Rate Dr. Frank's Salmon Run Riesling!

It's Dr. Frank's 45th Anniversary today so we chose his 2005 Salmon Run Riesling as our first poll. This wine is very affordable at about $12.99 per bottle. Buy one, try it and get back to us with your opinion! (The poll is along the right hand side). If you respond, you will be listed as honorary "Pack" members!

Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars

Rory, our 10-year-old (golden), is our poster boy! My good friend, Laura Wilder, is a VERY talented Roycroft Artisan. I have linked to her website, www.laurawilder.com, so you can see her wonderful Arts and Crafts Style prints, as well as her portraits, house paintings and drawings. About a year ago, she began a line of dog breed prints and needed models, so Rory volunteered to be “The Golden Retriever”. I believe he embodies all that a Golden Retriever is: friendly, happy, alert and VERY handsome. My Rory is my shadow, my protector and my bodyguard! He worries if I am out of the house; when I go away on trips, he sleeps by the back door. All is right in Rory’s world when I am home and he is snoozing on the floor beside me.
Unfortunately, I had to leave Rory when Jim and I took a trek on the west side of Keuka Lake to visit Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars. What a great experience we had! I feel terrible that I didn’t write down the name of the man who served us the wine because he was chock full of information. Moreover, I must say that every wine we tasted was delicious. And the atmosphere was VERRY nice - oriental rugs- a beautiful wood bar - classy.
We started out tasting champagnes: the 2000 Blanc de Noirs ($34.99) and the Célèbre ($19.99). The Blanc de Noirs was delicious dry champagne. The Célèbre, made from Riesling grapes, was also dry and very good. Next, we compared the Dry Riesling ($17.99) to the Semi Dry Riesling ($15.99). These two Rieslings were big winners this year in wine competitions. The Dry Riesling won five gold medals at competitions as well as a Platinum “Best of Class” medal at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition. Of the 20 Best of Class awards given out, Dr. Frank’s Dry Riesling was the only New York State wine to earn the top honor. And it is exceptional! Pick up a bottle if you can! By the way, the Semi Dry Riesling was no slouch either, winning six gold medals at various competitions. You can’t go wrong with either one.
Next, we tried the 2006 Rkatsiteli ($24.99) and the 2006 Gewurztraminer ($24.99). The Rkatsiteli is usually gone by June or July, so be warned for the future. We were able to taste it a few weeks ago so there were still bottles available. The Rkatsiteli is an ancient grape. Rkatsiteli grape seeds were discovered on Mt. Ararat dating back to 3000 BC (Noah’s Ark?) Only a handful of wineries on the East Coast – McGregor’s and Dr. Frank in New York State and Horton Wines in Virginia grow Rkatsiteli grapes. This 2006 Rkatsiteli had a green apple flavor (usually it has more of a grapefriuty flavor). The Gewurztraminer was also delicious – a great wine to have with spicy meals or Thanksgiving dinner.
Moving into the “pink”, we sampled the 2006 Dry Rose ($14.99) which is a Pinot- Bordeaux blend. With .2% residual sugar, this wine surprises the “blush wines must be sweet” people. It could be paired nicely with fish or vegetable dishes or stand alone as a nice summer sipping wine.
We tried three red wines. The 2005 Pinot Noir ($24.99) is made from grapes grown on the original vines that are now 50+ years old – the oldest on the East Coast and the 3rd oldest in the US! The roots run 16 feet deep (and would go deeper except they hit shale and are now growing sideways)! The Cabernet Franc ($19.99) is a dry red that would be great with steak. This wine could be aged 10-20 years if stored properly. The last wine we sampled was the 2004 Meritage ($12.99). This is an exceptional value for such a good wine (Meritages generally run in the $20 range).
Let me just point out that at this winery alone, we sampled 10 wines. This is not unusual, so here is my plug for wise alcohol consumption. If you are going to more than one winery, you could be drinking the equivalent of several glasses of wine in a short amount of time. The average amount of wine per tasting is 1 oz. Five ounces equals a standard glass of wine, so we had the equivalent of two glasses of wine at Dr. Franks. While all the wineries are very careful in the amounts they serve and provide crackers, I know that I can’t keep up that pace at each winery- especially if I am visiting more than one winery in a day. So know that the wineries are very obliging when you ask to split a tasting. In fact, all praised us for doing so. In other words, we purchase one tasting and Jim and I share the glass (about 2 sips each). That way, we are only drinking half the amount that we would have if we each ordered a tasting. I know I want to get home in one piece because Rory will be waiting by the door!

Maggie Yarn Tasting!

