Boston Wine Expo Post: The Other Side of the Finger Lakes by Debbie Gioquindo

I was a guest blogger for the Boston Wine Expo which is coming up February 14 & 15, 2015 at the Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center in Boston.  An Expo not to be missed!  I did attend it a few years back when I had a booth for Happy Bitch Wines and I must say it was a great expo!  If you have a chance and are in the Boston area, I highly suggest attending.

As a guest blogger I thought I would share my post with you on the Finger Lakes.  If you are attending the Expo, don't forget to head over to the Finger Lakes area and taste some New York wines!
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When you think of Finger Lakes wine what word immediately comes to mind?  Riesling!  Yes Riesling is the first wine you think of but there are many other great wines produced and grapes grown in the Finger Lakes. Let’s look at the other side of the Finger Lakes, other than Riesling that grow in this beautiful wine region.

I was not a Blaufrankisch fan until I tasted at Red Tail Ridge Winery on the shores of Seneca Lake.  This grape has been grown in the Finger Lakes since the early nineties.  It is also known as Lemberger. A cold hardy grape, it produces some nice light to medium bodied wine that is deep in color, earthy, fruity with a bit of acidity. This wine won me over.  I am now a fan of Blaufrankisch. There are quite a few producers of Blaufrankisch/Lemberger in this region, so give them a try.

When you hear Gamay Noir, you think of Beaujolais wine from France, which is 100% Gamay.  Beaujolais isn’t the only place Gamay grows well.  Enter the Finger Lakes. Sheldrake Point Vineyards located on Cayuga Lake grows and produces wonderful Gamay.  Expect a light bodied wine with fresh red berries, raspberry and a bit of acidity.  Try this wine at room temperature as well as slightly chilled to see how you like it best.

You might not be able to pronounce it, but Gewurztraminer is widely planted white vinifera grape in the Finger Lakes. The word actually means “spicy grape” and it has a nice spice you will find usually on the finish.   Gewurztraminer for every palate, sweet, semi-sweet, dry and even late harvest and dessert wine.

Here’s a great YouTube video on how to pronounce Gewurztraminer:

If you have the opportunity to taste any of these wines that are produced by a Finger Lakes winery, don’t pass it up.

Open your mind and embrace your palate.

Debbie Gioquindo is a Certified Wine Specialist, Wine Location Specialist and wine blogger who is known as the Hudson Valley Wine Goddess. You can find Debbie on her blog at hudsonvalleywinegoddess.com, on Twitter at hvwinegoddess and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HudsonValleyWineGoddess

A Taste of Finger Lakes Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Rieslings

The beginning of May I participated in a Finger Lakes Wine Country white wine tasting in celebration of Finger Lakes Wine Month.  It's always a pleasure to be included in these tastings. We tasted 8 wines in all.

To give you a taste of the Finger Lakes wines I'm going to give you a little info on the winery so you have a bit of background and then the tasting notes.  We'll go in the order we tasted, so you can get a feel of how the tasting went.

Swedish Hill Winery In 1969 the Peterson Family planted their first vines.  The began selling grapes to other local wineries and in 1985 began crushing and producing for themselves.  First production was 1,200 cases. Now in their third generation they produce over 60,000 cases of wine annually and own Goose Watch and Penguin Bay as well as Swedish Hill.

• 2012 Swedish Hill Reserve Chardonnay - Beautiful aromas of lemon curd with pineapple with hints of vanilla and butter.  Palate is smooth and creamy with lemon on the finish
• SRP $16

Knapp Winery & Vineyards Opened in 1984 and in 2000 the current owners Gene Pierce and Scott Welliver purchased the property.  They were the first winery in the Finger Lakes to plant and vinify Cabernet Franc. Their vineyards consist of 46 acres of which 32 are planted with white grapes.

• 2012 Knapp Barrel Reserve Chardonnay - A bit of orange rind on the nose. Much lighter on the palate than the Swedish Hill. The palate is filled with pear, a bit of green apple and some lemon and lime.

Lakewood Vineyards Celebrating 25 years this year.  Frank Stamp left his dentistry in Maryland in 1951 to try his hand at farming.  He moved his family to the Lakewood Farm which at the time was a run down peach and apple orchard on the west side of Seneca Lake.  The next spring they planted grapes and the rest is history.  Today they have 75 acres planted.  Their winery opened their doors in 1989. Today three generations of the Stamp family run the business.

