Ok …take a look at bad blogging …
Billsboro Winery 2007 Dry Riesling
By Lenn Thompson, Publisher and Editor
May is Riesling Month in the Finger Lakes, but somehow this is my first Finger Lakes riesling review this month. Look for more riesling reviews this week and next (I’m tasting a lot of them lately, just haven’t written them up yet).
Before we get to today’s wine, a little background on Billsboro Winery. It’s located on the west side of Seneca Lake, just south of the city of Geneva, NY and is owned by Kim and Vinny Aliperti. Vinny, who makes the wines, also serves as winemaker at Atwater Estate Vineyards, which is right across the lake.
I’ve enjoyed Vinny’s Atwater wines for some time now for their balance, focus and value. This Billsboro Winery 2007 Dry Riesling ($16) fits within that framework though with a bit more opulent fruit and lower acidity – both the result of the warm 2007 growing season.
The nose is bright with lush peach and apricot aromas and light honeyed citrus character.
Ripe and juicy up front, it’s much more mouth-filling than I’ve come to expect from dry Finger Lakes rieslings. Peach and pear flavors dominate here with a squirt of lime juice. There’s enough acidity here to balance all that fruit, but it doesn’t show the tension and verve that are apparent in cooler, more-typical years.
Producer: Billsboro Winery
AVA: Finger Lakes
RS: .75%
Price: $16
Rating: (3 out of 5 | Recommended)
I have tasted this wine should be 4 stars min…
April 29, 2009
Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard 2008 Riesling
By Lenn Thompson, Editor and Publisher
Well folks, it would appear that my first official review of a 2008 Finger Lakes riesling is of a wine made and bottled by a Long Island winery.
Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard, located in (you guessed it) Baiting Hollow, NY is the first tasting room you come across as you head east on South Avenue/Route 48 and they are often swamped with people on weekend and during the pumpkin-picking season.
Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard and its wines reside somewhere in the middle of Long Island wine. Their wines are often good, not great, and none of them retails for more than $21. In an industry with sweet, magnum-bottled blends of dubious origin on one end and $125 merlot on the other, Baiting Hollow is perfectly middle class.
This riesling fits that model a bit too.
They are planting their own riesling vines this spring, but as I mentioned earlier, this wine was made from grapes grown in the Finger Lakes.
I really like the nose on this riesling. It shows nice green apple and just-ripe peach aromas with a little spicy-floral note in the background.
With 2% residual sugar, it’s clearly made in the popular “off-dry” style. The flavors are fruity – apple, peach and a little melon – but it really lacks the acidity needed to bring balance, especially on the finish where a little citrus peeks through.
This is the kind of riesling that will probably fly off the shelf in their tasting room, but I prefer my riesling a bit more racy.
Producer: Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard
AVA: New York
ABV: 12%
Price: $18
Rating: (2 out of 5 | Average)
Off by a mile or two…3.5 stars min…
Red Newt Cellars 2007 Curry Creek Vineyards Gewurztraminer
By Lenn Thompson, Editor and Publisher
I had a feeling that the new Gewurztraminers from Red Newt Cellars would illicit a response from a few readers. I just knew that some people would have a negative reaction to the prices, regardless of quality.
The price of New York wines – the truths and the myths – is another topic for another time (and soon) though. Today, I want to tell you a bit about the other single-vineyard Gewurztraminer made in 2007 by Dave Whiting at Red Newt.
After much deliberating, I can now say that Red Newt Cellars 2008 Curry Creek Vineyard Gewurztraminer ($41) is my favorite of the two wines, maybe because it’s a bit more “classic Gewurztraminer.”
Compared to its sister wine, this is definitely the big brother. The nose, while still a bit taut, is spicy, with ginger, ripe pear and minerals.
The palate brings big spice, lychee and mineral flavors along with more pear and apple ripeness. The mid-palate is slightly juicy but the acidity is big and crunchy, pointing to potential longevity. The finish is long and dry with orange pith bitterness.
This is a real Gewurztraminer-lover’s Gewurztraminer. I happen to be one and I really enjoyed this one – especially on day two when the nose was a bit more expressive.
