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…
Posts Written OnDecember 16, 2008
New York Cork Club: December’s Selections
This month, I've decided to do something a little different with the New York Cork Club, the New York wine club that I manage with Greene Grape Wine Company in Brooklyn. In most months, I pick two wines from two different wineries (and often from two differnet AVAs) This time, I picked two wines from the same winery, Lenz Winery on Long Island's North Fork. With the holidays coming up, I wanted to send two different types of wine — one that members can open at a party (affordably) and just simply enjoy drinking and one that was a bit…
McGregor Vineyard 2006 Pinot Noir
Wine never stops to be fascinating for me. In recent weeks I've been doing my wine tastings a bit differently. Instead of tasting them on the day I opened them, reviewing them and rating them, I'm holding off on giving final scores until I've re-tasted them again the following day. I like to taste and review wines the same way that people actually drink them, and the fact is, a bottle of wine may last a few day or longer in many people's homes. It's been an interesting exercise and I've discovered that more wines improve by day two (and…
Niagara’s 2008 Vintage: Growing Season Expectations
Bryan working the harvest at Freedom Run Winery By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent This year, only a handful of growers and wineries were expecting anything close to a full crop from their young vines here in the Niagara Escarpment. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn’t kind to many of them. With at least three hailstorms, relentless humidity and warm, soggy conditions, this was not the season to have your sprayer break down. Those that survived hail damage had to spray often to battle mildew and the not-so-noble sour rot. Ripening was slightly delayed with most varieties, but there’s one silver lining: if…