2006 Standing Stone Riesling (Finger Lakes)

Standing Stone is another of my “go-to” Finger Lake Rieslings. Their 2006 Riesling is pale yellow with very evident minerality backed up by light citrus and some slightly more pronounced leeche or quince. Crisp and clean in taste and finish. All in harmony and overall a very nice wine.

This can be had for $13 at Northside Wine & Spirits in Ithaca, New York or $16 at Vintage-New York in Manhattan.

At $13 is a great QPR wine. At $16 is still am ok value but at that price, I start looking to entry level Old-World Riesling.

Even so, this is a solid B wine.

My one pet-peeve... Many Finger Lake wines use synthetic stoppers which I’m not a fan of and would much prefer that those wineries move to screw-cap. Standing Stone uses synthetic.

2006 Ravines Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes)

Ravines tends to be one of my favorite Finger Lake Rieslings on a yearly basis. The 2006 edition is a lighter hay color than the 2005 with strong floral notes, a more slight hint of lemon/citrus and a heavy mineral character. On the taste, there is a definite green apple character which gives the wine a bit of tartness, something I don’t think I’ve seen with this wine before. The strong minerality which might be slate, also comes across here. Medium weight with nice balance and a nice, subtle acidity. This is a solid food wine and another good effort from Ravines.

This is a good wine but I have to say that the strong green apple is somewhat of a detractor for me. I’d grade this as a B- for that reason but I still have to say that this would be great and refreshing in the heat of summer. Bought for $15 at GCP Wine and Liquors in Horseheads, New York.

Tasting Note: 2005 Sheldrake Point Cabernet Franc

Dr. Vino’s blog recently detailed the dividing line where the carbon footprint of a bottle wine is equal whether you buy a bottle from California or a bottle from Europe.

It was surprising to me that the line ran straight through Ohio. Even being from New York and somewhat close to Europe, there’s still an ocean to cross but it makes sense when considering that much of the European wine is shipped in bulk containers.

That said, the smallest carbon footprint is going to be found with the wine that made closest to home.

Hence the 2005 Sheldrake Point Cabernet Franc from the Finger Lakes region of New York.

The wine is ruby red in color with a somewhat oaks nose. The fruit is dark cherry and blackberry. Overall, it has a very earthy essence to it. Medium to full bodied with a soft texture and a medium long finish.

Regarding carbon footprints, the smallest print would be buying at the winery itself with can be done with a trip upstate. I can close by purchasing my bottle at Northside Wine in Ithaca, New York for $13.

Overall, this is a decent red but not an exciting one and I think it’s a C+ effort. I’m still looking for a solid red from the Finger Lakes so as of now, my opinion stand that the regions whites and especially Rieslings are standout but the red still lack.

Tasting Note - Heron Hill Game Bird White - NV (Finger Lakes)

For $7 to $9 dollar at your local Upstate New York wine shot, this isn’t a bad deal at all but keep in mind that the Heron Hill Game Bird White is a good quaffer and best suited for food and less for contemplation.

Straw yellow in color. Citrus and floral or hay notes. The citrus is closer to orange peel than anything else. Just slightly sweet on the tongue. Soft texture and a medium length finish.

The wine is a blend of Vinifera and French Hybrid grapes and is cited on their website as being a Silver Medal Winner at the Florida State Fair and a Bronze Medal Winner at the Great Lakes Wine Competition. While not exactly the “Judgment of Paris”, I think the awards are at least a sign that this is a decent wine for a decent price. Something that I feel is becoming harder and harder to find. I give this overachiever a B.

This particular bottle was $9 from Northside Wine in Ithaca, New York.

Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling – Finger Lakes

The Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling is straw yellow color. Minerally is the first impression. Lemon comes next but that’s only the first layer as its reveals a nice apricot note underneath along with a really nice floral element. This wine has some amazing aromatics. Crisp with a nice acidic zip. Exactly the right balance. Medium finish. Just long enough to savor. Solid A. (“Yes, I’m aware of the grade inflation I have going on with this blog!)

I’ve had many vintages of this wine and while I’ve always liked it, I don’t think I remember it being this good. I have recently been somewhat down on Finger Lake Riesling mostly because of cost. The 2006 vintage of this wine is $18 and I think that’s high compared to some excellent entry level German Kabinett Rieslings that I’ve often thought where of better quality.

That may still be the case for me but this was a nice surprise.

2005 Glenora Riesling

Straw colored with floral and citrus notes. After a little bit if time (i.e. as it gets warmer in the glass), notes of lemon emerge but the orange is still dominant. It might also be giving this wine a little too much credit to say that I noted, albeit buried deep underneath the citrus, faint notes of petrol. The taste is a little on the sweet side but there’s just enough acidity for a nice balance. The finish is on the short side but there. All in all, not a bad wine but it doesn’t bowl me over. I’d give it a B grade.