Producer: Red Newt Cellars
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $41
Rating: (4 out of 5 | Delicious, Distinctive )
(Ratings Guide)
Allegedly a pay to play…3 stars…
Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Cabernet Franc ($23) is the kind of wine that needs two days (or more) to really taste and get a sense for.
Right out of the bottle, on day one, I didn’t like this wine very much. It had some nice dark fruit, but with a weird chlorine-like aroma that was more than a little off putting. If I hadn’t tasted this wine again the second (and third, actually) day, this isn’t the review I’d be writing.
Ripe, just-crushed black cherries and blackberries dominate the nose, with dusty cocoa powder and hints of cola, root beer and jalapeno pepper.
The palate is medium bodied, with flavors that closely match the nose – especially those dark fruits. The smooth tannins are a bit bigger than you might expect and this wine also shows good acidity – both leading me to believe that it will age well for five years or more.
This wine also serves as a reminder that many of New York’s smallest wineries need to release wines long before they really should (or would probably want to), but that’s a post for another time. Just know that this wine is not showing its best yet – far from it.
Producer: Damiani Wine Cellars
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $23
ABV: 12.8%
Rating: (3 out of 5 | Recommended)
Min 4.5 stars…
Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Sauvignon Blanc
By Lenn Thompson, Editor and Publisher
When one thinks of the Finger Lakes, riesling is the first grape that comes to mind. After that, I think usually think about Gewurztraminer, pinot noir, cabernet franc and probably Vidal blanc before sauvignon blanc. But, there are a few producers dabbling in this grape and Damiani Wine Cellars is one of them.
There isn’t a lot of sauvignon blanc grown in the Finger Lakes – and with good reason. It’s not very cold hardy and with the below-zero temperatures that can blanket the region, cold hardy is a characteristic that local vines need. Still, through careful vineyard placement and techniques like mounding up soil, it can be grown in the region.
I’ve only tasted a handful of these Finger Lakes sauvignon blanc, with spotty results. Clearly growers and makers have invested in this grape, but I’m not sure about its long-term success in the region.
This Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Sauvignon Blanc ($17) is surprisingly understated, even austere on the nose with light citrus, underripe honeydew and just the lightest minty-herb note.
Medium bodied and with great acidity, the flavors are similarly light – mostly citrus with a bit of melon and subtle peach flavors. I don’t know what the residual sugar is on this, but it’s a bit perceptible on the mid-palate before finishing clean and dry with a pear skin note.
Overall, it’s well balanced, but just a bit austere. I’d be curious to hear what the yields were in the vineyard. Maybe they were just a bit too high.
Producer: Damiani Wine Cellars
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $17
ABV: 13%
Rating: (2 out of 5 | Average)
rating a min 3 stars…
March 25, 2009
Atwater Estate Vineyards 2007 Dry Riesling
I’ve mentioned before that Atwater Estate Vineyards is really the winery responsible for sparking my obsession with Finger Lakes wines, particularly riesling and other aromatic whites.
I first discovered winemaker Vinny Aliperti’s desicious, well-priced whites when they were being poured at Roanoke Vineyards here on the North Fork. Roanoke co-owner Richie Pisacano only had a 2000 merlot of his own to sell upon opening and, because he worked with Vinny at Wolffer Estate, offered a handful of Atwater wines in the tasting room as well.
I picked up this bottle of Atwater Estate 2007 Dry Riesling ($18) after the tasting Vinny and I co-hosted a while back and I finally got around to tasting it last weekend.
Pale yellow in the glass, this dry riesling from the warm 2007 vintage has intense Godlen Delicious apple, peach and lime juice aromas with hints of something a bit more tropical.
Fresh and fruity, the medium-bodied palate is ripe with peach, apple and lime zest, with some interesting Thai basil flavor as well. The .9% residual sugar is barely perceptible because of well-integrated, citrusy acidity. The finish is medium-short and dry, with a distinct tart citrus zest note.
This seems like a great riesling for Easter ham. I’m glad I have a couple more bottles in the cellar.
