New York Cork Report

Not Your Average Riesling: The Story Behind the 2011 NYCR Finger Lakes Riesling of the Year

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

To understand why the Hermann J. Wiemer 2010 Dry Riesling Reserve is such a special wine, it's important to understand that not all rieslings are created equally. Nor are all wines created easily. Winemaking at Wiemer is more difficult, more patient, more risk, more reward. There is perhaps no better wine to exemplify this than the NYCR Finger Lakes Riesling of the Year.

"For me, the 2010 Reserve is the finest riesling I've made," says winemaker Fred Merwarth. That's an extraordinary statement for a winemaker who prefers euphemism to hyperbole, and who has built a prolific portfolio in 10 short years. 

2010 was a long, warm growing season. It offered Finger Lakes wine producers options on when to pick. But stop there: picking at Wiemer doesn't occur on one occasion, one weekend, one pass. Most wineries evaluate grapes and choose what they consider the ideal moment to pick. They're looking for balanced grapes, good flavors, nice acidity, developed sugars. At Wiemer, each of the three vineyards is picked more than once during harvest.

The HJW Vineyard behind the winery was picked eight times in 2010.

"If you waited just on ripeness, you could end up with some problems in a year like 2010," Merwarth tells me. "You could potentially get a riesling that's soupy or higher in alcohol."

To his point, many Finger Lakes winemakers have told me that they took the rare step of adding acid to their white wines in 2010. "I feel strongly about not adjusting acidity, because you don't have to," Merwarth says. "It's already there."

It is, if you've picked in multiple passes. The first pass at Wiemer happened on September 26, 2010; the last pass came on October 31. On each picking, Merwarth says he's looking for different things. Early on, he's looking for vibrant acidity that can provide the frame for a long-lived riesling. As the grapes continue to ripen and flavors develop, he begins to look for complexity and richness. 

This approach paid off handsomely in 2010 when acids dropped more than usual in riesling vineyards that were unpicked into mid-October. While other wineries were left to decide whether to add acid out of the bag in the winery, Merwarth had several tanks that he could use from the early pickings, highlighting the crackling natural acidity that makes Finger Lakes riesling so noteworthy. 

It was a vital tool, particularly because Merwarth took the Reserve bottling in an entirely new direction. He found himself drawn to the fruit from the Josef Vineyard in particular, which has never been a major component of the Reserve. In 2010, the Josef riesling was soft, round, extremely full and complex, but a bit lacking in natural acidity. Merwarth knew he could use the Josef riesling because those soft edges would be chiseled out by riesling from the earlier pickings up the road at HJW. 

When the winemaker describes it, it sounds like an artist looking for the right colors on an oil canvas.

"We had this gorgeous fruit from Josef, and we thought we could make it half the blend for the Reserve," he says. "But we knew it needed more. We had to decide how much from HJW, and how much from the Magdalena Vineyard. And from which pickings."

Ultimately, Merwarth settled on a blend that included 35% of the stony-toned riesling from HJW. But it would take nearly a full year to come together.

In 2003, with Merwarth emerging into the winemaking role, Hermann J. Wiemer began using long fermentations (often known as cold fermentations). Many wineries crank up the heat on fermenting juice and control the temperature, coaxing a fast and easy fermentation. The juice can become wine in a matter of days, and be bottled not long thereafter. Merwarth wanted to know what would happen if the winery chose not to control the temperature and allow the juice to ferment "on its own," as he likes to say.

The result is a process that can be finished by Christmas or still evolving into late-spring. But the 2010 rieslings tested Merwarth's nerves with the slowest fermentations yet.

"August First," he says with a laugh. "Unbelievable. They didn't finish until August First. I thought they would never get there."

But he knew very quickly that the wine would be special. 

"It's the texture," Fred says, affirming the view of the NYCR panel that found the wine to be a standout in a blind tasting. "I always start with a goal of making clean wine. The second goal is complexity and balance. The third goal is more challenging, and we don't always know why it happens. It's texture. It's a kind of weight without being heavy."

That's a spot-on description for the Riesling of the Year, and it's a testament to Fred's decision to hang the rich Josef fruit on a prickly HJW frame. The final wine is seamless, long, and almost certain to age beautifully.

"2010 was a very long growing season, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was easy," Merwarth points out. He's right. The hard work and hard choices are reflected in a memorable riesling.

Light Drinking During Pregnancy: What Does the Research Say?

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

This is one of the most delicate subjects one can imagine, so when I set out to explore it, I knew I had to be thorough. The result is one of the longest, most exhaustive pieces of my career. It benefited from the vetting, editing, and guidance of many people in the journalistic and scientific communities, including NYCR Science Editor Tom Mansell.

Please understand, this piece is not meant to affirm or attack your position or decision on light drinking during pregnancy. (We know by now that heavy drinking is dangerous for developing fetuses.) I put the piece together for the online wine magazine Palate Press because I found the news media coverage lacking, to say the least. Here's an excerpt:

A wave of headlines over the past several weeks has undoubtedly caused concern in many pregnant women.

Those headlines are based on a new study by a team led by Dr. Haruna Feldman at the University of California, San Diego concerning the effects of alcohol on a developing fetus. “Study: No Amount of Alcohol During Pregnancy Safe,” one headline reads. “One Drink is Too Many,” another declares. Those headlines are based on the Feldman team’s conclusion, which says, “Women should continue to be advised to abstain from alcohol consumption from conception throughout pregnancy.”

This is the third scientific study in the past two years that has generated headlines related to the effects of light drinking during pregnancy. Prior to these studies, very little research focused on such effects.

But the news media has not provided helpful analysis. A reporter for Medical News Today online wrote a story in October 2010 with the headline, “No Evidence that Light Drinking In Pregnancy Harms Children’s Development.” Fifteen months later, that same reporter wrote a story titled, “No Safe Level of Alcohol During Pregnancy.” Apparently it never occurred to this reporter that readers might appreciate a comparison of these two studies.

It’s an important comparison to make; multiple doctors have told me that women regularly ask if they should have an abortion because they had a drink or two before they knew they were pregnant. The reporting of these studies could similarly factor in pregnant women’s decision-making.

To read the whole thing, click here. We welcome your thoughts on the matter. Emotion can dominate this issue, but it's important to keep discussion civil and focused on evidence.

A Magical Finger Lakes Red, and Why it's Gone Too Soon

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

It had been two years since I last tasted the Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Cabernet Franc, and I was down to my last bottle. On release, it was an impressive wine with depth, if a tad besmirched by oak. I liked it enough to buy three bottles.

Earlier this month my wife and I went to dinner and decided to open this wine one more time.

Sometimes we talk about transformation that can occur in a complex wine, but no one really knows what to expect. If I harbored high hopes for the Damiani Cab Franc, it turns out those hopes were decidedly too low.

This wine was an absolute beauty, complex, layered, structured. It had gone from a pony to a wild stallion, from a Dodge Neon to an A8.

"That's too bad," I said, not disappointed in the wine by any stretch, but saddened at the thought that most of it was already sold and drunk. 

This wine was released in 2009 when the components, while impressive, were still stitching themselves together. Imagine stopping by the automaker's shop; the parts on the factory line appear built for power and elegance, but you can't quite tell how it will come off as a finished product.

There's no reason to doubt anymore. Damiani's 2007 Cabernet Franc is simultaneously strong and graceful. It's not a powerhouse on the scale of a warm climate wine, and it's not meant to be. But it's simply packed, a layered wine that peels off a new aroma and flavor every few seconds. 

So why was it released so young? In that regard, there is nothing unique about this wine. Out of necessity, Finger Lakes wineries often release wines younger than they'd prefer to, whether it's a riesling, a sparkling wine, or reds from warmer vintages (and 2007 was one of the special red wine vintages the region has ever seen). Margins are slim around here, and when a vintage sells out, often wineries need to put the next vintage on the shelf simply to keep cash flowing.

I asked Damiani co-owner Glenn Allen if that was the case with the 2007 Cabernet Franc.

"Yes," he replied. "Often it is the case that a wine released early is just a few months away from being sufficiently open to enjoy it as a young wine." 

But Allen feels that the recent warmer vintages (2007 and 2010) have produced wines capable of opening up shortly after bottling. "There are many who like or prefer their wines young, full of bright fruit and vibrant tannins, so it's always debatable when is the best time to release a wine," he explained. "Especially with the 2007 vintage, releasing them early was not so much of a regret."

Production was relatively low for many Finger Lakes wineries in 2007, and that's true for Damiani as well. The result is a wine that disappeared rather quickly. Fortunately, Damiani is beginning to build a library, including seven cases of the 2007 Cab Franc.

"We're trying to library more of our age-worthy wines from each vintage," Allen said, adding that this practice is "both for our personal cellars and for re-releasing to our wine club members. We also now pour some samples of library wines at our tasting room, using a wine preservation system that keeps the wine intact." Most recently, Damiani's tasting room featured its 2004 red wines.

Allen guessed that the '07 Cab Franc would peak at five years old, cruising right along for another five. That means that it is only now approaching its prime. What a shame that most of this wine was gone before customers could see it rise to its current height.

And where does it go next? As we've written about previously, no one can say with certainty, but that's part of the fun. Damiani will have to decide carefully when to release its remaining bottles.

How to change the trend that sees so many wines released so young? Allen said it starts with educating customers about wine's potential. "I always let people know that a young wine will become even better if they lay it down for awhile," he said. "If they buy a few different wines, say including some whites, I suggest to them that they drink the young wine last."

But so often, wines are released according to financial needs of the winery. No one should knock a winery for this practice if it's truly a matter of economic necessity. I've spoken to countless winemakers and winery owners who wish they could wait a while with a special riesling or a structured red. But bills have to be paid, and for those of us who are only consuming the wines and not financing its creation, it's easy to criticize. Better to remind winery owners, gently, that building a library - when feasible - is a wonderful idea. Exhibit A is Damiani's 2007 Cabernet Franc, if you can find it.

Oak-Aged Riesling? In the Finger Lakes, it's Starting to Happen. Here's Why

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Two producers do not make a trend, but in any region there are trend-setters and trailblazers. In the Finger Lakes, Ravines Wine Cellars has been producing some of the strongest rieslings for the past decade. And newcomer Forge Cellars comes with the high expectations attached to the wines of Louis Barruol, a renowned winemaker from Gigondas in France.

Both Ravines and Forge are now experimenting with old oak barrels when it comes to making riesling.

Ravines winemaker Morten Hallgren took the first step, selecting a portion of his 2010 Argetsinger Vineyard Riesling to be aged in old, neutral barrels. "It's primarily for texture," Hallgren recently explained. "The acidity is there. The flavors are there. The oak has nothing to do with flavors."

