Tasting Buttonwood Grove's Governor's Cup Riesling

It’s not every day you get to taste a wine that has won the Governor’s Cup at the New York Wine & Food Classic. This is the first year that I haven’t worked at this wine competition, and even though I’ve worked at it for the past 10 years, I’ve never got to taste the winning wine. I’m always to busy working and just was never in the right place at the right time.

I was asked this year to give a private seminar at the Hudson Valley Wine Festival to a VIP crowd and thought if I could possibly have them taste the wine that won the Governor’s Cup (along with some Hudson Valley Wine) that would be super special. Thanks to Buttonwood Grove I was able to pour their semi-sweet Riesling for them and I was tasting it for the first time myself.

After I opened the bottle, I had to taste a little to make sure the wine wasn’t corked and boy was I blown away! Big smile on my face and I turned to the audience and said, “you are in for a treat!”

Buttonwood Grove is located on the western shore of Cayuga Lake and was purchased by David and Melissa Pittard from Ken and Diane Riemer in May of 2014. This was a dream realized for David and Melissa. David is a cider maker by trade growing up and working on his family’s apple farm and attending Cornell College of Agriculture.

Ken places much of the success on winemaker Sue Passmore who was the winemaker at Buttonwood Grove when they purchased the winery, she came along with it. This particular Riesling comes from vines planted in 1999 on the estate.

The 2016 Riesling is a semi-dry Riesling with 3% residual sugar.The wine had nuisances of peach, citrus and apricot. It’s clean and perfectly balanced. Think of a lake or bay that looks like glass, that is what you will think when you take one sip of this wine. Towards the finish of the wine there is a slight hint of petrol. If you can find this wine it should retail for $15.99

Winephabet Street D is for Dolcetto

Last Monday was the monthly edition of Winephabet Street and Lori and I strolled down D street and explored Dolcetto. Honestly, I haven't had many Dolchettos  so this was a great learning experience for me as well.

Dolchetto hails from the Piedmont region of Italy. There are seven DOC's and one DOCG.  It's one of the first grapes to be harvested in the region and with that, it has nice tannins and low acidity. Dolcetto is a wine that is meant to drink young, within 5 years of harvest.

For Winephabet Street, Lori and I each talk about two topics and we rotate each month.  This month I had Five Fun Facts, and the Characteristics of Dolcetto.  Lori took on the History and Food Pairings.  I didn't even look at Lori's information and made myself Jalapeno Popper Mac N Cheese for dinner and had it with my Dolcetto.  I wasn't expecting it to go well with the wine but it did.  I attributed it to the bacon, but actually one of the best food pairings for Dolcetto is Mac n Cheese. Who knew.

Lori and I don't live in the same area, she picked a Dolcetto di Dogliani and Paige from Boutique Wines & Spirits picked me out one from Dolcetto d'Alba. Both wines were under $20 from different areas of the region.  As you will see in the video, one wine had more purple hues and one was more garnet in color.

I hope you enjoy the video.  If you want the audio on the go, the podcast is below.  Don't forget to sign up for next month's Winephabet Street October 16. Sign up here http://snip.ly/jtqtk 
Cheers!  Thanks for watching!

 

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*Boutique Wines & Spirit is the official wine store for Hudson Valley Wine Goddess

Pickling with Paniza

When one plants a garden they can expect to give up a day to pickle the bounty of cucumbers they have before they rot. That is exactly what I did one day with the help of Paniza 2015 Cariñena from Bodegas Paniza in Spain. You always need a little help from you friends.

Bodegas Paniza founded in 1953 is a cooperative venture of three hundred grape growers bringing together the bounty of their vineyards which covers 2,500 hectares of grape. The vineyards located in Northern Spain at the foothills of the Iberian Mountains are in the Denomination of Origin Cariñena. These vineyards are the highest vineyards in the area.

