Posts Tagged“morten hallgren”

Getting Rose Right: Finally, the Finger Lakes is Making Consistently Excellent Rose. Here’s Why

Photo via David Diaz, Damiani Wine Cellars No one is immune to bad ideas, and for years, the Finger Lakes had consistently bad ideas when it came to rose. It all seemed to culminate in one ill-fated February evening in 2014. You might be wondering why anyone was talking about rose in February, and you would be on to something. On the evening Thursday, February 27th, 2014, Fox Run Vineyards hosted an industry and media “Discover Dry Rose Grand Tasting.” Perhaps you recall that January and February of 2014 had been colder than an ex-lover, hammered by snow and raw…

Continue Reading

Finger Lakes Region Mourns the Loss of Top Grape Grower Sam Argetsinger

The Finger Lakes lost one of its most prominent grape growers on Sunday night when Sam Argetsinger died at his home. Argetsinger is the owner of his eponymous vineyard, which rises high above the southeast side of Seneca Lake. “We’re still in shock,” said Morten Hallgren, co-owner of Ravines Wine Cellars, which uses Argetsinger Vineyard fruit to make some of the finest wines in the region. “Sam was a loyal friend, a passionate grape grower, and an Iroquois translator who was so in touch with his environment that you could see it in his fiery blue eyes. A friend like…

Continue Reading

Ravines Wine Cellars: Consistently Exceeding Expectations

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief No matter how opened minded you are, you have expectations when you walk into a tasting room. Whether about the wines, the staff, the crowd, or the overall experience, you have expectations. You just do. In any wine region, it's the wineries that consistently exceed those expectations that separate themselves from the rest of the pack.Those are the standouts that get, and deserve, the attention. Ravines Wine Cellars, on the eastern side of Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes wine region, is one such winery. Three years ago, I had only just heard about…

Continue Reading

Bottling Reds at Shaw Vineyard

By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent Although Ravines Wine Cellars is located on Keuka Lake, owner-winemaker Morten Hallgren crafts his wines using space at Shaw Vineyard, located a few miles to the east on Seneca Lake. Hallgren and Steve Shaw, winemaker and owner of Shaw Vineyard, work independently but of course try to coordinate production schedules to enhance services and manpower. Before the fall harvest, Steve Shaw invited me over to the winery to watch as he bottled some of the reds wines from both wineries. I was interested to check it out because both winemakers use a mobile bottling…

Continue Reading

Wine Blogging Wednesday #37: Ravines Wine Cellars 2006 Keuka Village White (Finger Lakes)

Wine Blogging Wednesday is back again–this time for its 37th edition, hosted by none other than Dr. Vino himself. The theme is "Go Native" and the good doctor has asked us to drink a wine made from indigenous grapes. As someone who writes about, and tastes, a lot of New York wines, there are a lot of non-vinifera wines that cross my palate. And, I could have dug around in my cellar for a New York-made concord wine and followed the letter of the law exactly. But frankly, most of those wines aren’t my cup of tea? Instead, I wanted…

Continue Reading