The harvest moon over Freedom Run Winery By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Escarpment Editor Harvest came early for me this year as my lovely wife gave birth to our son Wyatt Calandrelli on September 29, 2009, a full 12 days before he was due. Both he and mom are happy and healthy. As for myself I am exhausted from a long night and day of labor, a long night of celebrating, a seasonal cold and several sleepless nights of diaper harvesting. So when I got invited to harvest grapes on Monday, I couldn’t resist dusting off my nippers and running my…
Posts Tagged“niagara”
Chardonnay: New York’s Other White Grape?
By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Regional Editor What’s this area known for? What’s your specialty? Which white do you do best? These are all questions that I get asked when pouring local wine for newcomers to the Niagara region. I don’t always have time to explain the diversity of soils or the huge difference in how Lake Ontario moderates one mile from the lakeshore to six miles inland to the Escarpment. Nonetheless, people seem to want an answer as to what our signature white grape variety is or will be. It's not an easy question to answer. In the Finger Lakes,…
Niagara Region 2009 Vintage: Definitely not 2007. Or even 2008.
Pinot noir growing at Freedom Run Vineyards By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor Does everyone remember 2007? That was a great year, wasn’t it? And how about those whites from 2008? They have such a graceful balance of fruit and acidity…good times. Now that I’m feeling at ease, let me begin the conversation about this 2009 growing season in the Niagara region. It hasn’t been ideal to say the least. The cooler-than-normal temperatures, high humidity and relentless early rains kept disease pressure on everyone’s mind. Wineries with an environmentally sustainable, organic approach have seen an especially challenging season. For…
Day Dreaming About Pinot Noir in the Niagara Region
By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Regional Correspondent When I venture out to other wine regions in New York State and introduce myself as being from the Niagara region, the most common response is…”Oh pinot noir, huh…how’s Warm Lake doing?” I usually give a generic answer and then talk about the other wineries that have just opened and more importantly, the other grapes that have been planted. The reality is that Warm Lake Estate and the creation of the Niagara Escarpment AVA has intentionally branded the region for pinot noir. Given the climate, length of growing season and abundance of clay over…
Did You Hear We Make Icewine Up Here in Niagara USA?
By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent The more I get out and see what some other wine regions sell as dessert wine, and specifically how much they charge, the more I realize just how precious the climate of the Niagara USA wine region really is. While they do get a lot of local press, it's great to see national recognition of these small wineries' icewines. Schulze Vineyards & Winery just received a gold medal for their 2008 Vidal Icewine at the Riverside Wine Competition in California. Ann and Martin Schulze were thrilled when they read the news on the New York…
Spring Brings Some Niagara Region News
By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Correspondent With only twelve wineries in the Niagara region, news just doesn’t happen everyday. During most of the winter, a few wineries may only open on weekends, or in one case, one weekend out of the month. So now that winter is loosening its grip, some good news has surfaced with the melting snow. The 2009 Finger Lakes International Competition was good to several Niagara wineries, and there was one standout result. Leonard Oakes Estate Winery was awarded a double gold medal for its 2007 Frontenac. If you haven’t heard of this grape, don’t worry, it’s…
Freedom Run Winery 2005 Chardonnay
Freedom Run Winery is a winery in Lockport, NY that you have no-doubt heard of if you're a long-time reader of this blog. Our man on the ground in the Niagara Escarpment has written about them a few times and has even helped out at harvest, in the winery and in the tasting room there. I, on the other hand, know much less about them. But, as we expand our reach to encompass all of the wines being made in New York, it's important that we include a region that shows such great promise. Maybe we'll even be able to…
The Ice Wine Cometh
By Bryan Callandrelli, Niagara Correspondent This year’s Niagara region ice wine harvest is underway, with three local wineries braving temperatures that barely broke single digits (windchills were well below zero) to collect those precious frozen grapes during seemingly perfect harvest conditions. The harvest window this year was a long one, as frigid temperatures have lingered in the region for several days. Niagara Landing in Cambria, Schulze Vineyards & Winery in Burt and Leonard Oakes Winery in Medina all had crews out last week collecting either Vidal or Catawba grapes. Domenic Carisetti, winemaker/consultant for all three wineries, was busy overseeing the…
Villa Bellangelo 2006 White Scooter
Pompous Ass and Red Cat aside, New York doesn't have many "critter wines" in its state-wide portfolio. You know critter wines — the ones with cute little animals on the labels that are clearly targeted at younger drinkers. Instead, you see quite a few labels with various vehicles on them, including labels for Bedells Main Road line (which feature a red pickup truck), Castello di Borghese's house wines (which also have pickups on them) and the Scooter Wines from Villa Bellangelo, which are described as "sweet and friendly." Friendly is in the eye (and palate) of the beholder, but this…
Looking Back at 2008 in the Niagara Region
By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Escarpment Correspondent When Lenn asked me to write about the five most exciting wines of 2008 from the Niagara region, I assumed that I could rattle them off in a heartbeat. But when I really sat down to put my list together, I realized something; it takes a lot these days to really get me going – at least when it comes to wine. In established wine regions, I usually reserve my excitement for estate-grown wines or hard-to-find varietals. In Niagara wine country, however, things are a bit different. For one, we’re still in the pioneer…