Cariñena is Spain’s second Designation of Origin (which is part of the regulatory classification of Spanish wines) Cariñena takes its name from Carae, a Roman settlement dating back to the year 50 BC and Cariñena which is also known as Carignan is native to this region.

The Paniza 2015 Cariñena is stainless steel fermented and makes for a great wine to serve slightly chilled. First impressions are aromas of smoke, black cherry and eucalyptus. As the wine opens up juicy ripe red raspberries show in the glass. The palate is full of dark fruit, and as it opens some red berries, plum, red raspberry jam and black raspberries come through. The wine has a nice structure and and a rounded feel on the palate.

After the pickling was over we sat down and finished the bottle some turkey burgers. At a SRP of $13 it provided great value and good drinks.

2017 Hudson Valley Wine & Spirits Competition Results

Every year the Saturday after Labor Day the Hudson Valley Wine & Spirits Competition is held at the Hudson Valley Wine & Food Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York. This is my 9th year at the helm and I must say, every year it gets better and better.  I work with a wonderful group of judges and back room helpers. As successful as it is, it would be successful without their commitment.

This year there were 111 entries of which 94 were wines, 13 were ciders and 4 were spirits. They were all judged by a panel of 16 judges. Returning this year is Bob Brink, Fine Wines Manager, Arlington Wine & Liquor; Christopher Matthews, Wine & Spirits Columnist for New York Law Journal Magazine; Dr. Evan Goldfisher, George Drivas, Gordon Food Service, Dana H Lee, Certified Specialist of Wine; Chris Gerling, Extension Associate for Enology for New York State; John Hudleson, Assistant Professor of Global Wine Studies at Central Washington University; Diane Letulle, Wine Dine Go; Lori Budd, Dracaena Wines; Jerry Pellegrino Restauranteur and owner of Schola, Jen Redmond, Jack Robertiello, wine, food & spirits writer; Doug Croll, Deutsch Family Wines;  Certified Wine Judges: Kevin Ostrowski Annemarie Morse, JoAnn DeGaglia.

This is no easy task as the quality of the wines increase every year.  This year there were 5 Double Gold medals, 12 Gold medals, 38 Silver medals and 36 Bronze Medals. Winery of the Year was a tie between Tousey Winery and Benmarl Winery. Whitecliff Vineyard & Winery's 2016 Vidal Blanc won Best in Show as well as Best Hudson Valley Wine (made with Hudson Valley fruit). Best Red Wine was awarded to Robibero Family Vineyards for their 2013 Cabernet Franc; Best Fruit Wine was awarded to Christopher Jacobs Winery for their Appleoosa; Best Dessert Wine was awarded to Brotherhood Winery for their Late Harvest Riesling; Best Cider award Brooklyn Cider for their 2016 Half Sour and the Best Spirit was awarded Hudson Valley Distillers for their Clear Mountain Gin.

It was a long weekend for me, but so well worth it!  Here's a short video of the final round where the Best in Show is determined. Following is the complete list of winning wines.


 

2017 Hudson Valley Wine & Spirits Competition Results by Debbie Gioquindo on Scribd

Winephabet Street C is for Carménère

If you missed our August Winephabet Street C is for Carménère here's your chance to learn a little about the lost grape of Bordeaux.  Carménère was originally part of the Bordeaux blend.  But when phylloxera wiped out the grape vines in 1867 they replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

French ampelographer (grape botany expert) Jean-Michael Bouriquot noticed in Chile that the Merlot vine took much longer to ripen than they should. Through research he found that 50% of the vines were actually Carménère. In this video you'll learn about Carménère and some food to pair with it.

I apologize in advance as I was in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee to watch the solar eclipse so the internet was not to good.  We'll blame the eclipse.

Please join us for our next edition of Winephabet Street, Monday September 18 where we learn about Dolcetto.  To register, click here 




Boutique Wines & Spirits is the Hudson Valley Wine Goddess's wine store for Winephabet Street.