New York Cork Report

Wine for Haiti Auction: The New York Lots

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

A couple weeks ago, I published a simple post and send a quick email to the New York wine community, alerting members to the Wine for Haiti Auction over at Palate Press.

The response has been nothing short amazing -- not to mention generous.

18 New York wineries donated wine in all, and we're not talking a couple 750ml bottles here or there. We're talking cases of great wines and super-rare large format bottles of age-worthy wines.

To make it easier for NYCR readers to find and bid on the lots, I thought I'd put together a list with direct links. Take a look, and bid on your favorites. You'll see my name on more than a few. To bid, just place your bid in the comments at the end of each post:

• Anthony Road Wine Company: Duo of 2008 TBAs
• Eveningside Vineyards: Case of 2008 Unoaked Chardonnay
• Fox Run Vineyards: Mixed Case selected by winemaker Peter Bell
• Glenora Wine Cellars: Case of 2002 Brut
• Heron Hill Vineyards: Case of 2006 Ingle Vineyard Riesling
• Hunt Country Vineyards: Magnum of 2006 Vidal Ice Wine
• Knapp Winery: Mixed Chase of Riesling and Chardonnay
• Lieb Family Cellars: 3-Magnum Set (Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Meritage)
• McGregor Vineyard: Case of 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc
• Medolla Vineyards: Case of 2003 Merlot
• Paumanok Vineyards: Magnum of 2004 Grand Vintage Merlot
• Peconic Bay Winery: Case of 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
• Peconic Bay Winery: Case of 2007 La Barrique Chardonnay
• Raphael: 3L of 2002 First Label Merlot
• Raphael: 6L of 2007 First Label Merlot
• Red Newt Cellars: Case of 2007 Sawmill Creek Cabernet Franc
• Sheldrake Point Vineyard: Case of 2008 Gewurztraminer
• Shinn Estate Vineyards: Magnum of 2005 Nine Barrels Merlot
• Shinn Estate Vineyards: Case of 2006 Nine Barrels Merlot
• Wolffer Estate Vineyards: Case of 2006 Fatalis Fatum (Bordeaux-style blend)
• Zugibe Vineyards: Case of 2007 Riesling

Obviously I don't need to tell you how important this auction is. The people of Haiti need our help, and if we can get some great New York wine out of it, it's a win-win situation. Bid early and often.

Ice Wine Science, Part 2: Frozen Assets

By Tom Mansell, Science Editor

In my last article on ice wine, I talked about how volatile acidity is an important aroma characteristic in ice wine and how it can contribute to peach and pineapple aromas. To conclude our discussion, let's talk about some other famous ice wine descriptors, including honey.

For our purposes, it's best to think of ice wine grapes as late harvest (well, really late harvest).  Grapes are left to hang until December, January, and even February until they are frozen on the vine.  During this time, all kinds of physical, chemical, and biological changes are happening to the berries.

First, as the season draws to a close, the berries will continue to accumulate sugar (until photosynthesis stops) and lose malic acid to respiration. This loss of acid can have a huge effect on the finished wine, which may even require acid addition to balance the huge residual sugar. 

Cool-climate winemakers may find it absurd to have to add acid (and may feel slightly dirty doing so), but in this case the sweetness of the finished wine may demand it.

Second, noble rot (Botrytis cinerea) may start to move in, especially in tight-clustered varieties like riesling and vidal blanc. This mold penetrates the skin of the grape, drying out the berries and concentrating flavors, sugars, and acids. 

When berries are carefully selected, botrytis can be responsible for heavenly Sauternes and Trockenbeerenauslese-style wines.

Third, the skins of the berries can be physically damaged by birds, deer or simply freezing. Again, this can lead to berries drying out, but it can also lead to growth of other less-desirable organisms. The overall loss due to grape damage and deer breakfast partially justifies the higher-than-normal price of ice wine.

Aroma compounds

The combination of these three factors can lead to the formation of aroma compounds not usually found in dry wines.    Over-ripening has been found to lead to development of compounds normally found in older and/or oxidized wines.  While the aroma profile of ice wines has not been studied extensively, I think it's safe to speculate that the damage to berries in ice wine shares characteristics with botrytized berries, and many botrytized wine aroma compounds have been recently characterized. They include:

• Sotolon (spicy, curry, honey) (pictured at right)
• Furaneol (strawberry, cotton candy)
• Phenylacetaldehyde (honey, rose)

While biosynthesis of these compounds is not fully understood, it's likely that the first two are the products of sugar oxidation either in the berries themselves or by yeast during fermentation.   Phenylacetaldehyde is produced by the botrytis itself, and is also a key aroma component in honey.

Mouthfeel

As if smelling like honey weren't enough to provide the "honey" descriptor, ice wine's dense and rich mouthfeel make it feel like honey on the tongue.  This increased perceived viscosity is not due to glycerol formation (although glycerol in ice wine is  higher than in dry wines).  At the levels present in wine, glycerol does not contribute to increased perceived density or viscosity. 

The real culprit of increased density and viscosity is high residual sugar. This shouldn't be too surprising to anyone who knows that measurement of Brix, i.e., the concentration of sugars in a must, is based on density.

Overall, with its concentrated aroma profile featuring fruity and botrytized aromas (usually with a smidge of VA), and dense mouthfeel, ice wine is really something special.  It's something I'd like to see more of in the Finger Lakes. No doubt that it gets cold enough.  When conditions are right and harvest and fermentation are well controlled by vineyard management and winemaker, the results can be outstanding. 

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Further Reading:

Nurgel and Pickering, "Contribution of glycerol, ethanol and sugar to the perception of viscosity and density  elicited by model white wines." Journal of Texture Studies, 2005

Sarrazin et al., "Characterization of key-aroma compounds of botrytized wines, influence of grape botrytization." Food Chemistry, 2007.

To assist with this work, I tasted Sheldrake Point's 2007 Riesling Ice Wine and 2008 Cabernet Franc Ice Wine.  For my tasting notes, see my writeup on Ithacork.

Thanks to Sheldrake Point, especially Dave Breeden for helpful insights.

Ithaca Brewing Company Le Bleu Sour Blueberry Ale

By Kevin Burns, Beer Columnist

As the craft beer world grows, brewers are becoming more and more creative with their brews. One of the recent trends is the use of wine ingredients into beer such as grapes or champagne yeast, or the aging of beer in wine barrels. 

Le Bleu was brewed with New York State blueberries and Brettanomyces, The beer is a blend of barrels filled in 2007, 2008 and 2009. It's finished in the bottle with Champagne yeast.  The beer is named after Ithaca Beer Company employee Bret LeBleu and is an extremely limited production.  

Le Bleu poured a rose color with a two fingered width, white bubbly head. The aroma is dominated by yeast.

The mouthfeel is Champagne-like and the body is tart with ripe fruit. The blueberries start to show through towards the back end and lead to a tart finish.

Overall, this is a nice sour ale. The carbonation is high on this one, and the ABV is fairly low. The bottle advised the beer to be served cold, but I found the flavors became more pronounced as the beer warmed. If you can find this beer it is worth the buy.

This beer is a fantastic substitute for champagne (its does have the yeast) and would be a great starter for your meal.  I am thinking either a pear salad with romaine hearts and blue cheese or a fruit and cheese plate if you must pair this with food but I would prefer it by itself to truly sip and savor.       

Producer: Ithaca Beer Company
ABV: 5%
Price: $12.00 (25.4 oz. Bottle)
Rating: (3.5 out of 5 | Very good-to-Delicious)

By Kevin Burns, Beer Columnist

As the craft beer world grows, brewers are becoming more and more creative with their brews. One of the recent trends is the use of wine ingredients into beer such as grapes or champagne yeast, or the aging of beer in wine barrels. 

Le Bleu was brewed with New York State blueberries and Brettanomyces, The beer is a blend of barrels filled in 2007, 2008 and 2009. It's finished in the bottle with Champagne yeast.  The beer is named after Ithaca Beer Company employee Bret LeBleu and is an extremely limited production.  