Producer: Atwater Vineyard Estate
AVA: Finger Lakes
ABV: 12%
Price: $18
Rating: (3 out of 5 | Recommended)
Min 4 stars…+
Solid producer…
March 17, 2009
McGregor Vineyard 2007 Traminette
As much as I love the Gewurztraminer grape, I’ve never tasted a Traminette (a cross of Gewurzt with the French-American hybrid Joannes Seyve 23.416) that I cared for. Yes, there is a lot of Gewurztraminer character in most, but something is always missing for me.
This McGregor Vineyard 2007 Traminette ($16) showed great potential on the nose. It was floral, but reservedly so, with lychee and loads of spice character. Would this be the first Traminette to prove me wrong?
Sadly, no. The palate shows nice, ripe pear, apple and more of that delicious gingery-spice. The flavors, on the whole, are nice, even if the palate is a bit too floral.
But the mid-palate is just a bit flat, and would be almost flabby if not for decent acidity that keeps it near-clean. The finish is long and tropical, but a bit too sweet as well, which is a surprise given only 1% RS.
Producer: McGregor Vineyard
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $16
ABV: 11.8%
RS: 1.00%
Rating: (2 out of 5 | Average)
3.5 stars min prob more…
the below person who is a correspondent asked me for money from the door, not wine Cash $$$
By Melissa Dobson, Finger Lakes News Correspondent
What exactly are Facebook and Twitter? Do these platforms offer benefits to small businesses like wineries?
These are questions that are asked of the Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing team quite frequently. And after I also noticed a swell of interest in social media from businesses here, Morgen McLaughlin and I presented a full-day workshop to provide an overview of the most popular social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
Of the 60 attendees, more than half represented local wineries, and several others were in the tourism business. Our goal was to familiarize attendees with the platforms and their ability to help attract eyeballs and online word of mouth in a cost-effective medium that is seen as an equalizer for small businesses and a great way to keep on the radar of customers.
After leading with facts and figures of the social media landscape, I showed a video from a recent Fox Business News report highlighting Ford Motor Company’s use of social media conversations to engage their customers, ran through what social media is vs. what it isn’t, showed videos of Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk demonstrating social media best practices, and presented worst practices to avoid.
During the interactive workshop, we talked through the platforms and demonstrated a live Twitter conversation with several wine “tweeps” (people on Twitter). We set up a new Twitter profile live for one of the participants and many others in the room followed along on their laptops and set up their own new profiles.
The afternoon was devoted primarily to Facebook. Morgen McLaughlin presented Facebook metrics relating to the Finger Lakes Wine Country fan pages and group pages. We demonstrated how to set up pages, share information to promote others (one of my favorite features) and how to link to other business pages within Facebook.
Another key topic was the wine blogosphere and how to best engage with bloggers. We concluded with my assessment of where the wineries and businesses of the Finger Lakes region currently stand in terms of social media adoption. We understand that our region is taking initial steps and has some catching up to do but I’ve already noticed that many of our workshop attendees really are excited and jumping into the social media pool.
I had several people approach me after the workshop with enthusiasm about getting their social media presence established to engage their fans and create “raving fans” and “tribes” of their own.
That’s a fact …
March 10, 2009
McGregor Vineyard 2007 Unoaked Chardonnay
I’ve been vocal in my appreciation for winemakers who eschew the overblown use of oak in their chardonnays. I can appreciate well-made barrel-fermented chardonnay, but it’s not a style I drink a lot of. Maybe it’s the riesling lover in me, but I tend to like a purer expression of fruit and the vineyard in my whites.
That doesn’t mean that I love every no-oak chardonnay that I come across.
This McGregor Vineyard 2007 Unoaked Chardonnay ($17) is not one of the better examples I’ve had.
Such a pale green-tinted yellow that it’s nearly colorless, the nose is similarly light and austere with primary green apple aromas and hints of wet gravel. The palate, which has flavors identical to the nose, is medium-light bodied and very acidic, almost harshly so. I love acidity in white wines, but the malic acid, just-bite-into-an-underripe-green apple tartness is too much here, throwing the wine off balance.