That's an important distinction, especially for Forge Cellars, which employs 100% old oak for its line of rieslings. 

"Louis and I had a conversation about this some three or four years ago while sitting in Gigondas," wrote Forge co-owner Rick Rainey in a recent blog post. "We were talking about cool climate wines, wines that are often coveted for their fresh, searing, laser-like acidity. We both were commenting how wonderful acid is and then he started to tell me about experiments he had done with high-acid whites in barrel and how wonderful they turned out. I thought it all made sense because if you look at all the cool climate regions of the world, using barrels of different sizes was the norm before the stainless steel manufacturers showed up."

Like his co-owner Justin Boyette, Rainey loves discussing the history of wine. That deference to precedent comes through when he writes about Forge's use of neutral barrels, as Rainey jokes that Forge should be considered anything but a "trend-setter." 

"Riesling being done in barrel has been around a heck of a lot longer than anyone at Forge Cellars," Rainey explains. "If anything we are rolling back the clock a bit."

Try as he might to downplay the freshness of this approach, the fact remains that in the Finger Lakes, riesling resides in stainless steel. Winemakers seek freshness in riesling without wanting to compromise the bracing edges, nor do they seek aromatics and flavors that oak can impart. 

"The idea of hammering helpless little white wines with new oak is, well, lets just say, not for us," Rainey says. "But the idea of letting a high-acid, fresh, laser-like riesling relax a bit in a nice aged barrel could make a whole bunch of sense."

Wine writer Oz Clarke has written about riesling aged in oak, noting that it remains rather common in Germany, where producers in the Pfalz even occasionally employ new oak. But most, Clarke explains, opt for old barrels. "The flavors are quite obviously different (in rieslings aged in wood)," Clarke wrote in his book Grapes and Wines: The Definitive Guide to the World's Great Grapes and the Wines They Make "The gentle oxygenation that occurs in old wooden barrels softens the edges of the wine and adds complexity. The choice is a stylistic one, with the steely style generally being seen as more modern."

Hallgren noted that for now, Finger Lakes winemakers would have to use old barrique. But he's trying to find a way to bring old casks to the states from Europe. "It's quite an undertaking," Hallgren said with a smile. "But we're not giving up."

What does that mean for consumers? For those who seek the electric, razor's edge style of Finger Lakes riesling, Forge Cellars will probably come off as too rich, or too mellow, to borrow a word from Rainey. Ravines' Argetsinger Riesling is likely to be more subtle and still quite cutting, considering its aging in both steel and wood. But for those who find many Finger Lakes rieslings to be too acidic, perhaps over-the-edge, this kind of treatment offers the potential to attract new palates. If the wood comes through too strongly, the wines will flop. If the wood imparts a richer texture while allowing the crisp acidity to remain fresh, it could be a significant regional step. And with more choices, consumers are likely to benefit. 

The Finger Lakes 2011 Red Wines of the Year Finalists: Explaining the Diverse Selections

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor
Photos from our WoTY 2009 Tasting by Morgan Dawson

I'm happy to see that the NYCR selections for Finger Lakes red wines of the year have generated a fair amount of feedback and debate. There have been many questions: Why no cabernet franc? How come every wine is made from a different grape? 

Keep in mind that for a wine to be eligible, it has to have been released in 2011. Many of the red wines released in 2011 came from the uneven 2009 vintage. The glorious 2009 September produced strong conditions for Finger Lakes pinot noir, but otherwise, it was a down vintage for reds. Some of the wines released in 2011 were from 2008, a solid-if-not-spectacular vintage. Very few of the 2010s have been released yet. If the vintage conditions and barrel tastings are any indication, they will be very good.

Cabernet franc fans, no worries: I expect that variety will be back in force in future years. But this lineup makes a statement, which is this:

Continued exploration and experimentation with red grape varieties in the Finger Lakes should be welcomed and celebrated.

Unlike riesling, the clear viticultural star of the region, there is no clear dominant red variety. That does not mean that red varieties can't thrive. In fact, it means that with some hard work and inquiry, a range of red varieties can make impressive wines. Each wine on the list comes with further confirmation of this idea.

Red Tail Ridge Winery 2009 Teroldego

I confess that, having tasted the bottled 2009 and the still-in-barrel 2010, I am even more excited about the newer vintage. But that should not prevent anyone from checking out this wine.

Winemaker Nancy Irelan has a long background in research, and without divulging the secrets she's trying to keep under wraps in her lab, it's fair to say that she has even more ideas for cool-climate red grapes. Teroldgeo was one of her first experiments. It is paying off.

The first vintage of teroldego came in 2008, and Irelan took the grapes from those young vines and turned them into an unusual red sparkler. That rapidly gained a following, but I'm glad that Irelan has not diverted from her plan of making a still teroldego. The grape provides nice acidity but also a backbone of chewy tannins. The flavors are unusual, and it's already showing signs of complexity.

Teroldego is grown primarily in northeastern Italy. Want to get really geeky? It's also grown in parts of California, where it's occasionally compared to zinfandel. That's probably because there is an inherent spice to the grape, which is related to the dureza grape, the father of syrah.

See, don't you want to see what else Irelan will try?

Rooster Hill Vineyards 2008 Reserve Lemberger

This grape variety continues its slow but steady accumulation of fans in the Finger Lakes. You say lemberger, I say blaufrankisch, but whatever: Rooster Hill has turned out a very nice version. 

Some winemakers are choosing to blend lemberger with cabernet franc, aiming for a complex blend of flavors and aromatics. I understand that, but I also enjoy seeing what blaufrankisch can do as a varietal. 

In normal-to-ripe vintages, lemberger can produce structured reds with spicy and dark flavors. (Hosmer winemaker Aaron Roisen sees lemberger's future as more akin to the softer pinot noirs of the world, but he's the regional exception.) 

The first time I tasted this wine with Rooster HIll owner Amy Hoffman, she was obviously excited about it. And yet she patiently waited to bring it to market, confident that the wine's makeup will allow a long life. I think she made the right call. Is there too much oak? For me, no. But watch for the oak influence in other lembergers or blaufrankisches, which can be sensitive to wood.

McGregor Vineyard 2007 Black Russian Red 30-Month Barrel Reserve

Saperavi and Sereksiya Charni. Those two grapes alone make this wine interesting. 

Here's a wine with a celebrated history, an intensely devoted following, and yet owner John McGregor decided to do something he'd never done before: He held half the vintage back, keeping it in barrel for a full year longer than most vintages. 

What's the result? Thanks to a powerhouse vintage, the wine stands up very well. I go back and forth on the need to decant wines - and for how long - but certainly I would not hesitate to give this wine some air before drinking it.

It's unique, and it has the structure to age with grace. The McGregor family proves it with annual verticals and library tastings. This is one of the most expensive wines in the Finger Lakes, and yet it has no trouble selling. 

Billsboro Winery 2010 Syrah

Syrah is occasionally misunderstood as a warm-climate variety. Its history shows a grape highly adaptable to its climate; it can produce some big, powerful wines in California, and its sweet spot in Cote-Rotie is much cooler. Neither of those regions is as cool as the Finger Lakes, but a group of winemakers is giving this variety an extended shot to succeed.

No one knew the success would come so soon. Damiani is understandably proud of their version, as are a handful of others, including Lucas and Red Newt Cellars. But the Billsboro version is the most intriguing yet.

We should have seen it coming. Syrah needs time to ripen, and 2009 simply didn't provide the growing season that a winemaker wants. And yet Vinny Aliperti's '09 Syrah was relatively prodigious. He couldn't explain it, other than to credit the Seneca Lake growers: Sawmill Creek Vineyards, where Billsboro sources its fruit.

So if he could produce that kind of syrah in 2009, it's not a surprise that 2010 finds a truly broad-shouldered, layered version that could attract the admiration of syrah lovers. Our own Mark Grimaldi was floored by this wine. And if you know Mark, you know that he has very tough standards. 

Ravines Wine Cellars 2009 Pinot Noir

By now, we know that the Finger Lakes is capable of outstanding pinot noir. We also know that this is not easily achieved, and is being produced by only a small group of wineries.

Winemaker Morten Hallgren drinks a lot of Burgundy and has a deep appreciation for the cool-climate style for this grape. That does not mean he's trying to recreate France in the Finger Lakes. That does mean, however, that he's aiming for elegance. 

The 2005 Ravines Pinot Noir is one of the great examples of what the region is capable of. Hallgren expects the 2009 to stand alongside it. I think that's possible.

Winery Websites: Not So Good, it Seems

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

When you visit a winery's website, you're probably there for one simple reason. Either you want tasting room hours or the wine list or the winemaker's story. But whatever it is, you want it quickly and easily.

And too often, it's not easy enough to find what you're seeking. On top of that, the websites look clunky and amateurish. This is a generalization, of course. Some websites are excellent. Too many are not.

But don't take it from me. Here's an email I received this week from a reader of my book, Summer in a Glass. This reader lives several states away.

I've re-printed the email in full, and I welcome your thoughts on what makes for a high-quality and low-quality website.

*****

Hi Mr Dawson,

First of all, thank you for writing this book. Though we currently live in Wisconsin, my wife and I are physicians originally from upstate NY. We've recently decided to move back to CNY (Canandaigua) to start our own adventure, and this book has made us proud and excited to move back!  

Like many, my wife and I made the rounds on various wineries websites after reading your book, and I wanted to comment on something I bet you've noticed, and could help with! 

Many of the websites are, well, a bit difficult to navigate. Like the vintners you describe, the websites are not flamboyant or ostentatious. That's fine as a character trait, but perhaps not so good for marketing. Specifically, we noticed that many photos are casual (amateur?), and don't do justice to the scenery or the establishment. I left some websites with an overall impression that I can't get engaged with the wine or the winery.  

That's frustrating, and I'm sure a ton of folks are visiting those sites after or as they read your book, and I bet many others left the sites feeling a bit disappointed. For instance, if I decided to plan a trip to the Finger Lakes, I'd hit these websites hard to get organized. So in that scenario, I think the website design could become sort of crucial for the wineries, right? 

We thought Weimer's website was really good. The designer looks like he's a computer science grad from Cornell (my alma mater). I was thinking that between your wife working as a professional photographer and perhaps with your mutual contacts in the web design/photography business, you could help link some of the wineries with eager folks to help improve the websites. I don't know,  I'm sure these wineries will do very well thanks to your book, but I felt compelled to contact you anyway!  

You've almost single-handedly changed our opinion of CNY with this book....
THANK YOU!

Sincerely,

(Name withheld - I've asked the author for permission to publish their name.)