Le Bleu poured a rose color with a two fingered width, white bubbly head. The aroma is dominated by yeast.

The mouthfeel is Champagne-like and the body is tart with ripe fruit. The blueberries start to show through towards the back end and lead to a tart finish.

Overall, this is a nice sour ale. The carbonation is high on this one, and the ABV is fairly low. The bottle advised the beer to be served cold, but I found the flavors became more pronounced as the beer warmed. If you can find this beer it is worth the buy.

This beer is a fantastic substitute for champagne (its does have the yeast) and would be a great starter for your meal.  I am thinking either a pear salad with romaine hearts and blue cheese or a fruit and cheese plate if you must pair this with food but I would prefer it by itself to truly sip and savor.       

Producer: Ithaca Beer Company
ABV: 5%
Price: $12.00 (25.4 oz. Bottle)
Rating: (3.5 out of 5 | Very good-to-Delicious)

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 Estate Merlot

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

Shinn Estate Vineyards gets a lot of well-deserved attention for their Estate Merlot.

New York Times chief wine critic Eric Asimov regularly points to it as a favorite. And I consistently appreciate the wine for its quality-to-price ratio (QPR) and it's elegant, food-friendly style. 

That's why I came away from my tasting of the Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 Estate Merlot ($25) a bit disappointed. I expected ripe -- this is 2007 we're talking about -- but as much as I enjoyed Rebellion, this wine's wild fermented sibling, I wasn't quite as into this one.

The nose brings big blackberry and black plum aromas with toasty vanilla, nice coffee and spice notes, as well as hints of lavender.

Medium-to-full bodied  and plush on the palate, there is a dense core or rich dark fruit on the attack, with a lengthy coffee note on the finish. But in between, the wine is a little oaky with toasty vanilla and a light bacony edge.

It's soft on the palate and could use a bit more structure (either acidity or tannin) as well.

It's also worth mentioning that the same 14.7% ABV that is balanced so well in the 2007 Cabernet Franc, peeks through here with a bit of heat after the coffee flavors fade at the end.

Producer: Shinn Estate Vineyards
AVA: North Fork of Long Island
ABV: 14.7%
Price: $25*
Rating:   (2.5 out of 5 | Average-to-Very Good)

(Ratings Guide)

Tasting a Treasure: Restaurant Turns Up Rare Bottle of 1966 Dr. Frank Riesling

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor
Photos by Morgan Dawson Photography

I could barely believe the photograph, sent from a friend. The bottle in the picture said Dr. Konstantin Frank 1966 Johannisberg Riesling, but it did not make sense that a restaurant was selling such a bottle in December of 2009. 

In Florida.

My mind raced. How did the restaurant get this wine? How did they know it was still worth drinking? How could it possibly be worth drinking at 43 years old? If it was real, could I get one? And what would it smell and taste like?

A small stash of Dr. Frank 1966 Riesling had been unearthed deep in the prodigious cellar of Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida. In the 1970s, Bern Laxer built a wine collection for his restaurant that was unrivaled in its diversity. Bottles came from the most storied regions, such as Bordeaux, as well as the less-heralded places like New York's Finger Lakes and even the backwoods of the wine world, such as Michigan. Some unknown day in that fruitful decade, Bern acquired several bottles of the Dr. Frank wine during his travels. The bottles went to rest in ideal storage conditions, not to be touched for more than 30 years.

The current sommeliers at the restaurant knew it was a special group of bottles, but they might not have known that it was the first commercial vintage at the historic Finger Lakes producer. The oldest bottles of Finger Lakes wine that appear on any restaurant wine list are typically found at the Village Tavern in Hammondsport on Keuka Lake. Those bottles date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

This was like discovering the Finger Lakes version of Lucy. 

Outside the Dr. Frank facility, where a few odd bottles reside in the cellar, no known bottles exist of this wine - or any preceding the 1980s. I contacted the Bern's sommeliers to find out whether they might part with a bottle. They told me that they had sold a bottle to a dinner party in early December, where it was met with high praise, as impossible as that sounds.

"People undervalue the importance of proper storage," Bern's sommelier Eric Renaud told me. "When a wine is stored in the proper conditions, it can retain its youthful character for much longer than most people realize. We've poured wines that are 20 years old at the restaurant and our clients think the wine is the current release."

Renaud explained that this was the last of the Dr. Frank collection and the restaurant would agree to sell me the bottle. He said that no one knew it existed because they don't publish their full wine list. "If we boast about rare bottles, there's a run on them," he said. "And besides, we enjoy the opportunity to bring a rare and special bottle to the table for a client who might have a special appreciation for it. We find great joy in those moments."

Friends occasionally ask why I cherish well aged bottles, even when they tend to be past their prime. The answer is that wine is a story, and a mature wine has so much to say. 

The bottle arrived in western New York last Wednesday, and considering its age I found the fill level to be right where I would expect it to be. The old label was classically beautiful. I asked current Dr. Frank president Frederick Frank why they abandoned the old label. He explained that it didn't display the family name prominently enough. The back label was also fascinating, written in an English that was at the very least odd, if not a bit broken. I wondered if Konstantin himself had penned the text, which reads as follows:

"Natur Spaetlese"

The delicious, fruity wine in this bottle represents a break through in the wine industry in the eastern United States. The grapes for making this "Natur Spaetlese" wine have been harvested many days after the general picking of grapes was ended. Without amelioration or any other additions or ingredients. Only this over-ripeness is responsible that these wines developed their natural finest actual bouquet and the most noblest individuality. After years of painstaking research in our vineyards overlooking beautiful Keuka Lake, one of the picturesque Finger Lakes of New York State, we have finally achieved the impossible and proven that our "Natur Spaetlese" wines made continuous since 1957 exclusively from the European grape varieties of genuine wine grape can be the peers of some of the "GREAT GROWTHS" of Germany, France, and many another part of Europe.

Saturday morning, before our New York Cork Report Wines of the Year tasting at Heart & Hands Wine Company on Cayuga Lake, I brought the bottle to see if it still had life. The cork came out largely in one piece. It looked like a spent shell, as Tom Mansell noted, with the top end covered in black mold but the bottom end solid and rather clean. 

The most captivating part of this wine was the color. 

On a recent visit to the Village Tavern, we ordered a bottle of 1993 Dr. Frank Riesling. It was beautiful but well on its way to oxidation and the color was a soft orange. The wine we were about to taste was 27 years older than the '93, which had already begun to turn. With time, oxygen turns Riesling brown or orange. 

This bottle of 1966 Riesling had remarkably remained a pale yellow. It had every appearance of a wine that was bottled last year.

Upon seeing the color I immediately amended my prediction that it would be only as good as vinegar for salad dressing. The yellow hue announced that it was still going strong. I poured short glasses for the small group in the room and we buried our noses into the wine.

The aromatics were gorgeous and mature. Baked apple, creamy almond and petrol. Over several hours the petrol edge softened a bit, allowing more of a green apple aroma to come forward. We were dazzled.

We were considerably less dazzled when we put the wine in our mouths. Its acidity was sharp and off balance, but the flavors neatly matched the nose and an ending note of that creamy almond helped mellow the sensation. Still, we wondered why Dr. Konstantin Frank hadn't left more residual sugar in the wine. 

But our criticism of the taste of the wine quickly dissipated. We were simply thrilled to experience this wine. It didn't prove that 1960s Finger Lakes Rieslings were world-class, but it demonstrated that Konstantin had the right idea in planting Riesling on the slopes above the various lakes. It told a simple, wonderful story: The winemaking in 1966 was perhaps less precise than we'd expect today, but it was happening in the right place. The wine was like a window into the past, a chance to experience the challenges and triumph of an awakening region. As for Rielsing, this was the right grape in the right spot. 

