A New York State of Mind

I love New York Wines! I am not saying that because I’m a New Yorker, I’m saying that because I have seen how the industry as a whole has improved the last 20 years. At the end of March, I attended NYDrinksNY, a trade tasting that was held in the Rainbow Room in New York City, which was a great venue for this event. All the participating wineries were in one room, grouped by region. I got to see old friends and make new ones. But most of all, the wines that were showcased were wonderful.

Hudson Valley Region

Of course, my first stop was the Hudson Valley Region. I focused on visiting some of the younger wineries. I have to say that I’m like a proud Mama because the quality and what they are producing is really raising the bar. I’m not going to go on about Benmarl’s Seyval Blanc which I think is fantastic, we are going to visit Fjord Vineyards and Nostrano Vineyards who I think are the regions rising stars.

Fjord Vineyards

Matt Spaccarelli, winemaker at Benmarl Winery and his partner Casey Erdmann launched Fjord Vineyards a couple of years ago. They took the Hudson Valley wine scene by storm by winning the Winery of the Year and Best in Show at the 2016 Hudson Valley Wine Competition.

Their standout wine for me is their Albarino. I got to taste 2017 as well as the not yet released 2018 at the tasting. 2017 was nice, but we are in for a treat with the 2018. It had nice citrus and lime notes, crisp with nuisances of apples and a touch of salinity.

Nostrano Vineyards

I haven’t seen Nic and Kayleigh in quite a while, like since their first Nostrano Vineyards vintage and boy have they come a long way. Their portfolio consists of a dry and semi sweet Riesling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, a Rose that is named after their daughter Ava Rose (with Rose being her middle name) and everything is estate grown.

Here are some highlights:

2017 Estate Riesling - 1.5% RS, nicely balanced with notes of peach, apricot.

2018 Ava Rose - 100% Pinot Noir with nice acidity and notes of strawberry and rhubarb.

2016 Estate Pinot Noir - Aged 24 months in neutral French oak. I found a hint of floral on the nose with notes of cranberries, raspberry and blackberry.

2018 Pinot Gris - I am not a big Pinot Gris fan but this one is a nice summer porch sipper. Just 30 cases made.

Listen to my conversation with Nic and Kayleigh

Finger Lakes

The room was arranged by regions and the next one I went to was the Finger Lakes. There were many wines that stood for me like Lakewood Vineyards 2018 Bubbly Candeo and their 3 Generations Riesling 2017 that was touched by all three generations that are running the vineyard. Another stand out was Shedrake Point Winery’s 2017 Gamay Noir. Soft and silky this will be great in the summer slightly chilled. I finally got to meet Johannes Reinhardt and taste his wines. He is my focus for the Finger Lakes

Kemmeter Wines

Johannes Reinhardt began making wine in the Finger Lakes at Anthony Road Winery in 2000 and knew one day he wanted his own winery. In 2007 he purchased a piece of land that happened to be right across the street from Anthony Road. Things got a little complicated with his visa status and he wasn’t able to open the doors of Kemmeter Wines until 2013. Thefirst vineyard was planted in 2014 and a second one in 2016. All the grapes are estate grown.

I noted a music note on his label and each note represents the level of sweetness of the wine. Music was a tremendous part of his past and this is how he incorporated his love of music into the wine.

Here are a few of my tasting notes on his portfolio:

Estate Rose of Pinot Noir 2018 - great strawberry aromas escaping the glass. Strawberry fields with nice acidity

Estate Riesling 2017 - This had .8% RS. It’s nice with peach and stone fruit along with racy acidity.

Estate Riesling 2017 - This two note bottle had 1.4% RS. It was nicely balanced with a hint of sweetness and stone fruit.

Listen to my conversation with Johannes

Long Island

I have to admit, by the time I got to the Long Island wineries, my palate was kind of fatigued. There was a stand out here.

Palmer Vineyards

Palmer Vineyards has 49 acres of vines located on the North Fork of Long Island. Their 2015 Merlot stood out. Merlot I feel is the forgotten about wine. It really has it’s own excitement. Flavors of black fruit, plum, black cherry with a hint of blue fruit and perfectly balanced.

