Posts Tagged“dr. konstantin frank”

Favorites from New York Drinks New York at Astor Center

In New York City, local is sought after like a taxicab in the rain. Overused words like “artisanal” and “heritage” bring self-proclaimed locavores to eateries around the city (and even to BROOKLYN) thinking they’re dining on delicacies that are both in season and produced close to home. Despite the marketing many have adopted to capitalize on this movement feeling cliché by this point, eating local is a great thing. So why doesn’t this fervor extend to alcoholic beverages? Those who aren’t familiar with New York State wines are surprised to learn that we are third in wine production nation wide…

The 2011 New York Cork Report Wines of the Year

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor I think I can speak for my fellow editors and contributors when I say that our 2011 Wines of the Year tasting was a fun, challenging and inspiring day of 16 wine tasting flights. I always come away with myriad story ideas swirling in my head after this tasting. This year is no different. Look for pieces from the team over the next few weeks. But today, we announce the winners — including our first-ever New York Wine of the Year, Peconic Bay Winery 2007 Lowerre Family Estate. Our 2011 Regional Wines of the Year…

Grape Rising: Gruner Veltliner Makes Its Case in the Finger Lakes

Just-harvested Gruner Veltliner grapes  (Photo courtesy of Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars) By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor On paper, Gruner Veltliner — the grape grown primarily in Austria and other Eastern European nations — is an ideal grape to grow in the Finger Lakes. First and perhaps more importantly, it’s winter hardy — not as hardy as riesling, but more hardy than gewurztraminer and many other varieties being grown successfully in the region. It’s also an early ripener, said to ripen before gewurztraminer and riesling. The skins are thick too, even thicker than chardonnay, so is affected less by…

7 Questions with….Erin Flynn, Marketing Manager, Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor If you're active in social media channels like Twitter and Facebook, you may have noticed that one of New York's best-known wineries, Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars, has become extremely active on them. That's the work of Erin Flynn, who joined Dr. Frank in May. Erin is a Finger Lakes native but didn't stay home to work in the wine industry right away. After earning her bachelor of arts degree from Nazareth College and as Master's degree in management from Keuka College, Erin moved to Washington D.C. to work in politics and as a…

Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Cabernet Franc

By Lenn Thompson, Long Island Editor and Editor-in-Chief To most wine lovers outside of New York (and even many in New York) Dr. Konstantin Frank Viniifera Wine Cellars is synonymous with Finger Lakes wine. Dr. Frank's is one of the region's largest, best and most widely distributed producers.  Of course, the winery is best known for its riesling bottlings, followed closely by Gewurztraminer and, partly because it's unique and partly because it's unique — Rkatsiteli. Today's review isn't of any of those well-regarded wines. Instead, we'll focus on a ripe, polished Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Cabernet Franc ($20) that still…

Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Rkatsiteli

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief I had never heard of, let alone tasted, a wine made from the Rkatsiteli grape until I tasted a 2006 bottling from Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars, on the western shore of Keuka Lake. I loved that wine and it's riesling-meets-gewruztraminer-meets-sauvignon blanc aromas and flavors, all wrapped up in great acidity and length. I still have a couple bottles in my cellar. I've heard that it ages beautifully, so we'll see. And so, it was with much excitement that I got to try the Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Rkatsiteli ($18).  The nose is…

24 Years of Dr. Konstantin Frank Riesling

By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent On Sunday I had the unique privilege of tasting ten rieslings from Dr. Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars, ranging in date from 2008 all the way back to 1985. While several other Finger Lakes wineries offered riesling library tastings as part of Riesling Month, virtually no other can reach as far back as Dr. Frank's, which has bottles dating from the 1960s. In this sense, Dr. Frank's provides an historical perspective on the region's potential. Fred Frank, president of the winery, explained that the wines included in the tasting were not selected based on any notion of vintage quality…

Chateau Frank and the Economics of Bubbles

By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent During a recent visit to Dr. Frank's to compile a profile of its sparkling wine operation for Life in the Finger Lakes, I learned more than I expected to about the hard economic realities of creating such wines in the Finger Lakes. As nearly all Finger Lakes winemakers will profess, the region is well suited to making sparkling wine. Because of the cool climate, and a wide open harvest window, growers can let grapes hang just a little longer to enhance ripeness and flavor without sacrificing the crisp acidity necessary for good sparklers. Two of Dr. Frank's team winemakers who work with sparklers, Eric Bauman and…

Finger Lakes Pioneer Donates Books to Cornell Wine Library

Everyone knows that Dr. Konstantin Frank and the winery he founded blazed a trail for East Coast wine. But he was also the owner an extremely extensive book collection, which has been donated to Cornell University. In doing so, the Frank family has made Cornell’s viticulture and winemaking collection at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station’s Lee Library one of the best in the country. The Konstantin Frank family book donation consists of 132 titles, composed of 19th and 20th century titles on a wide variety of topics including horticulture, plant science, viticulture, enology, chemistry, nature, history and literature…