I asked Fred Frank for more information on that wine. How exactly was it made? What did it cost on release? How much did they make? Those questions will remain a mystery. Fred replied that he could not find much, but he wanted to add, "We have held several vertical Dr. Frank Riesling tastings and results have indicated the wonderful ageability of our Rieslings. The combination of the old vines, cool climate resulting in higher acidities and lower pH values and the rocky soils contribute to a great aging profile."

Years from now someone else will discover an old Finger Lakes Riesling with less doubt and more confidence that we held for the '66. Perhaps they'll dig up a bottle from 2008 knowing that it has the staying power and quality to show beautifully even several decades later. This 1966 Dr. Frank is an unlikely forbear, having traveled to Florida and back before finally getting a chance to tell its story.

Q&A: John Ingle, Owner, Heron Hill Winery

John Ingle, working the harvest in his namesake vineyard

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief
Photo courtesy of Heron Hill Winery

By the time John Ingle, owner of Heron Hill Winery on Keuka Lake, graduated from the University of Denver in 1971, he was reading organic gardening magazines regularly and had been bitten by the “back to the earth” bug. After marrying his wife, Josephine, after graduation, they went looking for their promised land. Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon all received consideration but they landed in John’s backyard – Seneca Point, Naples, New York.

There they lived in a two-room cabin with a woodstove while they helped their neighbors with the grape harvest. Something about the work struck the couple as the “good life.”

The next spring the Ingles planted 20 acres of grapes, including chardonnay, riesling, and seyval blanc. John cleared the land – a tangle of poison ivy – and planted some 12,000 vines. They pounded posts, strung wire and battled weeds and pests. And, after four years of nurturing the vineyard, John was ready for harvest.

Unfortunately, at that time, New York State was experiencing an excess of grapes and as a result, the Ingles could find little or no market for their crop. To solve the problem, they built Heron Hill Winery on Keuka Lake.

Being next door to Walter Taylor’s Bully Hill Winery and Dr. Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars made it seem like a good location. And it seems that it has been

2010 marks the 33rd anniversary of Heron Hill.

Now, onto our standard set of questions:

What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking?
It seems like just yesterday, late August of 1969, Denver, Colorado.

I had just re-started my college career as a transfer student at the University of Denver. I had chosen this location for it’s obvious recreational opportunities as well as because several of my friends were in attendance there. It also provided me with what I hoped would be ample elbow room and freedom from the perceived restraints of my ever-present parents.

One of my friends was having a back-to-school party in his yard. There were young, happy faces all around, the brilliant Colorado sun was shining down upon us, energy-laced music of that period pulsed in the backyard. The stage was set for great things.

Across the room I saw a lovely diminutive honey-blond and had a surging sensation of place. This was a person who would be a player in my life.

As the pace quickened with the pulse of the music, the Ripple wine entered the picture – a case of white and a case of red – both nicely chilled. Being a beer drinker, this was new to me, but so was a lot there. I ventured a taste, I think it was the white, not bad! I didn’t know enough to analyze the product as I so often do now in my daily wine consuming adventures. It was good, the sun was good, the music was good, it was all good. And still only the first day of school.

The lovely young lady has been my loving wife for over 38 years and we both look back at our days at DU as some of the best in our lives. We don’t drink much Ripple anymore though…

What event/bottle/etc made you decide that you wanted to be in the wine industry?
I'm chasing an old wooden wagon down a sun-drenched vineyard row, carrying a 30-pound box of just-picked grapes. It comes to me that there are tens of thousands of people in vineyards around the world doing the same thing and have been for thousands of years! It's a vintage. It's a life.

Which of your current wines is your favorite and why?
We currently are enjoying our 2007 Ingle Vineyard Unoaked Chardonnay. It's light bodied and refreshing for pre-dinner situations – perhaps with some goat cheese dabs on homegrown organic carrot or pear rounds.

Family farmed and sustainably grown for over 30 years, our seven acres of chardonnay include a higher elevation, 2-acre vineyard that holds it's acidity well and yields a steely, mineral-driven, Chablis-type chardonnay quaff. This crisp style wine leads well into a dinner red, perhaps a snappy "Northern Style" pinot noir.

What has surprised you most about being a member of the Finger Lakes wine community?
The single thing that has surprised me most about the Finger Lakes wine industry is how long it is taking to really get a foothold in the wine world. In the last forty years, I planted my vineyard in 1972, we have come so far from "foxy" to "world-class" and yet have been passed by so many other wine regions on the ladder to success. It is baffling.

Other than wines made from your fruit, what wine/beer/liquor most often fills your glass?
We enjoy Bordeaux and Burgundy, often purchasing futures, but for a break from wine it will be vodka, preferably made from potatoes, on the rocks. Glacier is a favorite.

Is there a 'classic' wine or wine and food pairing that you just can't make yourself enjoy?
We have a pretty flexible attitude about wine pairings. We enjoy a light bodied, off-dry, low alcohol white before dinner, usually a riesling, pinot grigio or unoaked chardonnay with assorted cheeses and crackers and our homegrown organic crudités.

Following a couple glasses of that, we invariably switch to red for dinner. It would be pinot noir or possibly a medium-bodied cabernet franc – Chinon or Finger Lakes, with fish or chicken often grilled or sautéed. For beef, venison or tomato-based sauces we look for merlot, cabernet sauvignon or syrah.

We believe that if you enjoy the wine and you enjoy the food, together, it's a match. We find very few wines or foods that are not acceptable.

Wine enjoyment is about more than just the wine itself. Describe the combination of wine, locations, food, company, etc. that would make (or has made) for the ultimate wine-drinking experience.
I envision the sun shining warmly on a small group of friends gathered comfortably around a table on the terrace at Heron Hill Winery. We're looking out over the vineyards, Keuka Lake and the distant hills with a gentle breeze carrying light jazz music through the air.

The enticing aromas of grilled chicken and vegetables stimulate the appetite while a crisp, refreshing glass of riesling beckons from the center of the table. One taste leads to another as the wine slowly warms and the bouquet of flavors are released increasing waves of enjoyment. 

What We Drank (January 25, 2010)

This week's WWD is a bit shorter than usual, but I'm sure we'll be back with more taking part next week.

By Andy Freedman: Kluge Estate 2004 Albemarle 'Simply Red'

Selecting my WWD this week was no easy task. I had some amazing beers, including a bottle of Tröegs Nugget Nectar and a Magic Hat Big 100 IBU IPA, and we also drank several great value wines from New Zealand, Argentina and Spain. 

But by far the most interesting wine I drank was a 2004 Albemarle 'Simply Red' from Virginia's Kluge Estate. Yes, Virginia. 

I just learned a couple of weeks back that all 50 states make wine. At 140 wineries and counting, only California, New York, Oregon and Washington have more wineries than the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

The Simply Red is a Bordeaux-style red blend (47% cabernet sauvignon, 34% cabernet franc and 19% merlot).  I tried it as part of a wine flight at Divine Bar in Manhattan that also included a syrah from Morocco, a Pinotage from South Africa and a red blend from the Duoro Valley in Portugal.   

I've had several Bordeaux-style blends recently from the state of Washington, and honestly I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between this VA wine and one of those WA wines. The Simply Red is medium ruby in color with dark berry fruit, spice, cedar and earthy aromas that follow through on the taste. 

On the palate, it is easy drinking and approachable with smooth tannins and good balance. The bit of complexity it has comes from being aged for 14 months in 100% French oak barrels (70% new and 30% 1 to 2 years old). 

While this wine isn't gonna blow your mind, at $13 a bottle it is a great value wine that would accompany one of those new pizzas from Domino's quite nicely and is a nice representation of what they are producing in Virginia. 

I had no idea that they were producing wines of this quality in VA and look forward to trying more soon,  I can only hope somewhere in Virginia someone is trying a New York wine for the first time and saying the same thing.

Tom Mansell: Viñedo de los Vientos Alcyone NV Tannat Dessert Wine (Atlántida, Uruguay)

After tasting tons of New York wines on Saturday, I decided to branch out a bit with a flight of big reds and some curious dessert wine at Ithaca's wine bar, Just A Taste.