 

Admitting What We Don't Know: Aging Potential for New York Wines

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

The other day I read a truly outstanding piece of wine writing by one of the most underrated writers in the field today. He's underrated probably because he's not actually in the wine writing field; Keith Levenberg is an enthusiast who makes his living elsewhere, but every six weeks or so, he rewards readers with his insights. His blog is not unlike your favorite greasy spoon tucked into high-end restaurant row: You always see the same dozen people there, and they realize that the place is going to be packed if anyone ever finds out how good the fare is.

It was Keith's piece on how wines mature that had me thinking of New York wines. Specifically, I'm thinking about Finger Lakes rieslings and Long Island reds, which, categorically speaking, are the state's wines that have the best potential for long-term improvement in the bottle.

It's time that we admit what we don't know. And it's time we recognize how thrilling that is.

In older wine regions, we get a good look at what might happen a decade or three down the line. Sure, vinification techniques change. But there is a reason to believe that we know what the special bottlings of, say, Cote-Rotie might do with time.

But as Keith makes clear, there's way too much posturing and affectation when critics try to slap a "drink window" on structured wines:

In its simplest form, the thought process goes something like this: Tannins help a wine age, and this wine is tannic; therefore it needs time. There are endless variations on the theme: As wines age they lose their baby fat, and this wine has a lot of baby fat; therefore it will be a long time before it fades. Or: Wines integrate with age, and this wine seems very disjointed; therefore it just needs some time to come together. Or: Wine ages on its balance, and this wine is perfectly balanced; therefore it will age effortlessly. You can pluck any one you want to justify any arbitrary prognostication. For example, one person tastes a heavily tannic, backwards wine and concludes it’s structured for long aging. Another person tastes the same wine, decries its lack of balance, and quotes the late Henri Jayer: “If it tastes too tannic, then it is too tannic.” Which one is right? Answer: It depends. Some wines have a track record for starting out punishingly tannic and eventually becoming exquisitely finessed, while other wines that might seem structurally indistinguishable from the starting gate never manage to shed the harshness–or, just as disappointingly, they do shed the tannin but don’t reveal anything interesting in the material that remains.

He's right, of course, and if I spent five minutes I could probably find an instance or two in which I over-pronounce or, perhaps, speculate carelessly. It's tempting to do, but most of the time we're really just bullshitting. And it's a great way to get into trouble; few things provoke the kind of public opprobrium that comes when a critic urges his readers to lay down an expensive bottle that quickly goes downhill.

But we should feel no frustration with the lack of precision with which we can anticipate New York wines' aging curves. Instead, we should enjoy this opportunity to witness an evolution, of wine regions from nascency to actualization. How good will the best Long Island merlot be in twenty-five years? I can guess, and Lenn can guess with better authority than most. But the ledger is so thin that we're still simply guessing, and to Keith's point, we'll always be simply guessing.

Do not take this to say that we don't have any clue at all what New York wines will do with some amount of bottle age. We've seen enough example of, for example, Bedell's or Paumanok's merlots to understand their potential over a decade or so. Same with the rieslings -- and particularly the late harvest rieslings -- of Hermann J. Wiemer. There are other examples. But we need not obsess over nailing down the projected pinnacle of each of New York's finest wines. We can track the progress as it happens, sometimes rewarded, sometimes disappointed. Just remind yourself that a wine that is, to use a common phrase, "past peak" is simply communicating different things. It is very often a highly enjoyable story if you're willing to listen to it.

There will be some changes coming to NYCR in 2012. Among other projects, Lenn and I are planning to create a rough vintage guide. Not a typical vintage chart, but a helpful report on recent vintages. But no matter what the vintage evaluation, there will be surprises, and if we ever tell you we know exactly when a wine will peak, well...

Direct Flight from NYC to Finger Lakes Designed to Attract New Visitors

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

In the days leading up to the recent announcement that Delta Air Lines will soon offer daily flights between New York City and Big Flats, Finger Lakes Wine Country President Morgen McLaughlin hinted at a "game changer." Marketing agents are hoping she's right: They believe this new connection will attract new visitors to the Finger Lakes. 

Daily service between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Elmira Corning Regional Airport will launch in June. One flight will run each day, utilizing a 50-seat regional jet operated by Pinnacle Airlines. Tickets for future flights went on sale last month.

Does it change the game, as has been said? The flight is listed as running 90 minutes, though actual air time will be roughly half that. Still, add the drive time to the airport, arriving at least an hour early, and the time required to get baggage and ground transportation, and the fact remains that this new flight doesn't save travelers as much time as might first appear.

But there will be new opportunities with this daily flight. Here's why.

This connection targets the New York City market that doesn't use automobiles

If you don't live in NYC, that number is probably higher than you realize. According to Census data, 54% of NYC households do not own a car. The number of households that own cars is going up, but slowly. Here's a nice look at how it breaks down. 

Anyone who doesn't own a car was rarely, if ever, going to visit the Finger Lakes in the past. Now they'll have a better chance to change that.

This connection has marketers thinking about ways to bring in more big names

Want to bring a celebrity chef to the Finger Lakes? How about holding a nationally or internationally themed conference? The new argument is: We can get you there easily, with multiple options. We'll see if it pays off.

This connection has apparently been in demand

Ann Crook, the Big Flats airport Director of Aviation, has been saying for months that her customers want this flight. In fact, she cites a direct flight to NYC as the number one customer request going back years. Now, in most cases, she's talking about customers who want to be able to fly directly to NYC from Big Flats, not the other way around. But no matter. Crook points out that this will satisfy customers going out, but also customers coming in.

Whether this flight changes the game and dramatically impacts regional tourism remains to be seen. We can start looking for the impact with the first flights on June 7. 

Will Climate Change Help the Finger Lakes Wine Industry? Here's Why it Might

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

I read an article this week that has me thinking about climate and winter and the Finger Lakes wine industry. We head into Christmas weekend on pace for the second-lowest snow total ever -- as in, ever recorded in more than 125 years -- along with one of the top three warmest Decembers. So with my brain already stuck on the subject of unusual weather, I was interested to hear the take of the wine and science communities on how climate change has impacted other major wine regions.

This piece comes from John McQuaid, a journalist focusing on science and the environment and, evidently, wine. McQuaid points to a handful of new studies and scientific findings that indicate the globe is slowly warming, and he zeroes in on the impact on wine regions:

• The average growing-season temperature in 27 prime wine-producing regions around the world has risen 2.3 degrees Farenheit in the last half-century
• That temperature increase nearly doubles in Spain, Portugal, southern France, parts of California, and Washington State.

This runs parallel to some of the conversations I've had this year with Alan Lakso, a professor (and a brilliant one) at Cornell who has done extensive work in understanding how climatological forces impact the Finger Lakes region. Our discussions centered on the following observations:

• In the Finger Lakes, the average summer highs are not markedly rising, but the average winter lows are
• This tends to lead to a longer growing season, because spring thaws tend to happen earlier
• Even though deep freezes are less common, vines are still at risk because temperatures are more likely to swing wildly 

This last point is significant. The often-quoted magic number is -10 degree Farenheit; that's the threshold when vinifera vines will start to die with any extended exposure. But Lakso explained to me that vines can be similarly shocked (injured or even killed) when the temperature hits zero... if the temperature has fallen, say, 30 to even 50 degrees in a single day or two. The vines would not be accustomed to the cold, and without a little practice and protection (and often without the warmth of a snow pack), bad things can happen.

The ideal scenario is a vintage like 2010, which saw budbreak in April. Growers were nervous; they know that an April budbreak leaves buds vulnerable to debilitating frosts. But for the most part, that didn't happen in 2010, and the result was a historically long growing season that gave wine producers plenty of options on ripeness, style and picking schedules.

Notice I didn't say that 2010 was "hot." It was simply long, consistently warm. And I think that distinction is where McQuaid might be tripping up, as he puts forward a bit of hyperbole in his analysis. He cites a study indicating that Bordeaux is seeing average temperatures rise too far for white varieties to thrive. By 2049, "No more Sauvignon Blanc" in Bordeaux, McQuaid writes.

The data hasn't convinced me that the future is so severe and so close to our doorstep, and longer growing seasons don't always equal hotter growing seasons. But certainly McQuaid makes another valuable point: Longer growing seasons have opened up new opportunities in cool climate wine regions. He mentions Long Island and Canada's Prince Edward County as examples. Certainly the Finger Lakes is another. 

But before we celebrate, we must remember that the cooler a wine region's climate, the more susceptible it is to vintage variation. Even as we experience longer seasons, there is extreme variability. The glorious 2010 vintage was preceded by 2009, when Finger Lakes winemakers knew by July that Bordeaux red varieties were bound to struggle. And the 2010 vintage was followed by a winter that saw a few of those vertiginous drops in temperature; some Keuka Lake growers experienced serious winter injury as a result. 

It's too early to draw conclusions regarding what climate change means for wine regions and wine lovers. But by now there is enough data to know that New York State is well positioned for a long, successful winemaking future. After all, the best wines are already earning the world's attention. Longer growing seasons and more options can only broaden the arsenal. 

What Should We Expect of Wine Writers? Short Visits, Thin Coverage, and Why Specialization Matters

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

If you wanted to gain an understanding of what a winemaker is trying to accomplish, how long would you need? How many wines would you want to taste? How many steps would you need to take in the vineyard? How many questions would you want to ask?

There is no set standard, obviously. But one of the most valuable exercises we have is the in-person visit to the winery. It helps writers get to know the winemaker, and perhaps the owner and the grower and the staff. It helps us comprehend why certain decisions are made. Interestingly, it's one of the least ideal settings to evaluate wines -- we're human, after all, and confirmation bias is ever threatening. But the advantages are many, and direct visits are vital for writers covering a region.

I bring this up because I want NYCR readers to know how we approach our coverage, and I confess to experiencing a bit of shock when I learned how the Wine Advocate's Antonio Galloni was approaching his recent trip to Burgundy.

On the Dr Vino blog, Tyler Colman highlighted a tweet from Galloni in which Galloni said he was visiting nine producers in a single day. Nine visits! I was blown away. Doing the math, Colman figures that Galloni can only spend 30-45 minutes with each producer. 

There is simply no amount of training or experience that will allow you to load up a schedule like that and still gain the comprehension that most writers seek. I don't bring the subject up to take a shot at Antonio Galloni, who, by all accounts, is a great guy and an impressive taster. But the Wine Advocate has had a credibility problem in Burgundy for years, and I just can't believe this is the way to improve relations.