• Lakewood Vineyards 2012 Chardonnay - Aromas of stone and passion fruit coming from the glass.  I get a bit of Morning Glory as well. As the wine warms up there is some serious oak on the nose with butterscotch. The palate shows some serious oak that soft hints of the fruit. You can make out the stone fruit with a coconut finish.

Hector Wine Company Located across the street from the famous Sawmill Creek Vineyards (and I say that because it is one of the best growing sites in the Finger Lakes) on the east side of Seneca Lake.  It began making wine in 2009 and opened their tasting room in 2010. The are committed to making high quality wines from grapes that are hand picked and manually hand sorted.  They produce mostly dry reds and whites with some selection of off dry and semi sweet wines.

• 2012 Hector Wine Company Gewurztraminer - This is a dry Gewurztraminer.  It saw and extended 48 hour cold soak prior to fermentation to achieve better flavor from extraction. That is where you get the aromatic and flavor profiles such as the lychee and spice
• Lychee is what I say...strong lychee aromas fill the glass along with some jasmine and a hint of citrus.  Pineapple and some lemon on the palate and nice acidity.  Nice sharp spice on the finish.

Dr Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars Founded in 1962 Dr Frank was responsible for the "Vinifera Revolution" and began the planting of Riesling in the Finger Lakes.  Today they grow Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Gruner Veltliner and other white varieties on 90 acres on Keuka Lake. 

• 2012 Dr Frank Gewurztraminer - Soft aromas of orange blossom and citrus.  High acidity with a little residual sugar balances it out. A touch of honey on the palate.

Red Newt Cellars - Located on the east side of Seneca Lake it has the most amazing sunsets from it deck! Started in 1998 by David and the late Debra Whiting.  

• 2012 Tango Oaks Vineyard Riesling - Sourced fro the Tango Oaks Vineyard owned by Fred Wickham. This vineyard is dominated by gravel and little loam as a result of a major flood in 1934 that deposited a bunch of stone on the site.  The grapes are some of the only Alsatian clone Riesling in the region.
• A bit of petrol on the nose (due to a warm growing season) with aromas of nectarine, lime and green tea showing through.  Nice balance of acidity and minerality with flavors apricot and apple.

Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars Located on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake they have over 100 acres of estate vines.

• 2012 round Rock Vineyard Riesling (Exclusive Singe Vineyard)  Some petrol on the nose of this Riesling as well, a little wet basement with some notes of lemon. Serious green apple on palate. Sweetness is medium dry but has a nice balance between sweetness and acidity

Boundary Breaks Vineyard Located on a 120 acre farm on the east side of Seneca Lake.  Purchased in 2007 by Bruce Murray and he planted six acres of Riesling clones.  The 2011 is their first vintage.

• 2011 Boundary Breaks No. 198 - Reserve -  Harvested at 23 brix, shows aromas of white peaches and oranges. Some flavors of peach and honey. Residual sugar clocked in at 5.7% and I felt the wine was a bit unbalanced.  The sweetness overpowered it and took away from the flavor profile. sorry:(

What's a tasting without food. To go with all this wine I tried a new dish - Pineapple Chicken Kebabs.  Confession...I forgot to put the pineapple on the skewers, so I made some with just pineapple and put it all together on my plate.  I tried it with all the wines and thought it went best with the Riesling.

Pineapple Chicken Kebabs

8 ounces can pineapple chunks

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chili powder

1 clove crushed garlic

1 tsp salt

2 tbs plain lowfat yogurt

1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1 lb skinless boneless chicken

1/2 red, yellow and green pepper

1 large onion

cherry tomatoes

1 tbs oil

Drain pineapple juice into bowl.  Reserve the chunks.  In a large bowl mix together the spices, garlic, salt, yogurt, cilantro and mix in reserved pineapple juice.  Cut chicken into bite size cubes and add to the yogurt and spice mixture.  Marinate for 2 hours or in my case overnight.  Arrange chicken on skewers alternating with peppers, onion, tomato and pineapple.  Brush kebabs lightly with oil and grill.