This sticky pours reddish-black. Aromas of all kinds of sweets fill the glass: marzipan, cocoa, cake batter and caramel among them. It's very sweet on the palate, a little on the too-sweet side.  I guess my NY palate still craves some acid. It's fortified, but not too hot (16%, so on the order of some Oz Shiraz...).  

Pleasant astringency lives on after the nutty finish.

This wine put Uruguay on my wine map and gave me some interest in Tannat beyond the typically Brett-happy SW France region of Madiran. Looking forward to trying some more Uruguayan Tannat.

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Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Franc

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

We still have plenty of NYCR Wines of the Year tasting coverage to come, but that won't stop our regular coverage of New York wines, including reviews.

Plus, this was a finalist from Long Island and it showed extremely well in our blind flight or Long Island reds.

As you'll no doubt see as more are released, these 2007 reds are big, mouth-filling and -- in some cases -- like nothing Long Island has seen before. This wine is one such wine.

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Franc ($39) may well be a new benchmark for cabernet franc on the North Fork. It's also a wine that is sure to spark some debate among cabernet franc lovers, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Fermented slowly, with extended skin contact -- the kind of 40-50 day contact one would only attempt with perfectly ripe fruit -- and then aged in new French oak for 18 months, this wine's nose is exotically spiced with layers of dark chocolate, bay leaf, and woodsy sassafras beneath intensely ripe black chrerry and blueberry compote aromas. 

Plump and mouth-filling, the palate shows ripe dark fruit flavors with exotic, Moroccan spice, dark roast coffee, more woodsy sasafrass, and a subtle bay leaf note. The tannins are medium-intense, ripe and round.

Even at 14.7% ABV, high for the region, this wine is impeccably balanced and the finish is long and spiced.

So where's the debatable point?

Many cabernet franc fanatics will miss the more overt green flavors and aromas. That's not say that this isn't identifiable as cabernet franc. The expressive aromatics, exotic spice and woodsy dried herb components reveal it's identity, but the 'green' is expressed differently here, making this a wine that many cab franc lovers will still enjoy, but that will also appeal to those that are turned off by vegetal flavors.

It's also important to remember that this wine is still a baby with big, precocious fruit that will likely take a step back with time, allowing more of the secondary flavors and aromas to emerge.

Producer: Shinn Estate Vineyards
AVA: North Fork of Long Island
ABV: 14.7%
Price: $39*
Rating:  (4 out of 5 | Delicious, Distinctive )

(Ratings Guide)

New York State White Wine of the Year: Arrested Development and Achieving Balance

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor
Photos by Morgan Dawson Photography

We were getting nowhere. Our initial evaluations of the Finger Lakes white wine flight had produced no clear choice for Wine of the Year. We had summoned only one conclusion:

These were excellent wines and choosing one seemed nearly impossible.

Slowly we began to pare down the six wines (everything was done blind), and our conversation focused on the search for balance. Which wines showcased the regional strengths most profoundly? We never did reach a unanimous conclusion, which I found healthy. But we were pleased with the selection of Billsboro Winery 2008 Riesling. 

First of all, about 50 cases are still available, selling for $16 -- a tremendous value -- in the Billsboro tasting room and through BDL Wines in places like Century Liquor in Rochester. 

Winemaker Vinny Aliperti describes this wine as "crunchy," referencing the strong dose of natural acid that measures 10.9 grams/liter. But he arrested fermentation to balance the wine with 2.5% residual sugar. The result is a wine that almost ostentatiously displays a long list of regional and varietal characteristics. And it's a wine that is showy, yet crisp and cutting. 

This was the first time Aliperti had ever arrested fermentation instead of back-sweetening the riesling for his Billsboro label.

"In theory, arresting fermentation should enhance the way it feels in the mouth," Aliperti says, referencing the fact that a more complex sugar is left in the wine after arresting fermentation as compared to back-sweetening. "But you'd need a pretty large trial to see if that's the case. We're certainly very happy with the way this wine turned out."

We haven't surveyed Finger Lakes winemakers, but it seems safe to say that a majority still prefer to back-sweeten their semi-dry and semi-sweet rieslings. It will be interesting to see if more decide to arrest fermentations.

The fruit for this wine comes from one of the strongest vineyard sites in the Finger Lakes: Sawmill Creek Vineyard on the southeast side of Seneca Lake.

According to Cornell University, this site is one of the steepest in the region, providing excellent air flow and combining with the soils to produce ideal riesling fruit. There is no current hierarchy of Finger Lakes Grand Cru vineyard sites, but this is one that would almost certainly be on such a list.

"Sites like Sawmill and Atwater (Vineyards) give you everything you could want," Aliperti says. "They have the southeast exposure and the steep slope, so you get that late-day sun bouncing up the lake."

Aliperti takes an approach during harvest that some might find surprising. Unlike many of his colleagues, Aliperti does not care to extend the growing season for riesling into November if possible. "I really don't want to see the grapes dehydrate," he says. "Not even a little. I want the grapes to maintain their natural acid while also achieving excellent ripeness, but that doesn't necessarily mean the longest possible hang-time. I've been burned before by waiting too long to pick, and it can affect balance."

While the Finger Lakes white flight was an arduous process for the judges, it was no contest when we brought out the flight for New York White Wine of the Year. The Billsboro stood out quickly for its precision and character.

The tasting also showcased the challenge for judges when a flight of wines show a range of styles and sugar levels. The Finger Lakes white flight included five rieslings: two were nearly bone dry, one was just under 1% sugar, and the other two measured 2.5% and 2.6%. Making the judging more difficult, the two driest wines were poured last for the judges. 

That's not to say that this was a case of "Low-Cut Dress Syndrome," a phrase coined by writer Matt Kramer to explain why some of the showiest, biggest wines in a flight of red wines often are selected over others. They're easy to enjoy and require less consideration.

Does such a scenario unfold in a flight of white wines, too? I think it's possible. In the future I'd make sure that the dry wines are poured first in such a flight. But when you consider the quality of the  Billsboro 2008 Riesling, and the source of the fruit, and the thoughtful approach of an outstanding winemaker, and the combination of power and balance in this wine, the selection of this wine shouldn't surprise anyone.

Wine importer and riesling fanatic Terry Theise recently lamented that dry riesling remains "a niche of a niche market" that he would like to see expand.

Later this year, we'll be writing more about the challenge of making an exceptional dry riesling. Crafting a compelling dry riesling is a difficult art to master. But the success of the Billsboro 2008 Riesling (and the Anthony Road 2008 Semi-Dry Riesing, winner of the Governor's Cup) are an indication that the Finger Lakes can showcase its sense of place at all levels of riesling sweetness. A rich, powerful style can maintain the acidity to balance the flavors, preventing the wine from becoming cloyingly sweet.

There are few better examples than the one produced by Vinny Aliperti at Billsboro.

Announcing the New York Cork Report 2009 Wines of the Year

The white wine winners, including our 2009 New York State White Wine of the Year

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief
Photos by Morgan Dawson Photography

As I mentioned earlier today, we tasted 54 wines (a shipping snafu meant that one didn't arrive in time) in 19 flights. For the most part, the wines really showed extremely well

 We blind tasted through each regional flight within a category (sparkling, white, red and dessert), voting on a winner in each. The winners, sorted by region are:

Chautauqua-Lake Erie White Wine: Vetter Vineyards NV Riesling

Finger Lakes Sparkling Wine: Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars 1999 Prestige Cuvee
Finger Lakes White Wine: Billsboro Winery 2008 Riesling
Finger Lakes Red Wine: Heart & Hands Wine Company 2007 Barrel Reserve Pinot Noir
Finger Lakes Dessert Wine: Anthony Road Wine Company 2008 Riesling Berry Selection

Hudson River Region Sparkling Wine: Clinton Vineyards NV Jubilee
Hudson River Region White Wine: Millbrook Vineyards 2008 Tocai Friulano
Hudson River Region Red Wine: Millbrook Vineyards 2007 Block Five East Pinot Noir

Long Island Sparkling Wine: Sherwood House Vineyards 2004 Blanc de Blanc
Long Island White Wine: Paumanok Vineyards 2008 Chenin Blanc
Long Island Red Wine: Wolffer Estate Vineyards 2005 Christian's Cuvee Merlot
Long Island Dessert Wine: Paumanok Vineyards 2008 Late Harvest Riesling

Niagara Escarpment White Wine: Eveningside Vineyards 2008 Unoaked Chardonnay
Niagara Escarpment Red Wine: Freedom Run Winery 2008 Estate Pinot Noir
Niagara Escarpment Dessert Wine: Leonard Oakes Estate Winery 2008 Vidal Ice Wine 

After tasting each regional flight within a category, the winners from each region were then re-tasted together before any of the wines' identities were revealed. If the judges were unanimous in their voting in these "championship rounds" we also selected a New York State wine of the year within a category.

