By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief If the growing conditions are borderline for syrah on Long Island, it seems that they'd be even more challenging in the Finger Lakes, a cooler region with a shorter growing season. Still, people are growing it and while most of it probably ends up as rose, some are making interesting wines. And, in the best years, in the best locations, the wines can clearly be better than interesting — including this Atwater Estate Vineyards 2007 Syrah ($32). You may remember when Atwater's winemaker, Vinny Aliperti, called this out as his favorite from the winery's portfolio at…
Posts Tagged“atwater”
Billsboro Winery 2007 Dry Riesling
By Lenn Thompson, Publisher and Editor May is Riesling Month in the Finger Lakes, but somehow this is my first Finger Lakes riesling review this month. Look for more riesling reviews this week and next (I'm tasting a lot of them lately, just haven't written them up yet). Before we get to today's wine, a little background on Billsboro Winery. It's located on the west side of Seneca Lake, just south of the city of Geneva, NY and is owned by Kim and Vinny Aliperti. Vinny, who makes the wines, also serves as winemaker at Atwater Estate Vineyards, which is…
Atwater Estate Vineyards 2007 Dry Riesling
I've mentioned before that Atwater Estate Vineyards is really the winery responsible for sparking my obsession with Finger Lakes wines, particularly riesling and other aromatic whites. I first discovered winemaker Vinny Aliperti's delicious, well-priced whites when they were being poured at Roanoke Vineyards here on the North Fork. Roanoke co-owner Richie Pisacano only had a 2000 merlot of his own to sell upon opening and, because he worked with Vinny at Wolffer Estate, offered a handful of Atwater wines in the tasting room as well. I picked up this bottle of Atwater Estate 2007 Dry Riesling ($18) after the tasting…
Video: PALATE 2009 Comparative Tasting — 2008 Rieslings
The last in the short series of videos I have from my PALATE 2009 Comparative Tasting at Atwater Estate Vineyards, co-hosted by winemaker Vinny Aliperti. In this one, Vinny and assistant winemaker Justin Boyette pour two tank samples of 2008 dry riesling, talk a bit a out the sourcing and also the growing season.
Video: PALATE 2009 Comparative Tasting — The Intro
As I’ve already mentioned, I co-hosted a comparative tasting as a part of PALATE 2009 last week. The tasting was held at Atwater Estate Vineyards, where 12-15 people had the unique opportunity to taste wines made by Atwater’s winemaker, Vinny Aliperti, fromi both Atwater and Vinny’s own winery, Billsboro Winery. We should some video of the event and have three clips pieced together, starting with this introduction where you’ll not only see yours truly in his LENNDEVOURS video debut, but also see me almost burn myself on the wall-installed heater behind the tasting bar. I also reveal the true pronunciation…
PALATE 2009: Atwater-Billsboro-LENNDEVOURS Tasting
Today, I'd like to thank the folks at Atwater Estate, including winemaker Vinny Aliperti (left), assistant winemaker, Justin Boyette (right), and owner Ted Marks for their hospitality as we co-hosted a comparative tasting of 2007 wines. We had around 12 people join the tasting and I think it was a huge success, and even more fun. Nena shot some great video (we hope) and I'll be writing another post about the event, probably next week.
What We’ll Be Doing at PALATE This Week
Tomorrow morning, Nena and I leave from her parents' house in rural Schoharie, NY and head down to Corning to attend a couple days of PALATE, a food, wine and art showcase in Finger Lakes wine country. Organized by Finger Lakes Wine Country, Corning’s Gaffer District and The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes the week-long festival starts today and promises to be a fun event for the cold-this-time-of-year region. We're going to have a fun- and wine-filled couple of days. Before we even join the PALATE festivities, we're heading to Anthony Road Wine Company to taste with winemaker…
PALATE Update: Comparative Tasting Co-Hosted by LENNDEVOURS and Atwater Estate
Jason introduced the PALATE festival a couple weeks ago, but I have some exciting news about the upcoming food, wine and art festival in Corning, NY. As part of PALATE's programming, I'll be co-hosting a tasting with winemaker Vinny Aliperti on Wednesday, February 18 at 11 a.m at Atwater Estate Vineyards in Hector, NY. Vinny is Atwater's winemaker and also owns Billsboro Winery in Geneva. We'll be doing a comparative tasting of wines made from the same varieties, from the same years, by the same winemaker — but from different vineyards. It will be interesting to see how the wines…