A Taste of Long Island White Wines

It’s been a while since I’ve been out to Long Island, but one thing I do know is that when you reach the North Fork and are in the middle of Long Island Wine Country, you want to reach for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay! You deserve it after all that traffic you sat in, but it is well worth it. A entirely different side of New York just 2 hours east of New York City, Long Island Wine Country, small quaint towns, B&B’s, vineyards, farms, restaurants and a relaxed atmosphere surrounded by Long Island Sound and Peconic Bay.

My first taste of Long Island Sauvignon Blanc was probably 10 years ago at Raphael Winery and it was so good I purchased 2 bottles because that was the limit. At the time I was really impressed with the wine. Now fast forward to last week where I had the opportunity to SURU’s Sauvignon Blanc from the Long Island and a Unoaked Chardonnay from Martha Clara Vineyards.

SUHRU Wines is owned by Sue and Russell Hearn. The name stems from the first two letters of each of their names together with the initial of their last name. They established their winery in 2008 and source grapes from Long Island and the Finger Lakes. Russell has 30 years of winemaking experience taking him to Australia, New Zealand and France before landing in Long Island. Russell is one of the founding partners of Premium Wine Group in Mattituck which is a custom crush facility. Susan a physical therapist by trade has spent many years with her husband in the fields and lab especially during harvest. After 30 years she decided to pursue her passion of wine with her husband Russell.

SURU 2016 Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from a 5 acre plot in Cutchogue where the average vine is 7 years old. Fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks this Sauvignon Blanc has aromas of apple blossoms with hints of grass and lime. The palate is light with nuisances of apple, lime and peach with a minerality base. SRP $18

Located on Sound Avenue, Martha Clara Vineyards was one of the first tasting rooms I visited in Long Island. If any of you are familiar with the Entenmann brand (I grew up on their chocolate chip cookies and chocolate covered donuts) the family sold the company in 1978. After the sale, one of the sons, Robert purchased a potato farm on Sound Avenue. He transformed this potato farm into a thoroughbred horse farm but soon took notice of neighboring farms beginning to plant grapes. He soon followed with18 acres of grapes and has expanded it to today with over 100 acres. In 1999 the doors of Martha Clara Vineyard were opened named after his late mother.

Martha Clara 2014 Unoaked Chardonnay comes from their B1 and D3 blocks of Charodonnay aged in stainless steel tanks “sur lie” style (on the lees). Aromas of baked apple and citrus escaped from my glass. This lead the way to flavors of melon and Asian pear with a hint of creaminess on the palate. SRP $20

I paired the Martha Clara Chardonnay with a leek and goat cheese tart. I used the Chardonnay to deglaze the pan. It added a nice flavor to the tart.

In Search of New York Merlot

All the Merlot’s I tasted happen to be from wineries in Long Island. Long Island is a prime growing area for Merlot and they have an organization Long Island Merlot Alliance to educate and promote the grape. Today there are approximately 700 acres on Long Island planted of Merlot and that accounts for 30% of the total grapes grown in the region.

Lenz, 2013 Estate Selection Merlot is a blend of 85% Merlot with 5% Petit Verdot, 5% Malbec and 5% Cabernet Franc. The wine had a beautiful nose with aromas of dark fruit and baking spices. Flavors of black cherry, blackberry and plum fill my palate with nice integrated tannins. A great everyday dinner wine. SRP $30

Winemaker Miguel Martin

Palmer Vineyards produces Merlot form 35 year old vines. Not only do they produce a Merlot, but a Merlot Rose too. When producing the Rose Merlot, Miguel use specific plot of Merlot grapes, especially grown for the Rose. Miguel pick these grapes earlier than the Merlot used for red wine because he is looking for lower alcohol, more acid and more fruit driven wines. All the vines are 35 years and older. The Merlot is harvested and whole cluster to the press and they spend 3 hours on the skins so it gets a light rose petal color and he ferments it like a white wine with a cold fermentation. 