That happened once, with Billsboro Winery 2008 Riesling earning every judge's vote in the white wine championship flight, making it our 2009 White Wine of the Year for New York State.

Congratulations to all of the winners. Look for a few more posts about the tasting results, including a post from Evan on the Billsboro Winery 2008 Riesling later today and a post that I'm writing about the surprise of the tasting for me -- pinot noir winning three of the four regional flights.

The NYCR 2009 Wines of the Year Tasting: Great Wines. Great People. And a Few Surprises.

The New York Cork Report Editors at work during Saturday's 2009 'Wines of the Year' tasting.

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief
Photos by Morgan Dawson Photography

5 tasters. 8 hours. 19 flights. 54 wines.

That was my Saturday as I joined most of the New York Cork Report team for a tasting that would determine our 2009 Wines of the Year. It was an incredibly fun, exciting day, but it also an extremely challenging one.

But above all, it was an incredibly satisfying day -- the culmination of months of planning and coordination.

A tasting like this one -- a tasting that brings together hand-picked finalists from New York's major wine regions -- has been a dream of mine for years. With the right team of editors finally in place, we were able to make it happen and it went off without a hitch.

That is, unless "too many good wines" can be considered a hitch.

We'll publish the winners a little later today, but I wanted to mention a few general impressions:

The Niagara Region is a Must-Watch One. Before Saturday, I had only tasted a handful of Niagara wines, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I think it's fair to say that all of the tasters (save Bryan of course) were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Niagara finalists. There were some great, very well-made wines that already display a developing style for the region.

Finger Lakes Riesling Shows Amazing Diversity within a Signature Profile. One taster noted that the rieslings in the Finger Lakes white flight were "clearly all from the same region" but that they also showed interesting nuances and differences between them. Terroir doesn't mean sameness.

New York Sparkling Wine is Under-Appreciated. You don't hear much about New York bubbly, but the wines we tasted -- from the Finger Lakes and Long Island in particular -- were impressive. One taster thought that at least one or two would satisfy lovers of vintage Champagne.

Quality is Up Across the State. I can think of at least three flights where any of the wines could have been good choices -- they were all that good. Obviously the regional editors hand picked the wines, so I knew they'd be good, but I honestly didn't think they'd be as good as they were as a group. For two of the flights, we almost didn't even know where to start eliminating wines from contention.

The NYCR Really Does Have the Right Editors in Place. I have a great deal of respect for the people writing for this site, but after Saturday, I feel even more confident and excited for the future of the NYCR. The editors did a great job picking the wines and showed thoughtful, well-honed palates that made for an interesting, informative tasting. We all have a similar cool climate sensibility, but that we were almost never unanimous in our voting was great to see.

This is only a small samplings of the stories that will come out of the tasting, but some others need to wait until after we announce the winners. Expect to see more from me and all of the other contributors about this tasting, and a special treat that kicked off the day.

I think we all learned a lot and are looking forward to honing the process for next year. I certainly had more than a few proud moments.

I'd like to thank Tom and Susan Higgins of Heart & Hands Wine Company one more time for not only letting us dirty every single stem they have in their tasting room, but for decanting and pouring the wines blindly for us all day. Their desire to see the entire state shine is inspiring and their hyper-sensitivity to keeping the tasting blind and facilitating the tasting in the fairest possible way is greatly appreciated.

NYCR 2009 Wines of the Year Tasting Tomorrow

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

Later today, I'm on the road again, driving up to Cayuga Lake, for the New York Cork Report's 2009 Wines of the Year tasting, which will commence tomorrow morning at Heart & Hands Wine Company in Union Springs. We have a nice group together for the tasting, including the four official judges (who will vote) who happen to also be the NYCR editors -- Bryan Calandrelli, Evan Dawson, myself and Tom Mansell.

We'll be tasting 53 wines blind broken up into 19 total flights by category and region. All of New York's major wine regions are represented, including the Finger Lakes, Hudson River Region, Long Island and Niagara Escarpment. 

In the interest of full disclosure, Heart & Hands owners Tom and Susan Higgins have been invited to join us in tasting the wines, but they will be forced to leave the room when we are tasting the Finger Lakes reds flight, which includes one of their wines.

During the regional flights, winners will be determined by simple majority (Finger Lakes contributor, Jason Feulner will break any ties). We'll then taste those winners against one another in a New York flight, after which a winner will only be determined by unanimous vote by the judges.

And, while we're not necessarily expecting to do so, we're leaving the door open to select a 2009 wine of the year if the judges -- again unanimously -- feel there is one.

That this tasting has come together is very exciting for me and I know that the other tasters are just as excited.

We will be announcing the winners on Monday morning, so keep an eye out for the announcements.

I don't want to say too much about it, but the NYCR Wines of the Year tasting isn't the only bit of excitement going on tomorrow. Evan, Tom and I have the opportunity to experience a true piece of Finger Lakes wine history tomorrow as well. Look for more on that next week too.

Benmarl Winery 2008 Baco Noir

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

The Hudson River Region has a clear-cut signature white grape variety -- Seyval Blanc.

On the red side of things, the most planted grape seems to be De Chaunac, but I don't know any winemakers who are excited about it. It's so widely planted because it's easy to grow. Period.

Baco noir is only being bottled varietally by a handful of wineries in the region, but it seems to show the most potential among the hybrids that thrive along the Hudson River, and Benmarl Winery in Marlboro, NY has been growing it and making wine from it for decades. In fact, it's a bit of a cult wine among its fans.

The Benmarl Winery 2008 Baco Noir ($28) shows classic baco cherry character with a little dried fruit/raisin and some spice.

Simple on the palate with sour cherry and plum fruit with subtle raisin and sassafras notes. Juicy up front, the low tannins are supple on the mid-palate before the acidity firms on the finish -- to the point of being a bit harsh.

Producer: Benmarl Winery
AVA: Hudson River Region
Brix at harvest: 20.5
pH: 3.51
TA: 8.4 g/l
Oak Program: 13 months in 2-4 year old French oak
ABV: 12.3%
Price: $27*
Cases Produced: 151 cases
Rating:   (2 out of 5 | Average)

(Ratings Guide)

Evan Dawson on VinTank's UNFILTERED: Wineries Need to Tell Their Stories

UNFILTERED: Episode 001 from VinTank on Vimeo.

Our own Finger Lakes Editor, Evan Dawson, was interviewed by the folks at VinTank. The topic? Wineries and the stories they can and should tell.

Ravines Wine Cellars 2007 Pinot Noir

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

Pinot noir in the Finger Lakes? Absolutely, but if you're interested in high-quality stuff, make sure you know a little bit about the winery you're buying it from.

The best Finger Lakes pinot noirs are made by wineries that are, of course, buying or growing fruit in the best places along the lakes, but there is one other key factor -- crop load, the amount of grapes ripened and harvested per acre.

Some wineries harvest 4 or more tons of pinot per acre, which is possible and can work in the best years (2007 comes to mind). But, the top pinot noir-making wineries -- the wineries that can be counted on for consistent quality in this cool climate region -- typically max out at around 2 tons per acre. 

