Delaware Grape with Abby Wilkens (Stamp) of Lakewood Vineyards

The Delaware grape is an American hybrid. While its dark purplish skin would make you think it produces red wine, it’s typically used in the production of white and rose wines.

For this episode of Winephabet Street, we were joined by Abby Wilkens (Stamp), Assistant Winemaker at Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen, New York. I first met Abby when she was 16 years old helping at the New York Classic wine competition. I have watched her grow into the amazing winemaker she is today.

In 1951 the Stamp family purchased an old run-down peach and apple orchard called Lakewood Farm. They began planting grapes and selling them to the large wineries and grape juice companies. In 1988 Monty and Bev Stamp and their children pressed their first vintage.

It was our honor to have Abby join us. Please listen to the webinar or podcast. Learn about the Delaware grape, Abby and Lakewood Vineyards.

We got to taste Abby Rose, which is Abby’s namesake wine. It is a blend and has 15% Delaware. It is a sweet fun wine with candied and floral notes. On the palate, you’ll find fruity notes of strawberry and other red fruit.

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4 Finger Lakes Cabernet Francs to Warm You Up This Fall

It's getting a bit chilly outside and in my house the shift has been made to red wine.

While I was at the Wine Bloggers conference this year I did a little Finger Lakes Red Wine speed tasting. It is kind of like speed dating but with wine.  The winemaker comes to the table with his/her bottle, pours us a taste and in 3 minutes has to tell us about the wine and answer our questions.  Here are some that stood out for me that I think will warm you up this fall.

Herman Wiemer 2012 Cabernet Franc Magdalena Vineyard.  The grapes for this wine were picked the last week in October and the wine was aged for 15 months in half oak and half steel.  The wine had an awesome bouquet of dark berry fruit and black berry.  The palate was nicely balanced with dark berry fruit and nice tannins.  My remark on this wine was excellent!  Wine retails for $25.

Wagner Vineyards 2011 Reserve Pinot Noir This wine is a very special wine.  It's only made during exceptional vintages.  The last time this wine was made was 2007. It's aged in French oak for 12 months.  The wine had a nice nose and palate of cherries and black raspberries with a hint of oak. There are only 297 cases of this wine.  It retails for $24.99

Ventosa Vineyards 2001 Cabernet Franc Estate grown and aged in 100% French Oak this Cabernet Franc had soft tannins, flavors of black cherry with a hint of caramel and a nice smooth pepper finish.  You know how I love that pepper finish.  This wine retails for $26.95

Swedish Hill 2012 Cabernet Franc Lemberger This is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Lemberger. It was aged in new French and American oak.  There was some nice violet on the palete with mixed berries.  There was some nice pepper in the front as well on the finish.  The finish lingers then quickly dissipates.  This wine retails for $16.99

Cuddle up this fall with a nice bottle of Finger Lakes Cabernet Franc.

Celebrate Finger Lakes Wine Month With These 3 Great Wines

May is Finger Lakes wine month and as much a the first thing that comes to mind is Riesling, I celebrated without one.  I shared a Pinot Blanc, Rose of Pinot Noir and Bordeaux Style red with my neighbor who has never had the Finger Lakes wine experience. I was so glad to be able to give it to her.

We began the evening with the 2013 Glenora Wine Cellars Pinot Blanc.  Glenora is one of three wineries in the Finger Lakes that produce Pinot Blanc.  They currently are testing out the Pinot Blanc produced in three different processes.  One produced in a concrete egg shaped tank that they had imported from Burgundy, one in a stainless steel tank and the other in neutral oak barrels.

Yes the concrete egg tank does have a story behind it.  While most people that go to Burgundy will bring home wine, Glenora's owners were so intrigued with the concrete egg shaped tanks they saw while touring the wineries, they brought one home as a souvenir. They and winemaker Steve DiFrancesco decided to try the Pinot Blanc Trilogy Experience, hence the three different production processes.

The Pinot Blanc that I tasted, 50% of it was aged in the neutral oak barrels for 6 months. The oak balanced out the acidity and brought softness to the palate.

The nose on this wine was full of citrus, lemon and a bit of chalkiness.  The palate was full of pear with some orange zest, lime. The minerality comes through on the palate and the wine has a nice lingering finish.

It's a nice easy drinking wine and  must for the summer.  SRP $14.99

Don't think our wine tasting didn't include some food.  I prepared a goat cheese tart with half caramelized onions, the other half plain.  It went very well with both the Pinot Blanc and the Rose.

The 2014 Pinot Noir Rose from Chateau Lafayette Reneau had a beautiful fresh nose of strawberry and floral aromas.  As the wine warmed up a bit after coming from the fridge, the strawberry aroma was that of a strawberry Jolly Rancher.  The fresh strawberries carried over to the taste and the wine had a nice creamy mouth feel.  The wine finished with hints of pomegranate seed that gave it a hint of bitterness.  SRP $16.99

We finished off the evening with Hector Wine Company's 2013 Essence which is a Bordeaux style blend.  It's made with 1/3 each of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.  The wine is aged in a separately in a combination of French, Hungarian and American oak, with some of the oak new.

A  very complex nose, the wine had layers of black fruit. As the black fruit began to identify itself, aromas of black berry, black cherry stood out with hints of vanilla and oak.  This all came through on the palate as well. SRP $25

It was a great evening celebrating Finger Lakes Wine Month.  I am glad I got to introduce Finger Lakes wines to someone new.

End of an Era in Finger Lakes Wine Country

I was saddened to hear the news that Morgan McLaughlin, President of the Finger Lakes Wine Country was leaving her position.  Morgan was my inspiration when I worked with the Shawangunk Wine Trail and Hudson Valley Wine Country.  She was a supporter, not only for my region, but personally.

When I first met Morgan it was actually as a wine blogger with with a wine and travel background and was invited to the Finger Lakes Palate in February 2009.  It was a great event and even though in the middle of winter in the middle of New York State, it had a great feel to it.  Walking around Corning NY through the event, it was such a small town feeling that you see on TV. ( You can view my post on the event here)

That was just the beginning.  Morgan has brought the Finger Lakes Wine Region from a tiny sleepy wine region to a world renowned wine region.  I am sure she had many long days, sleepless nights and put many miles on her car.  She has truely done a remarkable job! Not to mention raising three boys in the process.

When the regional branding of Hudson Valley Wine Country got left in my lap, Morgan was not only a supporter, but was there for me in guidance and encouraged me to continue on.

Morgan, you are going to be missed!  Not only did you put the Finger Lakes Wine Country on the world map, you put New York on the map as a quality wine producing state.

I want to thank you for being there for me, encouraging me to move forward no matter what I was up against. I wish you and your family the best of luck in Santa Barbara!

I'll see you in Wine Country!!