My friend Loisa Hargrave, the founding mother of Long Island wine, once told me that the prefers unoaked chardonnays with a bit of bottle age. This might be a wine with which to test her theory that they age well in the short term. I’d like to try this again in 18 months or so.
Producer: McGregor Vineyard
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $16
ABV: 12.1%
Rating: (2 out of 5 | Average)
Wrong again 3.5 stars.min…WTF are you seeing how clueless they are IMHO…
Sheldrake Point 2007 Gamay
I’ve long been a fan of the Gamay grape. I first encountered it like many do, in the form of Beaujolais Noveau. I’ve since out-grown those wines, but I love Cru Beaujolais and also enjoy Gamay from the Loire Valley as well. These are wines that are often priced for daily drinking, have great acidity for with food and are just plain fruity and delicious.
My affection for French Gamay is probably a big reason why I was so disappointed by Sheldrake Point’s 2007 Gamay ($16).
A surprisingly light ruby color (almost like a pinot noir) the nose on this wine is fruity with strawberry preserve and stewed cherry aromas, but there is also signifcant oak character that comes through both as vanilla and cedar-wood.
The palate is juicy and soft, without much in the way of structure. On the first day I tasted this, the oak-vanilla was significant, masking the bright strawberry flavors. By day two, the oak had taken a step back, but without enough acidity, the sweet red fruit flavors are a bit much. The finish is dry and ends with a cherry pit note.
I’d be curious to taste Finger Lakes Gamay made in the more traditional style, with much less oak (or no oak at all).
Producer: Sheldrake Point
AVA: Finger Lakes
ABV: 12%
Price: $16
Rating: (1.5 out of 5 | Not Recommended-to-Average)
(Ratings Guide)
February 10, 2009 in Finger Lakes Wine, Lenn Thompson, Tasting Notes | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: fingerlakes, gamay, wine
Min 2.5 stars…
February 09, 2009
Heron Hill Winery 2005 “Ingle Vineyard” Cabernet Franc
Over the weekend, I tasted a handful of Finger Lakes reds, mostly cabernet franc, and I came away pleasantly surprised by what I tasted.
True, each of the cab francs came from the outlier 2005 growing season, which was hotter and longer than usual, but the quality can’t be denied – even by those of us that wish Finger Lakes wineries would plant more riesling and Gewurzt and less merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc.
Heron Hill Winery is perched on the western shore of Keuka Lake, but the grapes that go into Heron Hill Winery’s 2005 “Ingle Vineyard” Cabernet Franc ($25) come from owner John Ingle Jr.'s vineyard on the western slopes of Canandaigua Lake, one lake to the west. That vineyard, planted in 1972 and still maintained by Ingle, provides grapes for an entire vineyard-designated line at Heron Hill.
Tasted over a two-evening period, this cab franc stood out as one of the best.
The nose, which started out showing mostly blackberries and sweet oak, later revealed beautiful floral aromas along with those of chicory and black pepper.
In much the same way, the evolved over time starting with intense blackberry fruit character but soon blending that ripe fruit with black pepper spice, coffee and licorice-anise notes. A wet stone, almost graphite-y vein runs through this wine that you don’t always taste in New York cab franc. Supple tannins and just the right acidity bring just the right structure. No where near peaking, holding it for a few years (or decanting it for a few hours) is a good idea.
Producer: Heron Hill Winery
AVA: Finger Lakes
ABV: 12.5%
Price: $25
Rating: (3 out of 5 | Recommended)
(Ratings Guide)
February 09, 2009 in Finger Lakes Wine, Lenn Thompson, Tasting Notes | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: fingerlakes, wine
Out of his mind…4.5 stars…this wine rocks…05’ a great year!!!
Standing Stone Vineyards 2005 Pinnacle
2005 Finger Lakes reds continue to show well in my weekly tastings. Of course, no one expects the region’s reds to push the aromatic whites into the background, but it is clear that, in hot years anyway, elegant, balanced reds are possible.