To his credit, Galloni responded on Twitter to the questions of Colman and Dan Posner, owner of Grapes The Wine Company. Galloni wouldn't reveal the average amount of time he spent per visit, but he did say that the key was to make sure the producer has the wines set up for tasting in advance, so as to move quickly. He ate a baguette in his car for lunch. When asked if he felt he had sufficient time for each stop, he replied, "Sure thing."

Since his recent promotion, wine enthusiasts have questioned whether Galloni is "spread too thin." He now is responsible for covering all of Italy, Burgundy, Champagne and California. Galloni's schedule in Burgundy offers confirmation that he's being asked to do too much. As a point of comparison, Wine Spectator has, by my count, six people doing the work that Galloni does. It might be more. Italy alone is a behemoth with myriad varieties, and each year the winemaking improves. But with Galloni's workload, he has to focus on the tried-and-true regions, with almost no time to focus on something new and exciting. Just imagine what he could accomplish if he covered only Italy.

Today we learned that Jay Miller is leaving his post at the Wine Advocate after allegations of unethical behavior. (Miller claims the timing of his departure is mere coincidence.) Miller apparently was either incapable of booking winery visits himself, or didn't trust himself to do the work and had help from others who allegedly took advantage of the situation and tried to profit. The coverage duties of Miller, who handled South America, Spain, Washington State and Oregon, will be divided amongst the existing staff. You don't have to ask whether that will make their existing beats more challenging. These are capable professionals, but no one can travel to wine regions on opposite ends of the globe with regularity. 

Fortunately for wine lovers, specialized wine writing is beginning to thrive. Note that I did not say blogging, even though this site is still technically described as a blog. True wine writing requires research, experience, and time. Are wine bloggers also wine writers? Some are, absolutely. But now, with the dilution of quality at industry titans such as the Advocate, wine lovers ought to be turning to specialized coverage. 

At NYCR, the staff has the opportunity to spend as much time as we need with producers. Last year when I visited with winemaker Derek Wilber, I figured the visit would last roughly an hour. It stretched to two-and-a-half. Wilber is a thoughtful, experienced winemaker who had stories to tell and new ideas to share, and I didn't want to cut it short. There have been visits that I was surprised to find lasted only 40 minutes or so, but that's rare. 

That's not to say that Lenn, Bryan, the staff and I are doing things flawlessly. Not even close. We all work full-time jobs outside of our work as wine writers. There are wineries I still haven't visited, and I regret that. But I don't want to sell it short with a drive-by visit, either.

Galloni might say, fairly, that he's not a storyteller; he's a wine reviewer, and he's there to taste wines. But if that's the case, why bother with the visit? He can taste those wines in his office. It's better to spend the time talking, interviewing, and trying to learn what a producer is all about. That time is so valuable, and if you have less than an hour, I can't imagine spending all or most of it tasting a lineup of wines.

But specialized coverage has its own risks for readers. Writers must resist the natural pull to root for a region. We are not cheerleaders. Do we occasionally advocate? Perhaps, but I would say we advocate for open minds and better consumer understanding. If a consumer declares they'll never try Finger Lakes riesling or Long Island merlot or Niagara pinot noir, for example, I'll urge them to reconsider. But I'm not a promoter. I travel and visit and taste wines from around the world to gain an understanding of where the region I cover fits in a global context. Our job is not to convince readers it's something that it clearly is not.

That said, I find specialized coverage to be more professional each passing year. Many companies are attempting to do more with less. But that trend doesn't benefit readers, and eventually, they'll find quality in new sources. 

Red Newt Prepares to Launch Deb Whiting Foundation with Kick-off Dinner Event this Friday

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Seats still remain for what Red Newt Bistro is billing as "the wine and food event of the season." This Friday, December 2, Red Newt Bistro host a special dinner that will raise funds for the new Debra Whiting Foundation.

The cost to attend is a $100 donation to the foundation.

"Debra was a woman of passion," says Dave Whiting, owner of Red Newt Cellars and Bistro. "We were passionately in love, and she worked, breathed, and lived with a passion. This event is an expression in so many ways of what Debra lived and breathed while she was alive, and for me is a reminder of her legacy that each one of us has the privilege to share."

For the menu, Red Newt Bistro chef Brud Holland is teaming with Samantha Buyskes of Simply Red Events and Culinary Center.

The theme corresponds to one of Deb Whiting's favorites: Five Times Swine. (Each course will have a pork theme, but vegetarian options are available.) 

The money generated by this dinner will help launch the foundation, which has lofty goals. "I can't bear to think of looking at the Finger Lakes as the region that it is becoming without Debra continuing to be a part of it," Dave Whiting explains. "We would have rather had her here in person, but it's essential that the drive and spirit that her life embodied carry on in her absence."

The Debra Whiting Foundation will launch with several initiatives:

Scholarships

Scholarship venues will be offered at local high schools to encourage and fund students who decide to pursue further education in culinary and/or local agriculture programs.

Internships

An infrastructure will be built to enable and facilitate rich internship opportunities for students enrolled in college or university level culinary programs. The focus of these opportunities will be to bridge the disconnect that often occurs between what is prepared for the plate and where it came from. Connecting the farm to the table builds the appreciation of local cuisine, farms and families.

Apprenticeships

Offered to culinary professionals not currently enrolled in other educational programs. This multidisciplinary apprenticeship will focus on the integration of farm, table, farmer, chef and community. Engaging the apprentice in multiple aspects and situations of farm production, food processing and restaurant preparation will build an appreciation of the “what, how and why” of the locavore approach to cuisine and agriculture.

The dinner event begins at 6:30 on Friday, December 2. In lieu of attending this event, the foundation is graciously accepting donations.

Purchase tickets online

Five Things I Learned From a Night of Bartending

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

There is so much to learn from a single night of tending bar. On a recent Saturday, I was one of several bartenders for a charity fundraiser in Rochester. It was a farm-to-table event put together by the fine folks at Breathe Yoga, and it featured local food and all Finger Lakes wines.

I recruited the wine donations, then tended bar myself. Here's what I learned.

1. People like red wine, and Finger Lakes reds are plenty passable for the masses

I divided the red wines into two main groups: lighter-bodied reds (mostly pinot noir) and bigger-bodied reds. Pinot was popular, but many consumers just wanted something dark. The surprise smash hit of the night was Keuka Spring Vineyards' 2010 Miller's Cove Red, which poured the darkest color of the many wines we featured. It was gone quickly. Only once did someone taste a Finger Lakes red and decide they didn't want it. These were, for the most part, not discerning customers; they just wanted a standard red. This is not typically a regional strength, but it says something about the quality of the winemaking when consumers are almost uniformly satisfied. 

2. People know variety much more than anything else

Actual conversation with a guy who appeared to be around 40:

Him: I'd love a zinfandel.

Me: These are all Finger Lakes wines, and these producers don't specialize in reds quite that style.

Him: Oh, gotcha. Then I'll take a malbec.

I don't bring this up to poke fun. I think this is a symptom of the pernicious by-the-glass lists that plague this country. So many restaurants serve a shiraz, or a zin, or a merlot. No other information for the customer needed.

3. Many casual consumers still assume that riesling means "sweet"

Over and over, when I mentioned there was plenty of good riesling, people would say, "Okay, but do you have anything that isn't quite so sweet?"

This opened up a nice window for conversation and education. But I was surprised that riesling still carries a training-wheels stigma for some consumers.

4. Man, do people drink a lot of freaking chardonnay

Siiiiiggghhhhh...

5. Those who want to be educated make up a small percentage of consumers, but they're thirsty for knowledge

Most people just wanted a glass of wine, and it hardly mattered what we were pouring. But those that wanted to learn really wanted to learn. They were interested in vintage variation, which grapes worked well locally, which producers were strongest, etc. There are opportunities with this crowd, and I hope the wine industry continues to cultivate their passion.

Some Finger Lakes Wineries Favor Synthetic Corks for Their Best Wines; Should They?

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor, and Tom Mansell, Science Editor

Serious wine consumers are not, generally speaking, fans of synthetic cork. Most recoil at the sight of a plastic cork being pulled from a bottle they had otherwise been excited to open. Is this bias unfair? Maybe. Companies are working to improve the quality of synthetic corks. We'll get to that in a bit. But there's no denying that synthetic corks make a clear statement to the serious consumer, whether intended or not.

"Cheap," said one of the many tasters on the evening of the recent Finger Lakes Riesling Hour. The inaugural riesling launch event led to coordinated tastings around the state and beyond. In Rochester, we had a packed room and it wasn't long before someone noticed that several 2010 Finger Lakes rieslings were closed with synthetic corks. In particular, the synthetic closures on Dr. Konstantin Frank and Rooster Hill stood out at our tasting. We're told that a few other Finger Lakes rieslings opened that night were also closed with synthetic.

"I hate them," says Leo Frokic, a downstate wine aficionado. "They let oxygen in. Would never buy anything worth aging that was sealed with synthetic corks."

"If I see plastic, I worry," says Loren Sonkin, owner of Sonkin Cellars, which makes California syrah blends. "I won't buy wine to age if I know it is in plastic. I am disappointed in the winery and left wondering why."

Synthetic closures are mostly made from petroleum-derived polymeric materials. Essentially, they are plastic. And the types of plastic that synthetics are made of are not good oxygen barriers.  While wine aging is a complex chemical phenomenon, it’s generally agreed that oxygen plays an important role in the evolution of a wine in the bottle. Studies consistently show that synthetic closures have a higher oxygen transfer rate (OTR) than cork or screwcap closures. In general, cork, being a natural product, shows the most variation in OTR, while screwcaps are consistently the lowest and synthetics are consistently higher than cork.

So let's attempt to answer Sonkin’s question: Why are some of the top Finger Lakes wineries using synthetic corks to close their rieslings? We posed that question to Fred Frank, owner of Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars on Keuka Lake.

Cost

Frank explained that the price of each individual Dr. Frank bottling determines their use of closure. Their most expensive wines are closed with high-grade natural corks. "In our mid-priced wines, we use synthetic corks from Syncor," Frank explained. "These corks are imported from Germany and the manufacturer claims they perform the best in testing run by a university. In our lower-priced wines, we use synthetic corks from Nomacorc."

Frank's decision to base the closure on the wine's price leads to a potential problem. Dr. Frank's 2008 Meritage, for example, sells for twice the price of the 2010 Semi-Dry Riesling. But history suggests that the riesling will outlast the Meritage in your cellar.

Synthetic corks offer a significant potential savings, but there are levels of quality with each kind of cork. Natural corks run from about $0.20 apiece up to roughly a dollar. Most wineries tell us that they use natural corks that cost either $0.26 apiece or just about twice that. Synthetic corks can come in around a dime apiece, but the price can rise to the natural cork level for the new, higher-end versions. A winery that produces 10,000 cases of wine annually could save $36,000 by switching from higher-end natural cork to lower-end synthetic cork. Would the wine suffer? Over the long term, almost certainly yes. But again, winery owners know that most consumers don't have a long term.

