season to 170 days, more than two weeks longer than…