 The Palmer 2016 Rose Merlot had beautiful expression of red fruit, very well balanced and delightful. The 2013 Old Roots Merlot come from the oldest vines in the vineyard over 35 years old. Very low yield as they go in and drop the fruit so the remaining grapes have a more concentrate flavor. Yield per acre of the Merlot is .8 tons which is low. The grapes spend three weeks on the skins to extract the flavor and color and 18 months in mix of French, American and Hungarian oak barrels with medium toast. Miguel is looking to get more of the hazelnut, vanilla and chocolate flavors that comes from the wood integrated into the wine. The hazelnut and vanilla are apparent in the aromas in the glass along with cherry and plum. The wine has elegant soft tannins and the blueberry sneaks up on the finish. A very nice Merlot and I really enjoy talking with Miguel. SRP $35

Raphael Vineyard and Winery 2012 First Label Merlot is the first label they released when they opened 25 years ago. This Merlot comes from their older vines that are about 25 year old vines. They consider this their reserve wine. Aged in new French oak barrels for 18 months, the wine is unfiltered and unfined. The wine had a little stink on the nose but a little swirling and it was gone. The wine, a full bodied Merlot with flavors of plum, black cherry and blueberry. 550 cases were made - SRP $44

Paumanok 2013 Merlot is 100% Merlot is aged in neutral French oak for one year. The wine had beautiful aromas of blue and black fruit with a touch of violets. Light on the palate with boysenberry, black cherry hints of red fruit. the tannins were weathered and I felt the structure wasn’t to strong. I would drink this wine now. SRP $28

Off to Taste Camp

I'm off to the North Fork today to experience Long Island Wine Country with fellow bloggers.

We have a full weekend planned with tastings at Roanoke Vineyards, Paumanok Vineyards, Shinn Estate Vineyards, Bedell Cellars and Lenz Winery on Saturday. Unfortunately I have to get back on Sunday so I won't be going to the South Fork with them to visit Wolffer Estate and Channing Daughters Winery.

I am looking forward to our reception Friday night at Raphael. Two or so years ago they made a fantastic Sauvignon Blanc that you could only purchase 2 bottles per person. I wanted a case! Saturday nights dinner is a BYOB at Grand Cru Classes. I've packed two cases of Hudson Valley Wine that was left over from this past weekends competiton. The award winning wines of course, so everyone can taste!

I am looking forward to meeting my fellow bloggers. Hopefully my crackberry will stay charged and you can keep up with me on Twitter. Follow me at www.twitter.com/hvwinegoddess

Long Island Visit

I spent the day yesterday driving down to Long Island with a local winemaker to pick up some Merlot grapes. Sometimes wineries in various parts of New York do purchase grapes from other areas of the state. The labels of course will read "New York Wine" rather than "Hudson Valley Wine" or "Finger Lakes Wine." That is topic for another blog.

One thing I couldn't get over was the price of a tasting. I know in the Hudson Valley the tasting fees range from $5 - $10 for a tasting flight of around 5 or 6 wines. However, I got sticker shock at the cost of a tasting in Long Island. I like red and whites. The two wineries we stopped in the tasting fees were $7 for a flight of 3 whites and $9 for a flight of 3 reds.

Our first stop was at Palmer Vineyards. I never visited this winery as I usually tend to stop at smaller, off the beaten path tasting rooms. I tasted the 07 Sauvignon Blanc. There was passion fruit on the nose. This is due to an open canopy on the vines. This brings out the passion fruit flavor of the grape. It was light and refreshing with grapefruit on the aftertaste. The 07 Gewurztraminer was nice with a Lychee aroma and the 07 Riesling had nice peach on the nose. I wasn't impressed with the reds.

We then stopped and picked up the grapes and went to Greenport for lunch. I had a great Chardonnay at lunch from Martha Clara, so I asked that we stop there on the way home.


After lunch we stopped at Raphael Winery. Three years ago they had a fantastic Sauvignon Blanc and I had high expectations. I wasn't totally disappointed, it was good, but I was looking for the past.

We did stop at Marth Clara Vineyards . We walked in and there was one other person in the tasting room being assisted by the staff. We waited, but we weren't even acknowledged. We stood there and then decided to just leave. It was at that point someone else showed up and asked us if we wanted to taste. We just purchased the bottle wine we enjoyed at lunch and called it a day.