This comes from my stash of Finger Lake wines that I stock up on once or twice a year. This was bought for $12 at GPC Wine & Liquor in Elmira Heights, NY.

2005 Ravines Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes)

Hay colored Riesling from Hammondsport in New York’s Finger Lake region. Peach and citrus on the nose. The peach comes out more if the wine is a little less chilled. Orange and peach in the tongue. Minerally. Medium long but very refreshing finish.

I’ve been a fan of this winery and their wines, especially the Rieslings, ever since I was turned on to them (by my Mom actually.) The 2005 Rielsing, the current darling grape of the Finder Lakes, is the best they’ve produced to this point.

I’ve read in Wine Enthusiast that this wine might “age gracefully over the next five years or more.” It’s possible and might be worth exploring.

2005 Chateau Lafayette Reneau – Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes)

Straw yellow color. Strong citrus aroma. Heavily lemon on both the nose and tongue. Crisp with a nice zippy acidity. Very refreshing and a good bargain at the $14 I paid for it at GCP Liquors and Wines in Upstate Elmira Heights New York.

2004 Ravines Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes)

The 2004 Ravines Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes region of New York is straw yellow in color. It has a mineralality to it with lighter notes of citrus, most notably lemon, on the nose. Floral aromas also emerge. The taste is crisp with a nice acidic balance and a medium finish.

Overall this is a good example of a Finger Lake Riesling but I have had better.

The 2005 vintage is out now which I have yet to try but if you believe scores, it received 90 points from Wine Enthusiast. That wine sells for $18 at Vintage New York and can also be found upstate at Northside Wine and Liquor in Ithaca for $16.

2004 Standing Stone Reserve Chardonnay (Finger Lakes)

The 2003 Standing Stone Reserve Chardonnay is gold in color and almost the color of a dessert wine. Butter and oak on the nose but not so much that the floral and hawthorn notes don’t come through. Creamy texture that lingers for a medium finish.

It’s a nice wine and another good effort from the Finger Lakes Standing Stone vineyard. In my opinion, Standing Stone and Chateau Lafayette Reneau, both on Seneca Lake, are among the best producers of Finger Lake Chardonnays in an area dominated by Riesling.

This was purchased for $14 at GCP Wine and Liquors in Elmira Heights.

2004 Standing Store Vidal Ice (Finger Lakes)

Standing Stone, a winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York offers one of the best values in dessert wines with their Vidal Ice. The wine is made from vidal blanc grapes and rather than letting the grapes freeze on the vine as would be required with a true “ice wine”, they pick the grapes after the leaves have dropped from the vines and then they commercially freeze them just before the crush. The resulting wine is full of sweet nectar fruit such as apricots and nectarines with a honey nose and zing. This is a really mouthwatering wine that doesn’t have the cloying finish of many other dessert wines. It consistently earns a 90 score from Wine Spectator. Alcohol level is approximately 12% with 21% of residual sugar.

Vintage New York in the city carries the wine for $27 at both their Soho and Upper West side stores. It can also be bought directly from the Standing Store website for $25 or at the winery. One nice thing about the Standing Stone website is that they list where in New York State you can wine their wines at either retail stores or in restaurants.
Finally, while researching this wine, I came across a podcast from The Wine Scout where Patricia, the woman behind the site, interviews Marti Macinski, the owner of Standing Store. It’s worth a listen and the site itself is worth checking out.

2004 Ravines House White (Finger Lakes)

Ravines Wine Cellars (www.ravineswinecellars.com) a Finger Lakes Winery in Hammondsport, NY where it sits along the Eastern Shore of Keuka Lake. They make a total of seven wines, the best of which is their Riesling. The owner and wine maker used to work at Dr. Konstantin Frank (www.drfrankwines.com) and then moved on to open this venture just a couple years ago.

In addition to the Riesling and a Chardonnay on the white end, they also make a House White. The 2004 version is pale yellow in color with citrus notes with lighter notes of apricots and peach. It’s a crisp wine with just a tad of sweetness. It would make a great companion to Chinese take-out.

2004 Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes)

Light yellow in color. Tropical fruit on the nose including pineapple and lychee. Hints of honey complement. Very balanced with a long honey finish. This wine is drinking great now but could possible be aged a couple years. Very good.

It can be found in New York at Vintage (www.vintagenewyork.com), a downtown store specializing in New York State wines. It cost $22 there and I believe the wine is good enough to warrant a price in the $20 range but buyer beware. Anyone taking a trip upstate can find this in either Ithaca or Elmira, NY (two towns in the Finger Lake region) for several dollars less.