Yarn tasting has a whole new meaning when it comes to Maggie. I recently moved her toys into a new basket so that I could fill her original basket with yarn! Maggie found the basket in my office and obviously thought the balls of yarn were great new toys. As I have said, Maggie is our "problem child" See for yourself!

The Finger Lakes Wine Retrievers are doing a wine tasting at Spiritwork Knitting and Designs on October 5th. For more information, go to the Spiritwork website where information about the "Yarn Tasting" will be forthcoming. Please come to see, touch, drool over and buy the yarns and taste the Finger Lakes wines we will be offering!

Ravines Wine Cellars

This year being a “Big One” for us – 25 years – I have been thinking of our life together. But I found when I reflect on our married life, I think in terms of Golden Retrievers! It seems we have had different goldens at different stages of our marriage. Amber was our first. She was with us during our early, carefree days and she was carefree. Then we had Hanna (or Saint Hanna as we now refer to her) who literally grew up with our daughter. Hanna was a lady from day one. Always well behaved, very willing to wear whatever outfit was requested of her; the ideal dog. Why would we even contemplate another dog when we had Hanna? Well, blame it on the kid who wanted a puppy. We took her to Indian Acres where we purchased Hanna and - DUH - ended up waiting for a puppy. When we took Rory home in November, Hanna sulked for several weeks! She and Rory eventually became good buddies. Rory did everything the Big Dog did and was totally lost without her when Hanna passed away at age 13. So what did we do? Slow learners that we are, we ran right out and got another puppy. Unfortunately, we couldn’t return to Indian Acres because Barb Clark, the breeder had passed away. If anyone has read Marley and Me, (by John Grogan) you will understand what we have gone through with Maggie our 4th golden. She could be Marley’s sister! We met her father – a nice, mellow golden who sat patiently in a washtub for an hour while we talked to the breeder, however, Maggie’s mother was conveniently not on the premises. She was visiting a friend. Riiiiiight. Long story short, after 2 years, we are still adjusting to Maggie, as she obviously isn’t even TRYING to adjust to us! But I’m rambling.
I wanted to continue our wine trail down route 54 South on the East side of Keuka Lake. Just a few yards past the turn off to McGregor Vinyards going towards Hammondsport is Ravines Wine Cellars - a relative newcomer to the Keuka Lake wineries. Ravines Wine Cellars was started about 5 years ago by the Hallgren Family. The wine maker, Morten Hallgren, learned to make wines on his family’s estate in the South of France before coming to the area and is currently one of the Finger Lakes most award-winning winemakers. Ravines Wine Cellars is known for producing “fine, dry wines in an elegant, European style.” and has been written up in Gourmet magazine as a “Don’t Miss” winery!
Having barely escaped a huge downpour, Jim and I ran up to the elegant winery that sits on a bluff overlooking the lake, (providing the employees with what they call the best “office view” of anyone they know!) The wine tasting cost $2.00 for a choice of 5 wines. We were provided with a list of 9 wines from which to choose: Dry Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Keuka Village, Dry Pinot Rose, Chardonnay, Cerise, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Meritage. Phil, our host, started us with the Dry Riesling, explaining that dry wines are meant for food pairings. This Riesling had a nice minerally finish. We purchased the Sav Blanc 2006 as a possibility for our pack to rate or for the wine tasting we are doing at Spirit Work Knitting and Design’s Yarn Tasting In October. It was light and crisp with citrus (lemon, grapefruit) flavors. We also liked their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We purchased the Cab Franc for our pack and lastly tried the Meritage. (Meritage is a word developed from 2 words -merit or outstanding value and heritage). A meritage must have at least 2 Bordeaux blends in it. Ravine has a really great meritage made from Cab Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot varietals. Delicious!
Here are a few of the food and wine events Ravines Wine Cellars hosts:
August 17 The Winemaker’s Tasting Dinner: The Many Faces of Riesling.
$55 per person. Reservations required.
August 18, 19 5th Anniversary Weekend with live jazz and food and wine pairings
Sept 15, 16 Chocolate Tasting. All types of chocolate paired with Ravine’s red wines.
Enjoy!

