New York Cork Club: January Selections
Have you signed up for the New York Cork Club yet?
If not, you should think about it — either for yourself or for a friend or family member. It’s a unique opportunity to taste the best wines of New York State (not just Long Island folks!) as selected by your favorite NY wine guru. That’s right…me!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been a member of a couple wine clubs in my day and there are two things that you just don’t see in wine clubs very often — sparkling wine and dessert wine.
Well this month’s New York Cork Club selection includes a bottle of each, both from the Finger Lakes region of New York.
For bubbly, we’ve got Chateau Frank 2000 Brut. Made with the classic grapes of the Champagne region — pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier — this wine is a classic in its own right. The nose is toasty and minerally with lemons and a little honey. Dry, lively and citrusy on the palate there is also some nuttiness and white cherry in the background. It tastes extremely fresh and flavorful while being refined with a fine bead. This is the best bubbly I’ve ever had from the Finger Lakes and is proof positive that world-class sparkling wine can be made on the East Coast.
Along with riesling, ice-style dessert wines are some of the brightest stars in the Finger Lakes. This one, Standing Stone Vineyards 2004 Vidal Ice, is made with the hybrid grape vidal blanc, which is used a lot in Canada for ice wine production. Honeyed and rich, it is nicely balanced with fresh acidity. The flavors are layered and complex with peach, pear, apricot, rose petal and lychee mingling on a succulent, long-lasting palate. This one is just plain delicious.
Sign up for the New York Cork Club today and get these wines shipped to you later this month. Going forward, we’re planning to send out the monthly selections around the 15th of each month.
These are absolutely two of my favorites. The Dr. Frank’s 2000 Brut is exceptional: I recently brought this to a get-together in Mass., and the host also served a French champagne and a California sparkler, both of a slightly higher price. The Dr. Frank’s was the hit of the evening and was praised by everyone present.
The Standing Stones ice wine is good stuff: I brought this to a friend’s house for a pre-Thanksgiving tureky dinner and we had great fun with it. The sweet but sharp and sophisticated taste of good ice wine is a great thing to serve to non-wine drinkers to get their palletes more curious about the wider world of wine. I had a dedicated Bud drinker downing the stuff and asking great questions.
Good choices as always, Lenn. I encourage people to jump on these two.
We drank the Vidal Ice on Saturday night, it was outstanding - Great Pick! May have overtaken Paumanok LH Sauvignon Blanc as my favorite NY Ice Wine (I haven’t had the Wolffer LH Chardonnay yet).
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Very interesting perspective. I thought the way you wrote this article was pretty good. Keep the the thoughts coming!