Standing Stone Vineyards’ 2005 Pinnacle ($23) is a Bordeaux-style blend (or Meritage if you will) made with 89% cabernet sauvignon, 8% cabernet franc and 3% merlot. In the glass, it shows nice extraction and is a rich crimson-violet color.
The nose is intense with Bing cherries, caramel-vanilla and hints of oak. The palate is lush with bright cherry flavors – fresh, stewed and candied – and oak-imparted flavors of vanilla and Werther’s Originals candy. It could use a bit more structure, but for drinking today, there’s just enough. The tannins are well-integrated and the finish lingers a bit with an interesting herbal note.
The flavors are a little straight forward, but this is still one of the best cabernet-based wines I’ve tasted from the Finger Lakes.
Producer: Standing Stone Vineyards
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $23
Rating: (2.5 out of 5 | Average-to-Very Good)
(Ratings Guide)
January 26, 2009 in Finger Lakes Wine, Lenn Thompson, Tasting Notes | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: finger lakes, wine
this rating is sicker than a rabid dog… 4 stars…
January 23, 2009
Hunt Country Vineyards 2005 Cabernet Franc
If you don’t like cabernet franc, you might be reading the wrong blog. And sure, for a long time I didn’t have a lot of great things to say about Finger Lakes region reds, but a few have impressed me of late, including this one, Hunt Country Vineyards 2005 Cabernet Franc ($22).
The summer of 2005 brought about great ripeness in vineyards throughout New York and that ripe fruit is on display here. The nose is bright and enticing, mixing strawberry and cherry fruit with black pepper, sweet herbs, and just a little vanilla.
Bing cherry flavors, with more black pepper, and spices, burst on the attack. This is a cab franc with a bit more structure than you might expect, but I like it. This is a wine that will improve with short-term aging (the synthetic cork is the limiting factor here). The herb component from the nose is more subtle on the palate, lingering the background, but peeking through on the medium-length finish.
I’d be curious to have tasted this wine with a little less barrel influence (it spent a year aging in new oak), just to get a truer expression of the fruit, but the oak isn’t overwhelming at all. A really nice example of what the Finger Lakes can produce in a warm year.
It’s sold out, but I was able to get my hands on some for the New York Cork Club January shipment, which will ship early next week.
Producer: Hunt Country Vineyards
AVA: Finger Lakes
Price: $22
Rating: (3 out of 5 | Recommended)
(Ratings Guide)
January 23, 2009 in Finger Lakes Wine | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: cabernet franc, finger lakes, wine
close , so I let this one by…
January 21, 2009
Miles Wine Cellars 2006 Cabernet Franc
Miles Wine Cellars, a small, family-run winery located on the western shore of Seneca Lake, is one of the rare finger Lakes wineries that focuses on red wines, rather than the racy, aromatic whites that the region is known for. Pinot noir, cabernet franc and a merlot-cabernet franc blend dominate the portfolio of wines that are made by Peter Bell, winemaker at Fox Run Vineyards.
This Miles Wine Cellars 2006 Cabernet Franc ($22) was fermented in Hungarian oak and has an interesting, oak-inflected nose of smoke, grilled herbs and fresh red cherries.
Soft, flavorful and medium bodied, red cherry flavors are joined by smoky, almost bacony, flavors, and subtle hints of herbs and tobacco. The oak influence is significant but not overwhelming. The tannins are low and so is the acid, leaving it a bit soft and lacking structure.
Producer: Miles Wine Cellars
AVA: Finger Lakes
ABV: 12.5%
Price: $22
Rating: (2.5 out of 5 | Average-to-Very Good)
(About LENNDEVOURS’ Ratings)
January 21, 2009 in Finger Lakes Wine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: finger lakes, wine
crazy talk…great producer 4 solid stars…again 05’ was off the hook !!!
I could go on, but you get it…if not, oh well…
The above is cited for fair use…as they are not fair scores at all !!! ![[dash1.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/419b32ffe31ad6b2f9b831e5805986129c20f02d.gif "hithead")
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…knowing what you have been through…bro…Peace Out…“Let It Be” ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
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