Closure contamination

Last year, Rooster Hill owner Amy Hoffman explained why she chooses synthetic cork instead of natural cork for Rooster Hill's rieslings.

"(Winemaker) Barry Tortolone and I have discussed this at length," Hoffman said. "The biggest reason is to ensure corked wines are not poured in restaurants that typically don't have good trained staff that may recognize tainted wine. The last thing I want is for some family to drink a bottle of wine that is not right and then judge our wines by that experience."

Winery owners have stressed how frustrating it is for them to discover that even a small percentage of their wines are corked, ruined by TCA that shows up in the wine in the form of various off aromas. They also worry that some wines might contain sub-detection threshold levels of TCA, which can mask fruit aromas without being perceived as tainted, so it's difficult for the customer to discern whether the problem is with the cork or with the wine itself. But isn't the problem getting better? Haven't corks improved, making cork taint less likely?

Estimates on TCA contamination vary, depending on whom you ask. The cork industry claims that cork taint incidence numbers continue to decrease, and estimate that less than one percent of bottles are “corked”.  Critics, meanwhile, claim numbers of anywhere from five to ten percent. In more objective measures, data collected from the International Wine Challenge, where judges are trained to sniff out faults, shows that cork taint shows up in just under two percent of bottles (2006-2008 data).

“Premium factor”

Another point often raised in the Finger Lakes is the fact that the vast majority of consumers are not, in fact, laying bottles down to drink months or years down the line. Most wines are purchased for quick, almost immediate consumption. Why should a winery pay more for natural corks when a synthetic cork will do the job for at least a short while?

From our perspective, here's a strong reason to use the best possible closure: You won't effect change if you're signaling to the consumer that the wine should be drunk quickly, just as it always has. Finger Lakes wineries are producing some truly fine rieslings, and year after year, we find new evidence that the wines will age with grace and beauty. Some have even showed the capacity to improve over a decade or more. But consumers are not likely to begin laying bottles down if the message they receive is that it's not worth their while to do so. Change comes slowly, and with persistent consumer education. It's not always the cheapest short-term option that leads to long-term success.

This consumer perception of quality based on bottle closure is gleefully referred to by the cork industry as “premium factor.” To many consumers, there is just something special about popping a natural cork out of a bottle. One study of this phenomenon seems to confirm its existence, with consumers showing a strong positive association (e.g., they would pay more) for wines sealed with natural cork. Screwcaps show a strong negative correlation (perhaps a holdover from the Carlo Rossi jug wine days) and synthetics also show a mild negative correlation. Savvier consumers know, though, that screwcaps are not just for plonk, as many high-quality New World wines on screwcap demonstrate. But you don’t see entire countries (à la New Zealand) switching almost all of their production to synthetic closures.

In the minds of consumers, natural cork is simply the best possible closure for aging a wine. While the jury is still out on the scientific basis for such a belief, the court of public opinion has long been adjourned.

At a recent writers conference, Evan had the chance to see the new lineup from Nomacorc, a synthetic cork producer popular with New York wineries. The lower-end synthetics still look as fake as ever, and their oxygen transfer rates would be trouble for a consumer looking to lay bottles down. Their higher-end products look much more like natural corks than ever before. It's a clean, strong look. How do they perform? For the Nomacorc Select Series, their top-of-the-line product, the OTR is comparable to mid-range natural cork, providing, according to Nomacorc, a shelf life of between six and eight years.

At the conference, Evan tasted a series of wines that were several years old, closed under different grades of Nomacorc. On each occasion, he was able to correctly identify which wine was closed under better quality synthetic cork, and which was closed under lower-quality synthetic cork. But it wasn't easy. 

There are numerous factors that producers need to consider when choosing bottle closures for their wines.  Longevity, consumer perception, cost, risk of taint from the closure, and many more. There are also alternatives for wineries who wish to eliminate cork taint. Screwcaps are an option of course, but bottling under screwcap (1) requires a new bottling line (a capital cost many wineries simply can’t justify), and (2) comes with its own share of problems, which are beyond the scope of this piece. Some technical (agglomerated) corks (e.g., DIAM) undergo a special treatment process to remove TCA, but this process also adds to the cost. Then there are a host of other alternative man-made closures like the Zork, the VinoSeal, the Guala Seal, and many others, whose market acceptance and performance as closures are yet to be determined.

It's easy for us to prod Finger Lakes producers about natural corks when we're not paying the bills. And if we were producing Cayuga White or Niagara or many other varieties, we'd not spend extra cash on natural cork. That said, this is a region looking for more worldwide respect. This is a region that produces many wines that merit such respect. Most of the top producers close their rieslings with natural cork, but not all. It'd be a shame to see writers and consumers open a bottle and give up on the wine -- or the winery, or even the entire region -- before they pour a glass.

Cheap vs. Quality: Is Wine Different?

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

Last week I read the San Francisco Chronicle's Jon Bonne's outstanding takedown of cheap, bulk wine. I sent it to a few friends who are marginally interested in wine, but occasionally gripe that wine is too elitist. I thought Bonne's piece was direct and, if you pardon the pun, on the money.

But a friend sent a reply that had me thinking. Here's the full email:

Evan

Nice piece by Bonne, but there's one thing he leaves out. He writes about wine as if it's the same as burgers or cars. Basically, he makes it seem like you can easily distinguish between a cheapo and a high-end product in each category. Now, that's certainly true with cars. And that's true with a lot of food. I used to love me some McDonald's, but now it makes me sick. On the other hand, a high-quality burger from choice meat is a thing of beauty!

So it's easy for even a novice to see the difference. I just think wine is different. Not too long ago I bougtht a 97 pointer for a price that I didnt want to tell my wife. And I bought a $9 87 pointer. I won't lie - they were both good. But I can't tell you that I found an obvious difference. And that $9 wine is made in huge quantities!

So is there something wrong with me? I'm not sending this email to bring wine down. I'm just raising the possibility that this writer (and a lot of writers) fail to realize that for most people, a lot of wines taste basically the same. Especially red wine.

Now, what to make of this?

First of all, I'm struck by his comparison of the mass-produced 87-point wine (disclaimer: I'm not a fan of point scores and wish he would have left that out of the discussion) and the expensive wine that he bought. My first guess is that each wine had a heavy dose of oak. Which is fine; people tend to like oak.

This isn't meant to become just another diatribe against oak. But that email led me to think of the most important advantage that the artisans have over the bulk producers: the source material. When a high-end restaurant makes a great burger, they tend to use excellent quality meat. McDonald's, on the other hand, uses CAFO-sourced meat, or aging dairy cows. So what does the fast food chain do? They load up the meat with salt, which is a flavor most people like and allows them to cover up the fact that their source material isn't very good.

And what does a bulk wine producer do with overcropped, mediocre-at-best fruit? He buries it in oak. Oak is the salt of the wine world. 

Now, can you imagine going to a high-end restaurant, ordering an expensive burger, and finding it buried in salt? What would be the point of all that salt? Why mask the flavor of the beef? Yes, there are other ingredients on that burger. But they're not simple seasonings. 

So why, then, are the high-end wine producers slapping the equivalent of a pound of salt on their wines? They already have the greatest advantage possible: They have great fruit! Their choice of oak is making their wine taste more like the bulk stuff. I'm not saying it makes their wine taste like bulk wine; I am saying, however, that it moves the needle more in that direction, even if faintly.

Do I think that most red wines taste roughly the same for novice drinkers? Assuming they're not flawed, I can see why my friend would say so. But no, I don't. I think most oak tastes the same, and too often these days, the fruit is not allowed the spotlight. If the fruit were championed and protected, casual consumers like my friend would have no doubt about the difference between plonk bulk wine and the wines produced from the world's top vineyards. 

To some degree, this is oversimplifying things. Great fruit can stand up to new oak, and integrate the flavors and aromas. But if you read James Suckling's tasting notes on some of the top 2009 Bordeaux, you'll find that those wines - which are supposed to be from one of the great vintages ever - come off sounding like hot fudge sundaes. Dark chocolate! Milk chocolate! Cocoa powder! A cherry on top! So even when we want to believe the best wines have seamlessly folded the oak in, we're often distracted by what that wood is doing.

This is not a perfect argument. There are flaws, and sure, I'm being provocative. I wouldn't take all wine out of oak. Absolutely not. I recognize the value in texture and structure that comes from time in wood. But do I think it's being overdone? Yes.

Part of the reason my friend had to hide his purchase from his wife was because elements like 100% new oak make wine more costly to produce, and that cost is passed on to consumers. A wine aged in more neutral oak could see the price come down for consumers, all while allowing the greatest attribute in the producer's arsenal - the fruit - to shine with less obstruction.

Regardless, I recommend that anyone who hasn't read Jon Bonne's piece to check it out. Keep it handy for friends who say there is no different between cheap and expensive wines. And maybe, if we're lucky, that difference won't be so subtle in the future.

Mud, Sprays, and Compromise: Veteran Lakewood Grower Explains How He Handled a Tough Vintage

 By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Dave Stamp, the vineyard manager at Lakewood Vineyards on Seneca Lake, wears shorts every day during harvest, which he says "might be tradition, and it might be just stupid." If it's the latter, then it's one of the only stupid things Dave does in the vineyard; everything else is carefully considered and based on 25 years of experience. That doesn't mean he makes the right call every time, and it doesn't mean every other grower will agree with his decisions.

But it does mean that there are few people more qualified to tell the story of this vintage than Dave. Eventually, when consumers taste the best wines of 2011, they might not fully understand just how much work went into their creation. So I wanted to talk to Dave Stamp about how it all went down.

By the way, Dave is an exceedingly nice and soft-spoken guy. He'll give you his thoughts, even on controversial subjects, but he never seeks to bring anyone else down. It's occasionally technical and always instructive for me and, I hope, for regular consumers who don't know all the details of growing.

NYCR: You've said that everyone will have a "mud story." What do you mean?

DS: That was the vintage. Just a lot of rain! As far as getting the fruit off, that was fun. It was muddy. We were down the road in our loading area, and it got so chewed up that turning the steering wheel was just funny. The machines were sliding on the hill, and it was a lot of work to keep the thing going where you wanted it!

NYCR: Do you have any fruit still hanging?

DS: Everything is in. We didn't feel it was going to be a good late-harvest year. With the rain and pressure, we figured it was better to cut our losses and get everything in.

NYCR: The rainy spring cranked up disease pressure, we're told.

DS: Right.

