Finger Lakes Winemakers Announce the Release of TIERCE 2006 Riesling
Posted
December 4, 2008 by Lenn Thompson in
News & Events
Anthony Road Wine Company, Fox Run Vineyards and Red Newt Wine Cellars have announced the release of the third vintage of their co-produced riesling TIERCE, a 2006 Dry Riesling. I thought it had been released over the summer, but apparently not.
Peter Bell, winemaker at Fox Run also let me know this morning that there will not be a 2007 edition because 2007 rieslings from the region "just aren't all that racy." I don't think that is true across the board, maybe the group learned a lesson with their 2005 TIERCE, which I thought lacked acidity the last time I tasted it.
Bell also let me know that the winemaking trio behind TIERCE will be making a 2007 TIERCE red, a blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot and lemberger.
Lenn,
Hmm, I think there might also be a component (something like 1/11th of the blend) of Syrah in the Tierce Red. “Finger Lakes” and “Syrah” might sound incongruous, but consider that
1) The Syrah is from Red Newt
2) The vintage gave growers the best chance to grow good Syrah
3) I’ve tasted the 2007 Syrah on its own and I was, frankly, stunned.
Also, different strokes I guess, but: A close friend came in from Kansas City this summer and we opened some of our best bottles. They included Quintarelli Amarone, Felix Callejo Ribera del Duero, and a 1997 Brunello. Oh, and we also opened the 2005 Tierce.
My friend said that the Tierce was the most exciting wine of the weekend because it was so surprising, given his expectations. But here’s where I’m admittedly conflicted: the wine undoubtedly had an edge of petrol / burnt rubber, and we loved that. However, given that the wine is screw-capped, it’s possible that this component was actually the first signs of a reductive issue.
I’m curious to see how the ’05 continues to evolve. But given the electric nature of the best ’06 FL Rieslings, I’d bet big on this Tierce.
I haven’t tasted the 05 in some time…but I do have a bottle of 04, 05 and 06 down in my cellar…perhaps a flight tasting soon? Too bad you guys aren’t local.
2007 TIERCE red sounds like it could be an interesting wine (surely and interesting blend).
I look forward to tasting some 07 reds from your neck of the woods soon. Should be some new benchmarks.
Lenn,
In addition to being one of the “Tierce Brothers” I am just finishing up on the new Tierce website (tiercewine.com) which includes some improved features like RSS feeds for people to keep up on Tierce and Newsfeeds that link to great wine blogs like yours. We’ve also added a Tierce winemaking and tasting forum that will be populated with our tasting notes and perspectives throughout the Tierce winemaking process as well as our tasting notes on past vintages. Users of the site can discuss and add their notes as well.
In my flurry of web development, some outdated content made it out on our RSS feed…Sorry!
So…
The 2006 Tierce was released earlier this year, and is still available at our wineries. (It’s tasting great, by the way!) The 2007 Tierce will be a Red Blend for which we’ll be releasing more detail soon. And the 2008 Tierce Riesling promises to be one of the best. This vintage was a terrific Riesling vintage in the Finger Lakes.
Cheers!
David
(Red Newt Winemaker, Tierce Brother!)