Ravines Wine Cellars is one such winery that pays by the acre rather than by tonnage. That means winemaker Morten Hallgren can give his growers more stringent direction when it comes to dropping fruit.

The nose on this Ravines Wine Cellars 2007 Pinot Noir ($23) is toasty and earthy (think dried leaves and herbs) with baking spice sprinkled over red cherries and cherry compote.

The cherries are a bit brighter and prominent on the palate, where they are overlaid with toasty spice, plums and more earthiness. Silky and medium bodied, this wine finishes with a cherry pie flavor that lingers nicely.

Producer: Ravins Wine Cellars
AVA: Finger Lakes
ABV: 12.5%
Price: $23*
Rating:  (3 out of 5 | Recommended)

(Ratings Guide)

Finding (and Choosing) the Hudson River Region's Wines of the Year Finalists

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

On Saturday, I spent the day visiting four of the Hudson River Region AVA's best wineries. My goal? To pair that tasting trip with my experience judging the Hudson Valley Wine Competition last spring to identify finalists for the New York Cork Report 2009 Wines of the Year tasting, which takes place this coming Saturday.

In addition to the 4 winery visits, several other wineries were represented as we opened wines during dinner.

Expect several posts in coming weeks about my time in the Hudson Valley, but for now, I'm happy to announce the finalists -- 3 reds, 3 whites and 2 sparklers. I hadn't planned to include the sparkling wines, but they deserve the recognition as well.

White Wines

Whitecliff Vineyard and Winery 2008 Awosting White
A blend of the region's signature white variety, seyval blanc, and one of my favorite hybrids, vignoles. It won gold at the Hudson Valley Wine Competition and when I tasted it again at Uncork New York in December, I thought it showed nice balance and fresh peach flavors with a little residual sweetness.

Benmarl 2008 Slate Hill White
This is another blend that includes chardonnay, riesling and traminette. Fruity up front, there is nice, citrusy acidity and just a subtle floral note from the traminette. It finishes dry and clean.

Millbrook Vineyards 2008 Tocai Friulano
One of only a handful of Friulanos grown and made in New York, this wine is melony and grapefruity with nice balance and a longer-than-expected finish. This is a perennial favorite from the region and a wine that several readers have pointed out to me as a great wine from the Hudson Valley.

Reds

Hudson-Chatham Winery 2007 Empire
Made with grapes from three vineyards in New York's three biggest wine regions blended in equal proportions — Long Island merlot, Finger Lakes cabernet franc and Hudson Valley Baco Noir. A great concept for a wine and each component contributes to the wines character. 

Hudson-Chatham Winery 2008 Baco Noir
Black and sour cherry lead the way with hints of vanilla, cranberry and spice beneath. It's fruity, like you'd expect, but there is a depth and a richness here that made it stand out. The finish is longer than with many bacos as well.

Millbrook Vineyards 2007 Block Five East Pinot Noir
Yes, we all know that pinot is difficult to grow and it's probably even more so in the Hudson Valley, but Millbrook usually pulls it off and this wine is a fine exampe of that. The winner of best red at the Hudson Valley Wine Competition surprised the judges (including me) and may surprise on Saturday as well.

Sparkling

Clinton Vineyards NV Jubilee
The last of four traditionally made sparkling wines (all based on seyval blanc) we tasted on Saturday, it left quite an impression. Made without dosage, it's bright, crisp and finishes dry. Really classy and elegant. And I'm no fan of seyval.

Brotherhood Winery NV Blanc de Blancs
Made with 100% Hudson Valley-grown chardonnay, it's a little less dry (1% RS) but for $11, I don't think you can find a better BdB in New York.

What California Thinks About the Finger Lakes: The Good and the Worrisome

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor

Photograph shows a vineyard atop Mount Veeder, Napa Valley

 I recently spent four days in various parts of northern California wine country, including Napa Valley and the Russian River Valley. During public tastings and private appointments, in wine shops and food markets, I asked people what they heard or knew about Finger Lakes wines. 

I expected some out-of-date responses, perhaps including:

"The Finger Lakes makes wine? Real wine?"

"The Finger Lakes makes whites, I hear, but the reds suck."

"The Finger Lakes, yes, I've heard of it. Bully Hill."

But in all of our conversations, none of the above surfaced. In fact, there were two main responses that came up over and over. The most common response from Californians when asked about the Finger Lakes? 

"We hear the white wines in particular are just outstanding. Can't wait to try them."

Finger Lakes winemakers and marketing directors should be pleased to hear that. The message wasn't cloaked in snark or sarcasm. There is momentum for Finger Lakes wine producers to build upon. Future success will mean finding new channels of distribution and new, creative ways to deliver bottles to consumers eager to try them. Even all the way out in California. The local model won't work for everyone, and it doesn't raise up the region as a whole.

Now, the second most common response was the following - and I mean we heard this maybe a dozen times:

"You're from the Finger Lakes? Have you met so-and-so? Pretty crazy."

I'm not going to write in detail about the person in question. You can figure out what we're talking about. That's been done, and this blog no longer deals with that issue publicly. However, given the amount of times it came up, I believe it's an issue that must be addressed.

Here's what I mean when I say it must be addressed: This region must become more active in all forms of media. If you're wondering how so many people in California are aware of certain people, it's because certain people have gotten involved in every possible form of media. Online discussion groups like eBob, Wine Berserkers, and many more. Social media like Twitter. In fact, in most of these forms of media, there is only one voice coming from the Finger Lakes at all. 

Think about that for a moment.

Most Californians followed up by telling me, "No one takes it seriously, anyway." But consider that this is the first thing that comes to mind when these people think of the Finger Lakes. That means that the Finger Lakes isn't taken seriously as a result. 

We're thrilled that so many people in the Finger Lakes wine industry are actively engaged on this blog. It gets your message out, it allows you to interact with customers and writers, and it's free. Yes, there is opportunity cost when it comes to time. But this blog is just one virtual hangout and discussion. I realize that the changing media world can seem overwhelming, but this region needs to understand that at least one person has figured it out. As a result, that's the regional brand for more potential customers than you realize.

Some might think it's risky for the Finger Lakes Editor of the New York Cork Report to write about the need for readers to visit other sites and experiment with other forms of media. I'd disagree. That's because we're building the NYCR to be the go-to source for news, reviews, trends, features, and more. I'm not advertising when I say that. It's the truth. This site is going to continue to dominate.

But there are so many new channels that allow wineries to tell their story now.

And of course everyone has a right to tell their story, coherently or not. The free market tends to sort itself out. But imagine if a movie studio produced, in one year, the following films: Shawshank Redemption, Cirizen Kane, A Man For All Seasons, Forrest Gump, The Godfather, and Cabin Boy. Now imagine that the only film they advertised was Cabin Boy.

It's pretty easy to guess what movie fanatics would think about that film studio. 

What We Drank (January 18, 2010)

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

We have an almost even split this week -- two three beers and two wines. And most fun of all, neither of the wines is younger than 14.

Tom Mansell: Brooklyn Brewery Manhattan Project

I've been into Manhattans lately. After enjoying a well-made perfect Manhattan at Pixel Lounge (see Super Mario Bros. 3 in the background), I decided to try out this beer, which has apparently been crafted to taste like a Manhattan. 

It includes some rye in the brewing process and is aged in rye casks. It also includes herbs used in bitters and vermouth, and some cherry juice.

The best descriptor I could come up with for this one is a cherry cordial. It's got smokiness too, and vanilla and chocolate oak. It would be nice with a cigar, and it kind of reminded me of tobacco. There is a little bit of spice to it, and at 8.5% ABV it packs a punch. 

The cherry is huge, almost as if it were a Southern Comfort Manhattan with some maraschino juice added.

I wouldn't say it tastes too much like a Manhattan, but it's certainly an interesting brew. It's a limited batch and it won't be bottled, so look for it on draft where specialty beers are sold.

Evan Dawson: Mayacamas 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

I went to the Napa Valley and found a cabernet with lower alcohol than most Finger Lakes reds.