Finger Lakes Whites Beyond Riesling

The Finger Lakes region in New York has become known as producing some fantastic Rieslings.  Yes, they are great, but they also produce some great whites besides Riesling.

I recently took part in a twitter tasting of 5 of those "other whites".  The varietals tasted were Pinot Gris, Gruner Veltliner and Gewurztraminer.  Gruner Veltliner is new to the Finger Lakes and it taking quite well to the region. Yes I am impressed!

When seeking out other white wines from the Finger Lakes, you might want to give these a try.

Thirsty Owl Wine Company 2012 Pinot Gris - While I am not a big fan of Pinot Gris, I was quite impressed with this wine.  I have to admit, I cheated as Thirsty Owl table was next to mine (Happy Bitch) at a trade show that week and I tasted the Pinot Gris.  Looking forward to more than an ounce in my glass, I embraced this wine at the tasting.  All estate grown fruit in this dry Pinot Gris that was very light in color.  It showed beautiful aromas of honeysuckle, pear, apple, citrus and some minerality.  Flavors of pear was dominate but had some lime mid palate and minerality towards the finish with very nice acidity. (yes that's my daughter in the picture being silly)

Three Brothers Winery Stony Lonesome Estates 2011 Gruner Veltliner is all estate grown and stainless steel fermented. This is the second vintage for them.   The initial aroma I got with this wine was stinky feet.  After a few swirls the aroma dissipated that brought on a nice floral smell. There were soft flavors of pear and melon.  Even though the technical sheet says 0% residual sugar I thought it was sweet.  My residual sugar taste buds would give it a 1.2% and others taking part in the tasting thought the same. There were 300 cases of this wine produced and it retails for $14

Fulkerson Winery 2012 Gruner Veltliner - here's another confession. I received a media sample from the winery and didn't realize it would be one of the wines featured in this tasting.  I had reviewed this wine the week before giving it it's own post.  You can read about it here. 

Knapp Winery 2011 Dry Gewurztraminer was a happening wine. After the grapes were harvested they sat on the skins overnight before they were pressed. Nice nose of jasmine, tangerine and some floral notes.  On the palate we saw some soft pineapple and lemon with some white spice. As a dry Gewurztraminer it did have .95% of residual sugar which balanced out the acidity nicely.   There were 116 cases of this wine produced and it retails for $14.95

Dr Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars 2012 Gewurztraminer had a beautiful nose.  Aromas of soft jasmine, wet stone and citrus with a hint of floral filled the glass.  This very nicely balanced wine had flavors of orange blossom with a slight spice on the finish.  Even thought this had 1.1% residual sugar it wasn't a "sweet" wine.  The sugar balanced out the acidity to make it a very nice wine.  Discussions during the chat were what to pair this wine with.  Cheese Master Wendy Crispell suggested a "goey stinky washed rind cows milk cheese"  This wine retails for $14.99

Disclaimer:  I received these wines as a media sample from the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance.

Hudson Valley Wine Festival

This weekend is the Hudson Valley Wine Festival at the Dutchess County Fair Grounds in Rhinebeck NY.   I will be there at the Hudson Valley Wine Country booth so please stop by and say hello.

The Hudson Valley Wine Festival is a great event.  There are wineries from the Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley that attend this festival. There is a nice variety of wines to taste and non wine vendors to purchase early Christmas presents from.

Visit these Hudson Valley Wineries at the festival:

• Brotherhood, America's Oldest Winery
• Brimstone Hill Vineyard
• Brookview Station
• Cascade Mountain Winery
• Cereghino Smith Winery
• El Paso Winery
• Glorie Farm Winery
• Palaia Vineyards
• Pazdar Winery
• Warwick Valley Winery
• Whitecliff Vineyard & Winery (be nice to my daughter, their cashier for the event - wish her Happy Birthday, her B-day is Monday)

Some of my favorite Finger Lakes Wineries to visit are:

• Atwater
• Hazlitt (ok, my mother-in-law loves their Red Cat, but I like their vinifera wines)
• Heron Hill Winery
• McGregor Winery
• Swedish Hill (actually they won the Governor's Cup - so see if they have their Riesling Sparkling wine to taste)

Tickets to the festival are $30 and there is a $50 two day ticket available.  You can purchase tickets at http://hudsonvalleywinefest.com/tickets.htm .  I hope to see some of you at the event.