NYCR: Growers have told us that they had to spray more often this year. What kinds of sprays, exactly? What was your approach?

DS: Spring was wetter than normal, which was inconvenient. Summer dried off, a lot of heat, and we were smiling for a while. But we knew there would be disease somewhere after the spring. In September we had way too much rain. We had some splitting problems. But we think we kept the lid on it pretty well.

There was botrytis out there this year, but I think everyone was more scared of the sour rot. That was the concern this year.

When you get that much water, the berry gets wet, and it pumps that water up, and the skin can't handle it. It splits. Then you get sour rot in there. You can't have a lot of it before it really starts to affect the wine.

So a lot of our sprays come in the summer, and we try to back off closer to harvest. We start spraying when the buds are two or three inches long, and it depends on the year. We have two major diseases: powdery and downy mildew. If you can control them early, then you don't have to spray so close to harvest time. We try not to spray near harvest, cause we don't want to put it out there in the vineyard, but this year we had to do it a bit. Often we're done spraying by mid-August. In a dry summer we might not spray at all. This year we had to deal with botrytis.

We use sulphur for powdery mildew. It's a very nice product, very old, and it works. We also use newer stuff like Pristine and Resis, which attack proteins in the cell wall, and destroy the fungus that way. Those are prone to resistance, so we use them sparingly. Captan is good for downey mildew. It's a product that serves as a workhorse. There's Abound, which is a sterile inhibitor. It kills a lot of different diseases, black rot, powdery mildew.

NYCR: Is this the kind of vintage that affirms many growers' belief that organic viticulture can't be done in this region?

DS: You don't see organic growing around here. And somebody could be organic, and it doesn't mean they don't spray. It's just a different set of products. They're a little limited in what they can use. Some of the stuff they're putting on has not been tested like we test regular pesticides. I don't think that's a great idea. In the end, I think it's better to go with a mindset we call "sustainable." Look at the whole picture of things and choose the product that will work best for you with the least amount of side effects.

NYCR: Were you able to pick on dry days?

DS: For the most part, we picked when it was dry. We were fortunate that when we got the big rains, the stuff that was prone to rot, it was inside the harvest window, so we went ahead and picked them right before the rains. My brother would have preferred another brick on the riesling, sure, but we made the decision to get it in and avoid rot. That's the compromise. Just something we had to do this time around.

NYCR: We had two dry, warm stretches, two windows during harvest. One was in late September, the other in early October. How significant was that?

DS: Those two-dry stretches helped us out a lot. No question about it. We weren't getting high brix, but the acids still were down. Low acid, low brix, and the flavors came through. Things balanced out nicely. In the end, I think people will be happy with this vintage.

NYCR: With the experience you've gained, do you see a difference between hand picking and machine picking?

DS: Well, we hand pick pinot noir, and just about everything else is machine picked. When you hand pick something, it sits on the ground, and it's there for a good chunk of the day before anything happens with it. When you machine pick it, it's often on the press within the hour. For me, it often boils down to what you've done in the vineyard. At the end of the day, I'm just not seeing hand-picked wines win all the awards. The machine-picked wines win lots of awards. The newer machines picks things a lot cleaner than they used to, so what matters most is whether you've done the right things in the vineyard.

NYCR: Are you glad it's over?

DS: (laughs) Well, it was a good-sized harvest for us, a lot of fruit. It was a lot of work! But maybe that's just grape-growing in the northeast.

Video: Evan Dawson on Local Wine Lists -- in Barbaresco and in the Finger Lakes

Most Demanding Vintage Ever? Sounds Like Hyperbole, but in the Finger Lakes, 2011 Just Might Be

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Photos courtesy Lakewood Vineyards. Above: Vineyard Manager Dave Stamp rides the harvester on a gloomy harvest day. Below: Early October riesling grapes at Lakewood showed clean fruit with occasional affected berries

Up and down Seneca Lake, no one was sleeping. No one was going home. After weeks of slowly building rot among the vines, the rains departed and the sun had gloriously returned. It was the 10th day of October, and this was the window, the chance, the opportunity to do the work and pull the 2011 vintage out of the fires of rot and disease pressure. 

"Two months," one grower said to me, asking me not to use his name. "We basically did two months of work in eight days. Never seen anything like it."

At Billsboro Winery, Kim Aliperti kept the tasting room humming while rarely seeing her husband, winemaker Vinny Aliperti of both Billsboro and Atwater Estate Vineyards. Down at Lakewood Vineyards, the Stamp brothers looked like ragged warriors in their harvest beards. At Hermann J. Wiemer, winemaker Fred Merwarth and his wife Maressa welcomed their first child -- a healthy boy -- during a marathon session on the sorting line. (Fred and Maressa left the line to go to the hospital, but were back to work before the week was out.) Their colleagues made hot soup at midnight in between sorting sessions.

"We did things in the vineyard we'd never done before," said Oskar Bynke, a partner and marketing director at Hermann J. Wiemer. That's no surprise; the very best wineries adapt to the toughest tasks. More on their decision-making in a moment; the good news is that weather does not have the only say in wine. First, though, an explanation for what has made 2011 a grower's challenge.

Cold, then wet, then scorching, then wet

April and May were cold and wet - much moreso than normal. That got development off to a slow start, and yet fruit set was generally healthy and strong, and coming off a stunningly good vintage in 2010, that led to larger-than-normal crop sizes. 

Keep that in mind, because those crop sizes are about to start dropping.

By June, growers were begging for dry weather. They enjoyed a solid month, warm and sunny. Then, it became too much of a good thing. July was scorching, with one stretch of five straight days seeing 95 degrees or above, with no rain. The ground, once saturated, cracked and hissed. Some vineyards saw vines begin to shut down; heat is generally good, but over 90 degrees, vines desperately need water. Those vineyards were beginning to exhaust what they had gained just weeks earlier.

When the rains finally returned, they came hard. "It seems like we never got just a quarter inch," that same grower told me, still asking to have his name withheld. "Who wants to be quoted on the record? We'd have to tell you the weather sucked, or we could sort of massage it. But every time it rained, it poured, and you can't take too much of that without getting trouble in the fruit."

He's talking about rot. Specifically, he's talking about botrytis. Some grapes turned sour, but most that were affected simply shriveled and turned raisiny. In small quantities, this can make for rich, sweeter rieslings, but most varieties do not want botrytis. 

The first window to get the grapes in came with a burst of sunny, dry days in late September. Pinot comes first, and pinot vineyards were varied. Some lost fully half their crop to rot; others, like Chris Verrill's vineyard on the east side of Seneca Lake, saw pristine fruit. That's because Verrill has an irrigation system that allows him to keep the vines fed during brutal stretches of heat like the region saw in July. Consequently, those vines are better suited for rough patches closer to harvest. 

The regional focus, of course, is on riesling. That would come later, during the second window, the one that will be remembered as the one that saved the riesling. Or, more accurately, as the one that gave growers a chance to save it, if they made the vital adjustments.

Some perspective from Cornell

Cornell has become a strong partner for growers, and Cornell's staff saw the struggles. But for Peter Landre, the executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Yates County, the challenges in the Finger Lakes paled in comparison to what he was hearing in other parts of the state.

"I talk to farmers here, grape growers who say it's been a tough year," Landre said. "It has. But they've handled it. When we talk to our friends to the east, where the hurricane and tropical storm rains came through, it's devastation. You end up having a perspective."

And then there was that matter of fruit set. The larger-than-normal crop started to suffer, but because most growers started out with a big crop, some wineries will produce nearly as many cases of wine as last year. Some will produce quite a bit less. No one was totally wiped out.

One example of adaptation: How Wiemer made it work 

When the second window of warm, dry weather opened, growers needed some time to dry out the fruit. Over a span of just about a week and a half, many wineries had to bring in riesling alongside red varieties like cabernet franc. 

At Hermann J. Wiemer, vineyard crews routinely pick in three different passes: once early in the harvest season, preserving acidity; a second time within a week or two; and a final time to achieve the riper, richer flavors and more complexity. 

But they had never picked three times in a single day.

"Give Fred credit," Bynke said, referring to winemaker and owner Fred Merwarth. "He knew we had to find another way. So we hand-picked the botrytis first. Then we went back out and picked the best clean fruit. Finally we followed with machines to pick the rest of the riesling. All in one day."

The result has the potential to be remarkable for the vintage: Hermann J. Wiemer has entire tanks of riesling that are free of botrysized fruit. There are also tanks with almost entirely affected juice, and that will give Merwarth options. 

"We were fueled by caffeine, but that was the opportunity," Bynke said. "Last year everyone had options. This year, everyone had to figure out a different way."

What consumers need to know

The good news for consumers is that more wineries than ever before used sorting lines to hand-select the fruit. That's because there was so much rot, so much compromised fruit, that old techniques would generally not be enough. Some growers will say that they "sort in the vineyard," which makes a hand-sorting line unnecessary. Generally speaking, industry professionals report that this won't be enough in 2011 to produce excellent wine. General filtering and fining won't be enough to handle rot-affected juice.

What does that mean for consumers? Almost certainly, there will be more sub-standard wines than normal. There will be some bad wines, sure; some wineries are making few adaptations. But based on a wide range of reports, the regional approach has shifted to handle the weather and disease pressure. Growers adjusted spray schedules. The good wines will be worth celebrating, and there will indeed be very good wines. Consumers should not be afraid to ask a simple question in the tasting room, when the 2011 wines are for sale: Did you hand-sort the fruit that year? Or, how did you adapt to the challenging vintage? 

Many wineries will have riveting stories to share.

On Cayuga Lake, Sheldrake Point's Bob Madill described a scene of rigorous sorting, both in the vineyard and on the crush pad. And he said that Sheldrake Point is making other adjustments. "We are going to be a bit minimalist in chaptalization and leave the alcohol levels a bit lower," he said. "If the weight of the fruit is on the lower side, then a low alcohol is more likely to yield a balanced wine." Madill predicted that the sorting and the other decisions will lead to "wines that are much better than what one might think. Certainly a year to avoid extraction and go for delicacy and balance."

When I finally reached Merwarth by phone Tuesday morning, it was 9am and he was clearly woken up by my call. He had gotten to bed at 6am, when the previous day's work ended. By Tuesday night he did not remember our conversation. His son will turn 21 during the harvest of 2032. It will be fascinating to open a Wiemer 2011 Riesling more than two decades from now. It will tell the stories, it will remember this manic harvest, even if Merwarth doesn't.