This is the wine that reminds us not to generalize. Winemaker Bob Travers told me that he loved the way he was making wines 40 years ago, and he's never felt the need to succumb to new styles. We can poke fun at bombastic, heavily oaked wines, but Mayacamas reminds us that there is diversity and personality in all wine regions.

By the way, that's black mold on the cellar walls. Travers says his oak regimen is "two percent new each year." No two barrels look the same in the cellar. And he has no intention of building a tasting room on one of the valley's main corridors.

This wine tastes exactly like what it is: the anti-establishment Napa Cab.

The long, winding drive up the mountain only leads to a cluster of mailboxes; the visitor needs to know to turn left up yet another dirt road. This cab is an anachronistic 12.5 ABV, and it has the recalcitrant character of its producer. The nose is not unlike an elegant Brunello, with loam-covered black cherry and waves of tobacco. As it breathes it picks up a menthol edge, and there is a bit of an herbal quality as well. In other words, it is unafraid and entirely beautiful.

Bryan Calandrelli: The Bruery Saison Rue

 I've had several positive experiences with rye beers, the first being from a brewery restaurant in Coral Gables called Titanic Brewery. I've also been known to appreciate a good saison or farmhouse ale, whether it's Saison Dupont or Ommegang's Hennipen. I dig their drinkability, fresh carbonation and higher alcohol levels.

For better or for worse I've also had experience with Brettanomyces. I owe much of this experience to Burgundy, but working in local wineries I've come across some brett infections of my own. There's been brett that I thought added complexity and there's been brett that added latex and bandaid aromas.

I don't mind the barnyard brett and I would never pass on a wine just because someone else had pegged it as being infected.

This saison-style beer brewed with rye is the first beer I've drank brewed with brettanomyces. I didn't have high expectations for the reason that I can't imagine any of the brett aromas I previously mentioned as being beneficial in beer.

But as it turns out I really dug it.

It had the mouthfeel and carbonation I like in a saison beer with the spicy sweetness of rye. The brett seemed to give it a sour note that only seemed to add complexity, although if I didn't know it was in there I would¹ve never pegged it as an ingredient.

If there's such a thing as an 'intellectual' beer this would be it.

Lenn Thompson: Benmarl Winery 1988 Late Harvest Vignoles

I spent the day tasting at four of the Hudson River Region's best wineries -- Stoutridge, Benmarl, Cinton and Hudson-Chatham. 

I tasted some good and a lot of interesting wines. With the popularity of hybrids in the region, there were several firsts for me -- my first set of sparkling seyval blancs, my first Chelois, my first Dechaunac, and my first "Boreaux-style blend" that was made with Baco Noir, Chambourcin and Chancellor (thus making it anything but a Bordeaux blend).

It would have been easy to pick one of those wines as my WWD this week, but during lunch, Benmarl's winemaker, Kristop Brown, opened this late harvest vignoles from 1988 -- a relatively young wine from their old old cellar area, which houses wines that go back to the 1960s.

None of the industry folks at the table had any expectations for this, but I thought it was great. Like candied pineapple with a little minty note, it was straightforward and alive, if not lively. And not cloying in the least. Best of all, it was tremendous with the local Ewe's Blue cheese we nibbled with it. This is also the second oldest New York wine I've tasted, so it was just an all-round cool experience.

Andy Freedman: Long Trail IPA

Skiing, hot tub, NFL playoffs, chili, wine, beer, bourbon....does it get any better? That pretty much sums up our annual MLK weekend ski trip to Killington, Vermont. 

One thing I love about traveling is getting to try the local beers that aren't readily available in my local grocery or liquor store. And Vermont offers up a treasure trove of craft breweries. In fact, there are more craft breweries per capita in VT than any other state. Among others, you have Otter Creek, Rock Art, Wolaver's Organic, Switchback and my personal favorite, Long
Trail.

On our ski weekends, the beer I find myself drinking more of than any other is Long Trail IPA. Long Trail describes their traditional IPA as "naturally uncarbonated, dry-hopped and unfiiltered like the old days." 

At 5.9%, the alcohol rating is lower than what you might expect for IPAs. I like being able to put a few of these away at "apres ski" without feeling I've been run over by a snowmobile. 

On the nose, I get a strong scent of forest pine, along with citrus hops and grassy notes. The taste closely follows the aroma with pine and citrus flavors One reason hop-heads like me drink IPAs for their intense hop bitterness. Long Trail's IPA doesn't have that intense hoppy nose or bitterness like some of the heavy hitter IPAs, and it's not meant to. It's simply a well done, very drinkable and enjoyable ale.  It works well as both a gateway IPA for someone looking to explore the style and as a beer for the IPA connoisseur who wants to drink a few beers during a football game without being knocked out.

If you find yourself near Killington or Woodstock, I definitely recommend grabbing lunch and a tasting flight at the Long Trail Brewery in Bridgewater Corners, VT.

Southern Tier krampus

By Kevin Burns, Beer Columnist

St. Nicholas, aka Santa Claus, is a magical figure, the bringer of gifts and an icon of holiday spirit. Forgotten by most is his evil side kick and enforcer of ‘the list.’ -- Krampus.

European tradition says while St. Nick is busy delivering presents to good little boys and girls, Krampus hands out punishments to the bad. A fanged, goat-horned bully, the Christmas Devil uses sticks and chains to beat the naughty children.

Dark malts and aromatic hops create the diabolical spirit of this brew. It is finished with lager yeast and aged cold for no less than 30 days. This Imperial Helles Lager will warm even the darkest hearts.

Krampus is part of Southern Tier's Seasonal Imperial Series. All of the beers in the Imperial Series are bottled in 22 oz. bombers and have high alcohol by volume.

Krampus poured a clear, dark amber color with a pen width, off-white head. The aroma is extremely nice, with malt, candy sweetness and toasted notes.

The body is big and robust with a thick, yet smooth mouthfeel. There is a light caramel sweetness, toasty aspect and loads of malt up front. The mouthfeel becomes slightly creamy in the middle before a huge blast of hops leads to the finish. The finish has a light alcohol warming and a prolonged lingering dryness.

Overall, this is a really good sipping beer. It is clean, well-balanced and hides the 9% ABV well.

This is a monster beer that needs a dish with big flavor to pair with it. Curried chickpeas snuck into my head as a possible match, but as I mentioned before this beer is a sipper (I enjoyed it over the course of about two hours). I am thinking cheese here, specifically blue. While Krampus is smooth, it is a little heavy on the palate and I am looking for the cheese to cut through the thick body and compliment the long finish.

Producer: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 9%
Price: $7.99 (22 oz. Bottle)
Rating:  (4 out of 5 | Delicious, Distinctive ) 

From the Niagara Bench to Table Mountain: A Journey to South Africa's Western Cape

By Julia Burke, Niagara Escarpment Correspondent

Editor's Note: Julia left for South Africa yesterday, but we're hopeful to get some stories from her down under experience.

For the next few months, my NYCR contributions will be few and far between and will include words and phrases that don’t normally show up in New York wine industry parlance, such as “bush vines,” “pinotage,” “Cape blends,” “sun damage” and “penguins.”

This is because I ship off to Stellenbosch, South Africa this weekend, where I’ll be a harvest intern at Blaauwklippen Vineyards for the 2010 vintage.

Feeding both my South African wine obsession and my lust for viticultural knowledge and experience, I’ll be absorbing as much information as I possibly can while living and working in South Africa’s oldest and most renowned wine region.

Though I’ll be recording my experiences on my own soon-to-be established blog, Stellenbauchery, I’ll be sure to chime in on NYCR from time to time with stories of bottles consumed, tidbits learned, and wild animals narrowly avoided. (Just kidding – in this part of South Africa the “wild things” are more likely to be of the college student/drunken tourist variety. But you never know.)

