Posts Tagged“forge cellars”

New York Cork Club: June 2016 Selections

  A couple months ago I was able to squeeze a four-day visit to the Finger Lakes into my chaotic work and family schedule. My family and I visit the region often, but it had been several years since I was able to get there by myself to focus solely on tasting — both barrel and tank samples as well as finished wines. This month’s picks are a direct result of those tastings. So many wines stood out (including the Red Tail Ridge riesling from last month’s shipment) that I’m battling the urge to just send you Finger Lakes wines for…

Uncork the Forks: 6 reasons for North Forkers to visit the Finger Lakes

I’m working on several stories after my recent trip to the Finger Lakes — but in the meantime, I wanted to share my latest column for the Suffolk Times, which can be found online on northforker.com Over the past several years, my family has fallen head-over-heels in love with the Finger Lakes region of central New York. It’s a stunningly beautiful part of the country that offers spectacular sunrises and sunsets, fishing, boating, wine tasting, great food and farmer’s markets, a relaxed pace and plenty of relaxation. In some ways, it’s a lot like the North Fork — except it’s…

New York’s Next Wave: A New Generation is Earning Attention With Quality and Experimentation

Editor’s Note: This is my latest New York-focused piece for Beverage Media Though they haven’t saturated the metropolitan New York market by any means, New York wines aren’t the new kids on the block anymore. Rather than look to distant lands for “the next big thing,” enough intrepid buyers have looked in their own backyard to raise the profile of New York State wine to at least a known quantity. Many of the top — the classic ones, really — are known quantities. Wines from stalwarts like Hermann J. Wiemer, Paumanok Vineyards, Dr. Konstantin Frank and Channing Daughters Winery hold…

Forge Cellars 2013 Pinot Noir “Classique”

Assumptions and generalizations. In recent weeks they have crept into more than a couple wine-related discussions I’ve had. As with regular, every-day life, they are silly, even dangerous, things that can make us appear ignorant or worse. In wine, they are crutches that even the most intrepid writer/critic/thinker will fall back on in a pinch. Of course many of them are based in fact — at least tangentially. Take the idea that red wines from the 2013 Finger Lakes vintage can’t or won’t be good. I haven’t heard anyone laud the season for any grape. The growing season was a wet…

Forge Cellars 2012 Les Allies Pinot Noir

When Forge Cellars burst onto the Finger Lakes wine scene with the 2011 vintage, it was with plenty of noise and fanfare. A famous French winemaker will do that for any New York wine project. The label’s first release — an oak-aged riesling — has inspired several other Finger Lakes winemakers to try it. But for all of the attention the Forge riesling garners, there are plenty of outstandingly delicious rieslings in the Finger Lakes, in a variety of styles. The Forge wines that have captured my attention most are the pinot noirs — in part because there simply aren’t many…

Empire State Cellars Wine Club: July 2014 Selections

Over the years that I’ve been curating this this wine club, it has been my distinct pleasure to share a great many classic wines from classic New York wineries. We have a bit of that this month, but as I was finalizing the selections, it quickly became apparent that we had a lot of new and not-yet-classic wines and wineries represented. We have New York’s only Trebbiano. We have sparkling wines — one red, one white — that are the first releases of two new labels. And we have two Finger Lakes wineries — Kemmeter Wines and Forge Cellars —…

Forge Cellars 2011 Pinot Noir

I try to learn something from every wine I put into my mouth. Sometimes the revelations are bigger than others. Sometimes they are subtle reminders. Forge Cellars 2011 Pinot Noir ($25) reminded me why I taste wines the way I do (when I’m reviewing them, anyway) and why some reviewers are doing it all wrong. Upon opening, this cooler-vintage pinot is waif-like in its delicate aromas of red cherry, dried strawberry, Earl Grey tea and faint spice. Similarly, the palate is very light bodied, with a core of red berries, dried flowers and just a touch of earthy dried leaves.…

Moved by a New York Wine: Forge Cellars 2011 Pinot Noir Les Alliés (Jim Silver, Peconic Bay Winery and Empire State Cellars)

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Jim Silver for the first story in our new “Moved by a New York Wine” series. If a New York wine has moved you, let us know. I discovered my love of Burgundy on a class trip through the Cote d’Or, sometime back in 1988. Attending classes at La Varenne and day-tripping with the other kids over to Dijon, Chablis and St. Bris surely put the rare flavors of a very old part of France in front of my brain, where they remain to this day. The unmistakable character captured by the chardonnay and the pinot noir grown on those…

Empire State Cellars Wine Club: September 2013 Selections

The September shipment of the Empire State Cellars Wine Club will go out to members in a few weeks — but here’s a sneak peak of what is coming.. If you aren’t familiar with the club, you can learn more here. “Hello New York” Wines Charles Fournier 2012 “Gold Seal Vineyards” Riesling: Named for a Finger Lakes pioneer and his seminal vineyard, this negociant-made riesling is focused and fresh, showing pear and apricot flavors, nervy acidity and along, slate-y finish. A terrific value.  Wolffer Estate Vineyard 2010 “Red Letter”: The great 2010 growing season resulted some of Long Island’s best-ever <$20 reds, this…

Video: Meet Forge Cellars

This morning, our friends from Forge Cellars — a label to know in the Finger Lakes — released an online video that is one part introduction and one part “this is why there is so much potential in the Finger Lakes.” It’s beautifully done and well worth the five-plus run time. You can also read the introductory piece that Evan Dawson write about Forge Cellars on NYCR.