EDITORS NOTE: Some readers have asked about the description of the vintage as "challenging," which is the word we initially used in the title. It's not at all the same as referring to a vintage as "bad." When we use the term "challenging" or "demanding," it refers to the amount of work required to produce something excellent. In 2011, the excellent wines will be born of arduous work. (In 2010, excellent wines could come from just about everywhere.) A "bad" vintage refers to one in which there is not much a grower can do to provide the fruit that serves as the basis for great wine. A "challenging" or "demanding" vintage means it's still in reach. In the Finger Lakes, much of the fruit has been picked, but some wineries have fully half their crop still hanging. And as we know from experience, the true story of the vintage takes time to develop. 

Harvest Update: Sorting Pinot for the New Forge Cellars

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Get used to this image: sorting lines, rare in the Finger Lakes, will be making regular appearances as wineries deal with fruit that varies wildly in quality.

At the new Forge Cellars (a small project run by winemaker Justin Boyette, Rick Rainey, and Frenchman Louis Barruol from Gigondas), sorting will be a routine part of the operation. In this photo, Boyette inspects the fruit with the crew.

Rainey's comment is particularly telling: "See you in the wee hours," he said. "Luckily, we have beer!"

The commitment to sorting would benefit every winery that doesn't currently perform the practice. Rainey reported that the pinot, from a handful of Seneca Lake vineyards, varied from spotless to significantly affected by rot. But with rigorous sorting, only the best fruit makes it through.

Harvest Update: Most Finger Lakes Pinot is in, as Seen at Keuka Lake Vineyards

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Photo courtesy Tricia Barry

Pinot noir is always one of the first off the vine, as it ripens early in the season. Many Finger Lakes wineries picked their pinot during a long stretch of sunshine that lasted from the middle of last week until this past Tuesday. Only a small percentage of vineyards still have pinot hanging, and most will wait until another forecasted run of warmth and sun that could last for much of the next week.

It has been a struggle.

Disease pressure has soared this year, thanks to wildly inconsistent weather (and that's being kind). Pinot has thin skins and tight clusters, so it's more prone to rot. Some vineyards report 20% or more of the fruit being lost; others have seen only a tiny fraction of damage.

Already, more wineries are hand-sorting the picked clusters than ever before. And that is a development that can only help the region.

At Keuka Lake Vineyards, winemaker Ian Barry had some help from his son, Declan. Both Barrys were happy with the berries they were seeing.

"It was beautiful, spotless fruit," the winemaker said. He reported totals of 20.8 brix, 8.8 TA and a pH of 3.38. "Those are really good numbers for a challenging year, and more importantly, the flavors are fully ripe," Barry said.

This vintage, Barry is doing a partial whole-cluster fermentation for the pinot, using neutral barrels that are stood upright with the heads removed. 

At Ravines Wine Cellars, Relying on Honesty with Customers About a Challenging Growing Year

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Winery owners can spin all they like, but consumers won't forget how miserable the early spring was, or how brutal July became. And it doesn't take an expert grower to know that these are not ideal vineyard conditions.

And yet spin is a common part of any business, wine not the least among them.

So when grower Sam Argetsinger (blue shirt at right) and Ravines Wine Cellars winemaker Morten Hallgren addressed the annual Ravinous Club luncheon, it was refreshing to hear tell their customers exactly what they were thinking.

"Spring started wet and cold, but then..." Argetsinger said, then smiled. "It got wetter and colder."

The crowd laughed. Argetsinger did, too. Why try to shine up an ugly spring? What matters is the end result.

Argetsinger said that Mother Nature always wins. "You can't fight her," he said. "You can try, but you'll lose. She is beautiful, and sometimes she's angry, but she's always right."

Hallgren told the gathering that next to 2010, this year has been a tall challenge. "But of course, most years are not like 2010," he said. "We know that. It's part of cool climate winemaking. So our job is to make decisions to improve the conditions as much as possible."

This meant more spraying to lessen disease pressure than many growers would prefer. It meant careful and constant attention, more hours spent among the vines. And in some cases, it meant dropping fruit that had turned to rot.

"It's nice to hear them tell it like it is," one customer told me as lunch was winding down. "We know that it's not always perfect, but sometimes it seems like every winery wants you to think it's always ideal."

Even the Bordelais have had to back off there hyperbole in 2011, a remarkable downshift after four "vintages of the century" in the last ten years.

So what does this mean for the harvest? The strongest growers have been glad to see a glorious stretch of warm and dry weather in late September, and many vineyards are seeing ripening at the average track -- not near the record pace fo 2010, but nowhere close to the sluggish pace of 2009. Vineyards with irrigation fended off the oppressive July heat with more success, allowing vines and developing berries a better chance to maintain development in rough conditions.

Argetsinger brought five varieties of grapes not only to show Ravines' customers, but to let them taste the development. The pinot noir in particular was ripe, with small berries in tight, healthy clusters. "They weren't all pretty clusters," Sam said with another smile.

And that's just fine. It's nice to see some of the top growers and winemakers show the faith in their customers to present them with all the facts.

"Vintage variation is a fact," Hallgren said. "We don't want each year to be the same, and no matter how much anyone wants to convince you otherwise, you're going to see things change. You have to accept that."

He knows that the rest of the fall holds the most sway over his harvest. But no matter the outcome, he'll tell Ravines customers exactly how it goes down.

What to Know About 2010 Finger Lakes Rieslings

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

Many of you will taste a wide selection of 2010 Finger Lakes rieslings this evening as a part of the inaugural Riesling Hour. It's a marketing effort that seeks to bring more wines to more people, generating buzz for the most recent vintage.

We don't want to color your thoughts about what you'll taste, and every group will have a slightly different pack of wines. But here are some answers to questions that have already come up.

Are the wines ready?

It's a fair question. At least one winery opted out of the event, saying they wanted a bit more bottle age for their rieslings. But many wineries released these rieslings weeks or even months ago, not waiting for this event. So most would say that the wines are ready for consumption.

What was the 2010 vintage like?

Remember 2009? Just imagine the polar opposite. This was the longest growing season in the history of the region; it started with 65-degree days in March, no killer spring frost, and cruised through October.

But it's very different when compared to 2007. Whereas 2007 was hot and dry, 2010 was simply warm, long, consistent, but ending with a wet kick. In fact, some heavy September rains complicated the harvest, but certainly didn't ruin it. Those rains gave winemakers and growers more to think about. Some went ahead and picked shortly after the rains, but many waited, allowing the vineyards to dry out and the berries to get a bit smaller.

One thing is certain: As a whole, riesling was picked earlier than ever before in 2010. But some wineries picked very early, seeking to maintain natural acidity, and others let the grapes continue to develop, risking a drop in acid to gain flavor complexity.

So did wineries actually have to add acid?

Some did, yes. Many did not. Again, it all depends on when the grapes came in, and what style the winemaker was seeking. For tonight's tasting, it's good to simply ask the winery -- many will have representatives online to answer questions.

Which style thrived?

The early tank and bottle tastings gave the edge to dry rieslings. Remember that in 2009, many wineries left more residual sugar than ever before to balance that tingling acidity. In 2010, the acidity was lower, and the range of flavors allowed winemakers to take the wines quite dry while retaining some texture.

That's not to say that all dry rieslings from 2010 are good - some tank samples were thin and simple, and some of the richer, sweeter bottlings were simply outstanding.

We look forward to hearing your take on the wines. Join us in the comments for that conversation.

Riesling Hour to Celebrate 2010 Finger Lakes Rieslings

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor and Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor

It's not exactly Bordeaux's En Primeur, but in some small way, there are echoes of the vintage launch events that are celebrated around the world. Finger Lakes winemakers have never coordinated their efforts enough to create such an occasion. It has taken the energy of Finger Lakes Wine Country to shepherd the region, and the result is the forthcoming Riesling Hour, scheduled for next Thursday at 6 p.m.

 

Will it work? Hard to say. Unlike other regions, this event does not serve as the actual release or first tasting of the previous vintage. Many wineries have had their 2010 rieslings out and available to the public for weeks or even months. Most that participate in this event did not hold their wines for this moment.

 

And yet this event will offer a more comprehensive look at a single vintage than ever before. In bars, restaurants and private homes across the state, writers and friends and enthusiasts will taste a wide range of 2010 rieslings.

The NYCR will co-host two semi-public tastings for Riesling Hour -- one in Rochester and one in Peconic on the North Fork of Long Island.

The Rochester Riesling Hour event will begin at 6:00 at Chocolate & Vines on University Avenue. Space is already filling up, so you're asked to RSVP with Evan if you'd like to attend.

The Peconic Riesling Hour event will take place at The Winemaker Studio on Peconic Lane and also begin at 6 p.m. If you'd like to attend, please RSVP with Lenn. In honor of Riesling Hour, Anthony Nappa and Sarah Evans, proprietors of the Studio, are featuring the rieslings they pour and sell -- most made from Finger Lakes fruit -- this weekend as well. Visitors can taste five rieslings for $5 and purchase a bottle of each for $75.

We hope you're join us -- either at one of these tastings or at your own personal Riesling Hour. Let's celebrate the 2010 Finger Lakes rieslings.

What We Drank (September 13, 2011)

Today marks the triumphant return of "What We Drank" after a brief late-summer hiatus.

As always, here's what our editors and contributors have been drinking.

Mark Grimaldi: Ameztoi "Rubentis" Txakolina 2010

Yes, rosé again.  But not just any rosé. 

Txakolina is always, if you can find it, the quintessential summer quaffer. Now make it a rosé and you've damn near found the key to life.

A close friend from the city brought this out to our house one weekend this spring.

That Monday after, I asked a friend who owns a local wine shop if he would order it for me, and after we all geeked out about it, he ended up getting three cases that we split among 4 of us. It's comprised of 50% Hondarribi Beltza and 50% Hondarribi Zuri from the Getaria region of Basque in Spain.

Simply put, this is hands down the best rosé I have ever had. I was floored. A beautiful light strawberry color, with a nose of peaches, raspberries and citrus.

It's perfectly fizzy, with stone fruits, sweet but tart fruit on the mid palate reminiscent of a fresh glass of cranberry juice, finished with a beam of tart, mouth-watering acid and the perfect effervescence of a club soda with tiny, palate-coating bubbles.

At an alcohol of 10.5%,  we polished this bottle off so fast that it was dangerous. Be careful with this one, it's hard to have just one. 

 

Rochelle Bilow: Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2010 Gewurztraminer

Because I am heavily involved with the release of the 2010 vintage of Finger Lakes Rieslings this month,
it seems like they’re all I’m drinking. But that’s not so! I proved it on Sunday with Stu as we took a rare
day of all play and no work in the Finger Lakes.