The McGregor Vineyard

What can you do these long, hot dog days of summer? Well, Maggie keeps busy fishing the Nylabones out of the bottom of her pool. However, since we don’t enjoy the prospect of sharing a slimy, dog-hair and grass-filled wading pool with Maggie, Jim and I took off to visit McGregor’s Winery.
The winery is located off Route 54 on the east side of Keuka Lake (up Hyatt Rd, with a left turn on Dutch Rd). The McGregor family established the winery in 1980; John McGregor is the current owner. The 36 acres of land that they own support their estate-grown wines. McGregors has a casual, rustic atmosphere that invites you to slow down, sit down and enjoy your samplings of wine. If you are not a clan member, the tasting of five wines of your choice costs $5.00 and you get to keep the glass! You are also provided with a “cheese tray” that includes a nice sampling of cheese, crackers, pesto dip, mints and a scrumptious Concord grape bread. We joined four others at a picnic table with a tartan plaid runner and a small vase of Black-eyed Susans. As we peered at the long rows of Sunflowers outside the window, our server, John (not McGregor) provided us with the Summer Tasting Record that lists 20 wines from which to choose our tastings.
Jim started out with the 2006 unoaked Chardonnay, while I tried the traditional Chardonnay. We remembered to use the 2-sip rule: the first sip clears your mouth of the previous tastes that have lingered there, so the second sip gives a truer taste of the wine’s flavors. The unoaked chardonnay was aged in stainless steel barrels as opposed to oak barrels, which gives it a crisp, citrus-like flavor much like a Sav Blanc. This dry, medium- bodied wine was delicious. Really a nice summer wine.
The Chardonnay, made from a blend of 2003 and 2004 harvests was aged in French Oak. This produced a more traditional chardonnay, but lighter and crisper. We learned from John about the different flavors different types of oak barrels infuse into the wines: French Oak barrels give wines an almond-y flavor, American Oak gives a strong nutty flavor and Spanish Oak (John’s favorite) imparts a soft, cashew-y flavor.
We also sampled the 2006 Dry Riesling, the 2006 Gewürztraminer Reserve, the 2006 Rkatsiteli-Sereksiya, the 2006 Semi-Dry Riesling and two reds – the 2002 Rob Roy Red and the 2004 Rob Roy Red.
OK – a word about the two “difficult to pronounce” wines. Both are white wines that have interesting stories behind them. Gewürztraminer: Gewurtz means “spicy” and Trimine is an Italian village in the Alps. McGregor’s Gerwurtz lived up to the name. It was a delicious, rich wine with a nice, spicy kick at the end. Rkatsiteli grapes have a LONG history. McGregors is one of only two wineries in the Finger Lakes that grow Rkat vines, the other winery being Dr. Konstantin Frank. Stay tuned for more about the history of Rkatsiteli grapes in a later column. McGregor’s is also the only Sereksiya Rose producer in the USA. The 2006 Rkatsiteli-Sereksiya is a limited release for McGregors and is an outstanding semi-sweet white wine that is light and crisp with finishing hints of Clementine. It is meant to be consumed within the next 2 years.
The Rob Roys are “Meritages”. A Meritage is classified as a Bordeaux blend that must contain at least two different Bordeaux grapes in the blend. Both the Rob Roys are blends of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. We both agreed that the 2002 was smoother and richer than the 2004. However, the 2004 was heartier with a smokier flavor.
We “retrieved” the Semi Dry Riesling for our pack to sample and rate, so we won’t tell about it now!
McGregor’s has a wine club they call their "Clan". By joining the clan, you are sent wines on a regular basis as well as attending special events. Jim and I were fortunate enough to join one of the special events in March a few years back, even though we were not clan members. We were taken, with the clan members into the large barn. Inside we saw a long table illuminated with large, lit candlesticks and set with many wine glasses. It looked like something out of a medieval, Scottish castle! We sat around the table with John McGregor hosting and sampled many of the winery’s reserve wines. John spoke of the history of the winery and the specific wines we tasted. What really stuck out in my mind was the sampling of some Rieslings that were aged so that we could see the effects of aging on the wine. One bottle was 25 years old! It had a distinct taste of petroleum! From the wine tasting barn, we went into the winery where a delicious buffet was set up for our enjoyment. We mingled with the other “clansmen” and John McGregor. This experience was truly memorable and speaks to the down-to-earth atmosphere of the winery and its owner. You will enjoy a visit to the McGregor Winery.

Who is "The Pack"?

"The Pack" is our group of wine tasters extraordinaire!

How does "the pack" work? Well, these are folks with whom we have had a long standing tradition of sharing wine, food and laughter. Jim and I have officially promoted them to become our exclusive wine tasting/rating committee. We and our pack will prowl the wineries and retrieve the best wines tasted at each stop. The bottles will be gathered together periodically with our pack and we will drool, lap up and otherwise have a dog-gone good time tasting them and rating them. Here's where we get serious. To find out how the wines stack up, you'll want to subscribe to our newsletter, which will be e-mailed to you twice a year with our "numbers". (Sort of like the Wine Spectator of the Finger Lakes). Soon we will have the link to sign up for the newsletter as well as some polls so we can get your input, too. Stay tuned.....