Saturday, October 27, 2007

"Best of Show" Newsletter

It's finally here - our "Best of Show" Newsletter - the super-informative newsletter in which we champion New York State wines to help you with your wine selection needs. This first issue will spotlight the "Best of Breed" Rieslings and you will want to lap them up! Now is the time to stockpile those Rieslings to pair with your Thanksgiving turkey! Your guests will howl about your wonderful selections much like Maggie howls for her latest love - Friz (as in frisbee).


When you sign up to subscribe to the semi-annual e-newsletter we will also include you in exclusive notifications of hidden treasures and limited offerings. What a deal for $5.00! Please send a note with your name, e-mail address and payment to:
Finger Lakes Wine Retrievers
PO Box 8105
Webster, NY 14580

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Riesling, Riesling, Riesling

The PACK got together last night to judge the best of the Finger Lakes Rieslings and what a tough job it was! Jim and I retrieved our 10 favorite Rieslings this summer: 2006 Dr. Frank Dry Riesling, 2006 Dr. Frank Semi-Dry Riesling, 2006 Prejean Dry Riesling, 2006 Brickstone Semi Dry Riesling, 2006 Hermann Wiemer Semi-Dry Riesling, 2006 Hermann Wiemer Dry Riesling,2006 Fox Run Riesling, 2006 McGregor Semi-Dry Riesling, 2006 Thirsty Owl Dry Riesling, and 2005 Tierce Dry Riesling. Now remember, we are just average dogs, no sophisticated palates in this group! We had cool rating sheets, bottles in bags labeled A,B,C, etc. and cups with the letters of the wine bags written on them. One cup per wine. To cleanse our palates, we had plenty of Gouda, cheddar and other delicious cheeses that compliment Rieslings. We poured the first 5 and were set to go! Whoa – this suddenly seemed like work. The Aromas, Color and Clarity were easy. It was the Taste, (body, acidity, intensity),Finish and Balance that were tough. Remember that each of these wines is excellent on its own, so to try to compare them, well, was darn difficult! We forged on even as some encountered obstacles! The next 5 wines seemed easier – maybe we were getting the hang of all this. We took a break, ate our seafood chowder in Panera bread bowls (yum), and got ready for rating the 5 finalists. There were some surprises and shocks in our final scores, but overall, we were fairly consistent among ourselves in our findings. To find out how each of the wines scored, you’ll have to subscribe to our newsletter (information on how to subscribe forthcoming this week), so stay tuned. Now I’m dogged tired and need a nap!