We set up a picnic on the lawn at Sheldrake Point on Cayuga Lake and opened a bottle of their 2010
Gewurztraminer. It has a tremendous floral and spice nose that follows through on the palate. It leans
much more toward rose and dried lavender than the often-found tropical fruits, though there was a fair
amount of lychee that cropped up after a few minutes in the glass. I find with all Gewurztraminer, but this
one especially, that spending some time with the aroma is as fun as drinking it.

I loved this wine as an early fall choice – it feels more substantial and hefty than the Rieslings I’ve been
drinking, but it’s still much more lighthearted than the Cabernet Francs and Meritage blends I’m not quite
ready for.

 

Evan Dawson: Hermann J. Wiemer 2002 Blanc de Blancs

This was one of the rare occasions when we decided to open a sparkling wine to celebrate a big occasion. Typically, we try to incorporate sparkling as a nice food wine with friends, big occasion or not.

 

The wine world will be better off when sparkling wine is no longer viewed by many consumers as a strictly celebratory drink.

 

This wine was the first I grabbed from our sparkling rack. It has filled out nicely, a kind of baked bread coarsened by tingly acidity. Ideal sparkling wine for the region.

How was it that we allowed some mass-produced "champagne" to take us down this road of reserving such wines for festive occasions?

 

Aaron Estes: Templeton Rye

As much as I enjoy craft beer and New York wines, I grew up a scotch and whiskey drinker. On my 30th birthday, my father gave me a bottle of 30 year old Macallan that I continue to parse out, dram by dram, slowly but surely. I am hoping that it reaches my 40th birthday, as it is probably the finest whiskey I have ever tasted.  

But I digress...  This edition of WWD is about an American tradition that is gaining traction among those that follow what is hip and trendy. I am talking about rye.

A friend of mine, actually a fellow camp-mate from Burning Man (Thanks Genie!), first spoke of the taste and amazing qualities of Templeton Rye when we were on the Playa last year. Fashioned after the original recipe back in the days of Prohibition, Templeton out of Iowa is said to be created from the same recipe that Al Capone favored back in his days as the crime lord of Chicago. It was his preferred whiskey, and what he drank throughout his days while eluding the likes of Elliott Ness and the other members of the Chicago PD.

Can there be a better endorsement?

Templeton is smooth. Really smooth. It almost evaporates as soon as it hits the tongue. There is just a hint of smoke, but not harsh even in the slightest. A touch of sweetness, a bit of caramel, and a delicate scent of cedar on the nose.

This is a whiskey to be savored and cherished. I bring it out every now and then when I have had a difficult day at the office, or a weekend to share with friends who appreciate the same. Templeton is fantastic. I urge you all to find a bottle and enjoy a taste from American history.

 

Lenn Thompson: Ruckus Brewing Hoptimus Prime

Based on their performance, my favorite team, the Steelers, may not have realized it, but the NFL season kicked off over the weekend. I have a my myriad of superstitions tied to my watching of Steelers games -- and drinking at least one Pennsylvania-brewed beer during the game is chief among them.

Although Ruckus Brewing is headquartered in New York, NY, the beer is brewed in in Wilkes-Barre, PA -- not exactly Steelers country, but still within the boundaries of my home state.

Hoptimus Prime is a Double IPA style and it shows on the palate. There is some serious heft and density to the mouthfeel here.

The nose is classic American hoppiness -- all grapefruit and lemon with floral herbiness and just a little pine -- with some definite malty sweetness beneath.

I was actually a bit worried about that sweetness as I took my first sip, but I shouldn't have been. All those hops bring more than enough bitterness to scrub away the candy sugar and lift the citrus and pine qualities. It's a little thick for game day drinking (I started with it, but should have ended with it) but the bitterness nicely matched how I was feeling as I watched the game.

 

David Flaherty: Bonnezeaux, Chateau Perray Jouannet, Les Menus Clos, Loire, 2009

I don't get to drink enough sweet wines.  Well..let me rephrase that, I don't get to drink enough good sweet wines. 

For the last ten years that I have sold, studied, swirled and slugged wine, there has been one phrase uttered over and over again by people who are breaking into the world of wine (or at least trying to pick up a bottle that will impress the girl they're trying to woo): "I don't like sweet wines."  And I get it.  A lot of cheap swill has residual sugar and has gained a whack reputation (Boone's Strawberry Hill tonight, my darling?).  But a lot of the great wines of the world are sweet...and white.

I tried a Bonnezeaux the other day at a tasting of Loire wines and was floored. 

Such nervy acidity, such depth of character. Rich, honeyed fruit and such life, this liquid treasure could age and age for years to come. It sang from the glass. 

Bonnezeaux is a tiny area of the western Loire in the Anjou region where only white, sweet wines are permitted under AOC law. It is chenin blanc at its most expressive. I took pause, sat back in my chair and zapped into the experience...and the moment. 

That is what good wines do. Let me rephrase that: that is what great wines do.

 

BREAKING NEWS: Anthony Road Winemaker Johannes Reinhardt's Green Card Application Accepted by U.S. Government

By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor

The American government has accepted Johannes Reinhardt's application for permanent worker status, the New York Cork Report confirmed Tuesday.

This decision essentially guarantees that Reinhardt will finally receive a green card. He is now permitted to apply for a change in status, and legal experts say that part of the process is a mere formality. By law, Reinhardt can apply for the change in status along with his wife, Imelda, who is also seeking a green card.

Reinhardt has spent seven years applying for permanent worker status, often referred to as a green card, only to find consistent rejection. It's a process that can cost thousands of dollars, and without permanent status, Reinhardt has been unable to start his own business.

"I have been keeping both joy and disappointment in my heart throughout this time," Reinhardt said Tuesday. "I have never tried to allow myself too much emotion in either direction. But this is quite something."

That's an understatement, particularly given the fact that Johannes and his wife had been forced to consider other countries that might allow them permanent status. But his colleagues and friends urged him to make another application, and the stack of supporting letters had grown dozens of pages deep.

"I don't know how to thank everyone involved in supporting me," Johannes said. "This has been a dream, but you never know which way it will end up. So many people have been so passionate in their support, and I will always remember that."

Chief among Reinhardt's supporters were the Martini family, owners of the Anthony Road Wine Company. John and Ann Martini have proudly worked on Reinhardt's behalf, even though it's possible the German will move on to his own wine company once the green card arrives.

But there won't be changes at Anthony Road for a while, even with this development. Reinhardt says he's looking forward to the 2011 harvest.

Editor's note: The NYCR staff has received dozens of inquiries about Johannes Reinhardt's immigration status in recent weeks. We invite you to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Red Tail Ridge Unveils New Lineup of "Obscure Red Varietals"

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes and Managing Editor

Visitors to Red Tail Ridge Winery on Seneca Lake have to weave through the vineyards to reach the tasting room, and lately they might have noticed something unusual. The signs at the end of the rows have taken on a rather offbeat edge, marking the home of grape varieties that many customers have never encountered.

Few can even pronounce Teroldego.

"We didn't start this winery to be a mainstream producer," Nancy Irelan, owner and winemaker, explained during a recent visit. "There's a part of Red Tail Ridge that will always experiment. We'll always have a component that's research-based."

Irelan is a longtime viticultural researcher, working in California for Gallo, and she's built a long resume of research and consulting projects. When she arrived in the Finger Lakes six years ago, she didn't leave the thirst for understanding on the west coast. Her desire to find the most suitable red grape varieties for the Finger Lakes has culminated in the launch of Red Tail Ridge's new "Obscure Varietal Series." It will include Teroldego (prounounced "teh-RAHL-de-go"), along with Blaufrankisch (you might know it as lemberger) and Dornfelder. Eventually, Irelan can envision planting even more unusual varieties, but she's not ready to reveal yet what those will be.

But why, I wondered, is Irelan investing so much time and attention to a line of wines that will comprise roughly eight percent of Red Tail Ridge's production?

"Because it's personal," she said, stern-faced. Then she broke into a wide smile. "Because it's fun! We feel that some customers will appreciate it."

Irelan's desire to educate wine consumers runs counter to the view of some of her colleagues, who might find it too difficult to convince customers to try these exotic-sounding wines. Yes, the world knows chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, merlot or even grenache. Why start over with a wine like teroldego?

But Irelan does not find the challenge too tall. When it comes to white wine, Irelan is easily convinced of riesling's regional majesty; it forms the bulk of Red Tail Ridge's production. But on the red side, Irelan believes many more years of research are necessary before she can make any firm pronouncements.

This approach has impressed her neighbors. Johannes Reinhardt, winemaker at nearby Anthony Road Wine Company, recently said, "Nancy and Mike (Irelan's husband) are quickly becoming leaders. They're going to ring the bell for a long time, just wait and see."

It's also worth pointing out that Irelan has the luxury of making viticultural guesses that are more laser beams than shots in the dark. She has seen how grapes behave in a wide range of climates and soil bases.

"If we're going to take risks, we better do our homework," Irelan said. "We're a business and I'm married to an MBA."

That means each new variety receives only a small initial planting, with room to expand if the grape shows a track record of strong wines. Expect this lineup to expand, with the Dornfelder coming out around the holidays. Here are the wines we tasted on my visit.

2009 Teroldego

(34 cases) This is a still red wine; some customers will note that Irelan made a sparkling teroldego in a previous vintage. That sparkler was such a surprise hit with customers that Irelan is considering keeping it in the lineup, but she's strongly focused on making a varietal teroldego that will show the depth of the grape.

This wine is smoky and interesting, showing a kind of side that Irelan describes as "brooding." Teroldego is a big, thick-skinned grape that hangs in loose clusters, allowing it to avoid disease easily. The result (also thanks to the outstanding growing efforts of Mike Schnelle) is a wine that is showing some complexity at a young age. The tannins are present but soft; the wine is brambly and spicy. There's not much of it, yet.

2009 Blaufrankisch

(409 cases) For now, Irelan uses fruit from the Martini Family vineyard down the road, but Red Tail Ridge will soon have its own plantings. This version calls to mind many other Finger Lakes lembergers. Think raspberry cream, anise, a little campfire from the American oak that is only 11% new.

Regarding why she decided to go with the grape's traditional old-world name, Irelan said, "It's blaufrankisch. Why not just call it what it is? We want to keep the most commonly understood names for these wines."

2010 Teroldego (from barrel)

(90 cases) By any measure, this is the best wine of the group, and I rarely make such a statement about a wine tasted from barrel. But there is complexity and personality in this wine that stands above the other wines we tasted. That spicy note has turned into a finishing kick of capicolla, and the tannins are riper, offering more structure. I don't know where this wine will finish, but it's already arrived at a fascinating place.

2010 Blaufrankisch (from barrel)

(500 cases) Has the imprint of a long, warm growing season. This wine is similar to the 2009, but simply amplified and more complex. It seems to be wearing the oak well.