Posts Tagged“sheldrake point”

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…

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Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2011 Gewurztraminer

It can be difficult to escape riesling  maelstrom in the Finger Lakes. Riesling flies at you from every direction. It’s wonderful, but can be overwhelming too.  And, sometimes other varieties are unfairly under-promoted. That’s the second edge of the double-edged sword of ‘signature varieties.’ Chief among these sometimes-ignored grapes is gewurztraminer, which thrives in the region. Sheldrake Point Vineyards makes some terrific rieslings, but deserves perhaps more attention for consistent excellence with gewurztraminer. It seems that, no matter the growing conditions, winemaker Dave Breeden crafts deliciousness, even if the style changes year to year. Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2011 Gewurztraminer ($18) is a…

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Top 6 Tastes From My Finger Lakes Trip

…or the best 6 things that I put into my mouth on vacation. After spending seven wonderful days on the shores of Cayuga Lake, I returned to work this week with a calmer mind, a happy (though probably still exhausted) family and — not surprisingly — pants that fit just a bit more tightly around my waist. It was a family vacation, so winery visits were  (extremely) limited but it’s nearly impossible to not find deliciousness in the Finger Lakes. We drank and ate well — both at the house we rented and a local farmers’ markets and restaurants — but these…

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Sheldrake Point at Seneca: What’s New for a Classic Finger Lakes Winery

By Rochelle Bilow, Finger Lakes Food Correspondent Photos courtesy of Sheldrake Point winery Mention Sheldrake Point Winery on Seneca Lake and, chances are, you’ll be corrected. “It’s on Cayuga Lake,” I heard a half-dozen times over the course of the last month from friends and Finger Lakes wine fans. They aren’t wrong, but neither am I. On September 26, 2011, Sheldrake Point opened a second tasting room on Route 414 along the southeast side of Seneca. The tasting room has opened quietly, not for lack of marketing and outreach on their part, but because they were just getting started as…

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Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2008 Riesling

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief During a tasting of Finger Lakes riesling last weekend, I thought a non-Finger Lakes ringer had worked its way into the lineup. Even though I pull the wines from the cellar myself (and knew I grabbed only Finger Lakes juice) this wine seemed almost an outlier, tasting a bit more Washington (state) to me than Finger Lakes. Sheldrake Point Vineyard 2008 Riesling ($15) obviously is a Finger Lakes riesling, but it is decidedly different than the other wines I tasted during this session. The nose is ripe, almost overripe with gobs of juicy, sweet peach backed…

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Q&A: Bob Madill, General Manager, Sheldrake Point Vineyard

By Lenn Thompson, Editor and PublisherToday's Q&A subject is Bob Madill, general manager at Sheldrake Point Vineyard on Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Bob was part of the team that founded Sheldrake Point in the spring of 1997 and he's a fellow tech marketeer, having spent over 20 years in international high tech marketing and sales, as well as work within the wine industry in Ontario, Canada. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? In the late 1950s we moved from a remote British Columbia coastal town to Montreal. There…

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Video: Riesling Month Winds Down. Interview With Dave Breeden, Winemaker, Sheldrake Point Vineyard

My Flip cam makes its video debut, but there are still some kinks; I have yet to figure out how to lay in b-roll. Bummer. We shot some extra video during the tasting and intended to lay some in. Next time. With the growing focus on aged Finger Lakes rieslings, and with so many wineries hosting riesling verticals this year, I thought it would be instructive to hear from Sheldrake Point Vineyard's winemaker about several topics, including: His thoughts on this tasting, and how the oldest riesling showed His thoughts on trying to find the perfect time to open a…

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Coming Soon: Video Blog From the Sheldrake Point Vineyard Riesling Vertical

  By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Correspondent Photo Courtesy of Sheldrake Point Vineyard While attending Sheldrake Point Vineyard's riesling vertical this past weekend, I used my new Flip video camera for the first time. I sat down with winemaker Dave Breeden, and the video will be posted shortly. Among the topics we discussed: Sheldrake's vertical featured semi-dry riesling, not dry riesling. Why? Which style does Dave prefer to lay down? Are we, as a wine community, too concerned that a bottle will pass its mythical "peak?" How can you tell when peak is approaching? How did the Sheldrake wines show?…

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Sheldrake Point 2007 Gewurztraminer

Gewurztraminer is a love-it or hate-it sort of grape. I love it. Nena — most of the time anyway — hates it. The sometimes-overwhelming rose petal perfume that the grape exhibits turns her off. But Sheldrake Point's 2007 Gewurztraminer ($20) is one wine that we both enjoyed during a recent tasting of New York whites. A brilliant medium straw yellow in the glass, the nose is only lightly floral — rather than overwhelmingly so — and is spicy and gingery with classic lychee and pineapple aromas. Make sure that you don't over-chill this wine, or the beautiful aromas will be…

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Sheldrake Point 2007 Gamay

I've long been a fan of the Gamay grape. I first encountered it like many do, in the form of Beaujolais Noveau. I've since out-grown those wines, but I love Cru Beaujolais and also enjoy Gamay from the Loire Valley as well. These are wines that are often priced for daily drinking, have great acidity for with food and are just plain fruity and delicious. My affection for French Gamay is probably a big reason why I was so disappointed by Sheldrake Point's 2007 Gamay ($16). A surprisingly light ruby color (almost like a pinot noir) the nose on this…

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