Though I haven’t quite gotten around to packing more than the bare essentials (see my suitcase, Exhibit A), I can’t wait to explore the South African wine industry (the oldest outside of France!) and get to know some of the people who make it exciting. When I return in May, ideally with an extra suitcase full of wine in tow, I’ll be back to my old Niagara stomping grounds with a once-in-a-lifetime wine experience under my belt. Until then, as Klinger from M.A.S.H. would say, “So long – and may your camels spit nothing but dates!” 

Help Haiti: Donate to the Palate Press Wine Auction

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief
(AP Photo/Jorge Cruz)

I've never been to Haiti. I don't know anyone in Haiti either. I actually don't think that I even know anyone with family or friends in Haiti. But, like so many, my heart goes out to the people of Haiti in this time of tremendous tragedy and distress.

Places like the Red Cross are organizing aid for the island nation, of course, but I've been thinking for a few days about how I, with the rest of the New York wine community, can do my part to help. I still may try to organize a tasting event at a local winery, but in the meantime, here is an easy way for New York wineries and wine lovers to help -- the Palate Press Wine Auction.

In a nutshell, the folks at Palate Press are inviting wine lovers to donate bottles from their cellars for an online auction, with all of the proceeds going to help the people of Haiti. I'll be donating something myself, but I thought that this is an opportunity for New York wineries and all of their fans to help the cause. The wines will be auctioned off by the case, so I thought I'd help the New York wine community put together at least a couple cases of wine for the effort. 

If you are a winery, wine shop or wine lover interested in donating a bottle or more to be auctioned off by Palate Press, please either leave a comment on this post or send me an email with your donation.

I'm going to wait until early next week to let the auction organizers what we have from the New York community, so let me know as soon as possible.

Ice Wine Science, Part 1: Volatile issues

By Tom Mansell, Science Editor

I recently had the opportunity to participate in part of the ice wine grape harvest at Sheldrake Point Vineyards, located on the west side of Cayuga Lake. Ice wine grapes can and should be harvested under specific conditions. Sheldrake Point winemaker David Breeden likes to harvest between 12 and 18 degrees Fahrenheit, but it's a delicate balance.

In frozen grapes, some of the water crystallizes into ice, segregating sugars and acids into a more concentrated solution. The degree of "frozen-ness" of the grapes will determine the concentration of the syrupy solution which will be extracted from the frozen grapes in the press.

If the grapes are too warm (closer to 18F), they may start to melt and juice extracted may not be concentrated enough. If the grapes are too cold, the juice may be too concentrated. Getting this right can be difficult and time-sensitive. In spite of careful weather-watching and scheduling, harvest times are basically up in the air until the morning thereof, when phone calls ring out into the breaking dawn and crews either wait a few hours or come in a few hours early. This particular picking was scheduled for Friday, then rescheduled for Saturday at 8 a.m., then moved up to 10 a.m., then back to 8:30 a.m.

Breeden tends to shoot for Brix levels between 35 and 40 (at right is Dave checking the brix of the must on Saturday). That's about 35-40 percent sugars by weight. 

At first, this might seem like a feast for yeast. Unfortunately, the concentrated sugary environment is not all that pleasant for them due to what's called osmotic stress. That is, the high dissolved solid content puts enormous pressure on the yeast cell membranes to maintain equilibrium.

Or to put it another way, it's like putting salt on a slug.

This stress leads to slow and difficult fermentations for ice wines. It also allows for some ambient microorganisms besides yeast to join the party.

Acetobacter and wine have been interacting for millenia; they're responsible for the conversion of wine into vinegar. In this case, while the yeast struggle to survive in their syrupy environment, Acetobacter and other spoilage bacteria can move in and set up shop on the surface, using ambient oxygen to turn ethanol into acetic acid (smell: vinegar), which can esterify into ethyl acetate (smell: nail polish). The combination of these two is known as volatile acidity (VA).

It turns out, though, that the biggest producers of VA in high-Brix musts are the yeast themselves. The stress caused by the high-sugar environment causes up-regulation of yeast enzymes that produce acetate. Thus, careful selection of yeast strain and tight control of fermentation conditions are important for making quality ice wine. 

At Sheldrake, Breeden manages osmotic stress in his fermentations by employing a method of gradual addition of the sweet must, which maintains a Brix level between 25 and 30 throughout the fermentation. The similarities of this method to a standard semi-batch reactor with substrate inhibition kinetics just sets the chemical engineering part of my heart all aflutter.

Too much volatile acidity can render a wine unpalatable, but like many faults, small amounts of VA can add complexity to a wine. Peach and pineapple aroma characteristics, for example (hexyl acetate, ethyl butanoate) can come from esterification of acetic and other volatile acids, and descriptors like this are very common in ice wine tasting notes.

The presence of some VA, due to osmotic stress on yeast in a high sugar environment, gives the bouquet of ice wine unique characteristics that set it apart from normal table wines. 

In the second part of our exploration of the science of ice wine, I'll discuss the palate and mouthfeel of ice wine and other characteristics that add to the honey-like richness that it provides.

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Further Reading:

Erasmus et al., "Impact of Yeast Strain on the Production of Acetic Acid, Glycerol, and the Sensory Attributes of Icewine", American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 2004.

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 "Rebellion" Merlot

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

As a category "natural" wines are hot in the wine world, but they aren't necessarily easily defined. Ask ten people what "natural" means and you'll get at least five answers.

One common thread, however, is a reliance on naturally occurring, 'wild' yeasts for fermentation rather than inoculating the must with a strain of the winemaker's choosing.

A handful of Long Island producers are experimenting with native yeast fermentations, including Raphael, Channing Daughters, Onabay Vineyards and the makers of this wine, Shinn Estate Vineyards.

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 "Rebellion" Estate Merlot ($25) is 100% estate-grown merlot that saw extended time on the skins during a long fermentation by those indigenous yeast. Only 49 cases were made and if you're looking for the super-ripe, forward fruit found in many 2007 Long Island reds, look elsewhere.

Elegant and nuanced, the nose starts with floral and spice notes with ripe red cherry and toasty vanilla beneath. Dried herbs emerge with a little time in the glass, as do chicory coffee aromas. 

Bright, crunchy red cherry flavors hit your palate first, with salt-cured meat minerality, spice and floral flavors supporting them. Tasted again about an hour later, more earthy and dried herbs components revealed themselves.

Medium-light in body, the tannins are well integrated and medium intensity and are joined by food friendly acidity. The finish isn't over long, but it doesn't drop off either.

This is a unique wine that may not hit fans of fruit forward wines, but I think it's a fun little foray into "wild" fermentation. And, I enjoyed it enough to include it as one of our wines in the January 2010 New York Cork Club shipment.

Producer: Shinn Estate Vineyards
AVA: North Fork of Long Island
ABV: 13.1%
Price: $25*
Cases Produced: 49 cases
Rating:  (3 out of 5 | Recommended)

(Ratings Guide)

Vineyard Visuals: Winter at Damiani Wine Cellars

Photo courtesy of Damiani Wine Cellars

Lenz Winery 2002 Estate Merlot

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote a bit about Lenz Winery and their belief that, because American's don't know how to age wines, they'll age them for us. That's true for their high-end reds, but it's also true for their mid-level "Estate Selection" lineup.

This Lenz Winery 2002 Estate Selection Merlot ($23) was just released a couple months ago, following up on one of my favorite under-$25 local merlots, the 2001. And, while perhaps a bit less complex than that wine, this is still a fine value.

The nose is a bit less funky than the 2001, showing ripe black cherry, blackberry and plum fruit with a gently earthy note beneath, with a little lead pencil.

Medium bodied and plummy up front, the palate offers layers of cherry, earthy dried leaves and light leathery funk that had dissipated by day two. The ripe, fine-grained tannins are elegant and maturing nicely.

Well balanced, with a medium-long finish, this is another $23 value that not only stays true to Lenz's house style and philosophies, but also shows off what can be so terrific about Long Island merlot.

Producer: The Lenz Winery
AVA: North Fork of Long island
ABV: 13%
Price: $23*
Rating:  (3 out of 5 | Recommended)

(Ratings Guide)