Ithaca’s Northside Liquor and Wines (www.northsidewine.com) sells it for $16 a bottle and buying three bottles or more will end up costing less than from Vintage. It might even be worth calling GCP (www.gcpliquors.com) in Elmira Heights as they often undercut Northside by a couple dollars and they have hands down the best selection of Finger Lake wines in the state.

It’s worth getting your hands on a couple bottles of this.

Enjoy!

Vintage New York Wine Bar

One of our most recent NYC Wine excursions was a visit to the new Wine Bar at Vintage New York on 482 Broome Street at the corner of Wooster in Soho. Vintage New York is one of the few stores in New York City that carry New York State wines and in my opinion, it’s the only one in the city with a comprehensive sampling of what the state has to offer the wine world. Vintage New York carries approximately 200 New York State Wines from the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, and Long Island and the new Wine Bar offers most, if not all of them, buy the glass along with a menu of light fare made from local product. The seating area is a comfortable two tier set-up which is a perfect casual place to hang out with friends.

The trip was made mostly to check out the space but also to sample some New York State wines, some of which are among my all time favorites having grown up in the Finger Lake region. Our tasting revolved mostly around Finger Lake Rieslings which are among my personal favorites. The panel of tasters included myself, my wife Tahirih Sadrieh, and friends Brian Cogan and Lisa Bochini, a college professor and graphic designer, respectively and all of us wine lovers. Below is a list of the wines we sampled that night along with our thoughts.

Reds

We started with the Long Island Schneider Cabernet Franc “le Breton” 2003. The bottle we bought was $32 or they sell it for $8 by the glass. You can walk out of the store with it for $18.99. We though this wine was balanced and smooth with hints of chocolate, an earthy aroma and a medium finish. Lisa thought it wasn’t quite as complex as it smelled but that it had enough acidity to go well with food. Brian thought it reminded him of a French film set on Long Island where everyone toasts all the ducks as they walk along on the beach and then these water fowl are then later collected and made into dinner where everyone then toasts the foie gras.

We all tried a flight of Bordeaux-style reds from Long Island beginning with the Pindar Pythagoras-NV, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec that we all thought had an ok fragrance but tasted flat and not very balanced. It sells for $8 a glass or $14.99 at the store.

The 2001 Macari Bergen Road is much more expensive at $12 a glass or $39.00 at the store. It was certainly better than the Pindar with an Earthy, fruit forward nose, a dark cherry taste, and a soft medium finish. This would probably pair perfectly with dark chocolate. However, its not very complex and probably not worth the price-tag.

Finally, the 2001 Paumanok Assemblage, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, was much fuller bodies with notes of blackberry and smoke. It had a wonderful nose and nice long finish. This was our favorite red and would pair well with the classic steak. This also sells for $12 a glass or $39.00 at the store and is more worth the money compared to the Macari.

Whites

The 2003 Chateau Lafayette Reneau Johannisberg Riesling sells for $12.99 at the store or $7 a glass. This had a peach nose with strong acidity. It’s a slightly sweet, zingy wine that would probably be great with Chinese or other spicy food.

The 2003 Standing Stone Riesling sells for $13.99 a bottle at the store or $7 a glass at the bar. This is crisp, minerally wine which. Not overly complex but straight forward and well balanced. We thought this was a little close to the classic Reisling that you might find from Alsace.

The 2003 Ravines Riesling sells for $16.99 a bottle or $8 a glass. This wine was our favorite of the night, whites and reds. Apparently, according to my mom, the former winemaker at Dr. Konstantine Frank left a couple years ago to start his own winery. This is it. We thought the Ravines had a slight floral bouquet, drier than the others, smooth, and had good acidity. It had a medium finish that was still the longest of the ones we tasted.

Separately, I tasted the 2003 Standing Stone Chardonnay from the Finger Lakes which sells for $10.99 a bottle. This is one of my favorite everyday Chardonnays that might appeal more to fans of Chablis or the un-oaked variety rather than the bigger oaked California versions. This has a light taste that almost reminds me of a sauvignon blanc. Its crisp with lemon as the dominate flavor and medium bodied.
Overall, the Vintage New York Wine Bar is a hit in my book mostly for the fact that you can get turned on to New York State Wines by sampling the huge array they have on hand. Its one of the few places you can find a wide array of these wines and many are well worth seeking out. My only complaint (and this is the Upstate New Yorker in my talking and should be taken with a gain of salt) is that the Finger Lake wines are much much cheaper upstate. The best store for picking up these gems at bargin prices is GCP Wine and Liquors in Elmira Heights, a mere 5 hour drive from NYC but I’m sure they ship. There you can fine the Standing Stone Chardonnay for $6.99 ($10.99 at Vintage) or the Ravines Riesling for $12.99 ($16.99 at Vintage)

www.vintagenewyork.com
www.gcpliquors.com