Hunt Country Vineyards and the elusive Gus spotting

Sunday was such a beautiful day , a great day to take advantage of by hopping in the car to check out the Keuka Lake wineries. This weekend was Keuka Lake's World Tour of Food and Wine. (Don't panic if you missed it, they will have another one on April 19-20th!) . We stopped in Hunt Country Vineyards just a mile west of Branchport upon the recommendation of fellow "pack" members, Lorri and Dave. We were not disappointed. This 6th generation of winemakers produce award winning (and very delicious) wines. But before I get to the wines, I want to tell you about Gus. As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see an amusing cut out caricature of grape stompers. If you look closely you can see that in the barrel with the man and woman are 2 Bernese Mountain dogs! Thus the winery's mascot - 8 year old Gus the Bernese Mountain Dog. We didn't see Gus when we arrived so asked where he was. We were told that Gus had just had his bath and couldn't be allowed back out in the mud. He was hanging out on the porch of the homestead. However, as we were leaving, we were lucky enough to have a "Gus spotting." Gus saw us looking at him and quietly, stealthily slipped off the porch and started inching his way toward us. But, knowing he was on the brink of getting in trouble, he hesitated. At that moment, with the zoom camera, we snapped that elusive Gus photo! So there you have it - a rare Gus spotting!

Now about the wines at Hunt Country. I am sipping a glass of Alchemy as I write this. It is a delicious red wine combination: 45% Cab Franc, 40% Cab Sauv and 15% Noiret. Noiret is a peppery grape that Cornell is test-growing. It adds a really nice little zing to this wine. The other wines we tried were as follows:
Dry Riesling 2006 ($13.99) Very delicious, crisp and dry.

Pinot Gris 2007 ($15.99) Nice and light - this one will only get better with age.

Champagne Chardonnay ($13.99). What a delightful, light champagne at a really great price! You could drink this everyday!
Valvin Muscat 2007 ($14.99) A new white, apricot-y and smooth.

Semi-Dry Riesling 2007 ($13.99) - good, but personally, I like the Dry Riesling better. This one has 2% residual sugar,

Cabernet Franc 2005 ($21.99) Very dry - great aroma. A delicious Cab Franc only sold at the winery, but worth the trip. The Finger Lakes are doing Cab Franc's better and better.
Alchemy ($13.99) As stated above, really nice. This one tastes better after breathing a bit!

The "before and after dinner wines" were a real treat:

Late Harvest Vignoles 2007 ($19.99) I really liked this sweet wine. It would go great with blue-veined or cranberry cheeses. Excellent.
Ruby Port ($14.99) This was a real surprise treat, especially when paired with dark chocolate.

Vidal Blanc Ice Wine 2006 ($39.99) Very good and very sweet!

We really enjoyed chatting with Pat, our server and with Joyce Hunt, the owner. This is a trip worth taking.

(And as you can see, this winery helped me out with my problem mentioned in the previous post!)

It's all in the details

My house was absolutely euphoric this morning! You might think it was because the sun has been shining for 2 days in a row (even though it's 27 degrees outside) or because Spring is on the way and robins are arriving. But no, it was because Jim read in this morning's paper that Jamie Lee Curtis is posing "shirtless" for AARP magazine! Wow. That got his attention right away! As a new AARP, he is ecstatic - going on and on about what a GREAT group these AARPS are and aren't I jealous I'm not "in" with them? I don't know how I can keep him contained until the magazine comes out Monday with Jamie Lee on the cover!

OK, let's look a little closer at the story. It says Jamie Lee is shown "sporting silver hair and wading in water up to her chest" on the May/June AARP magazine cover. Come on, what will they really be showing... her shoulders? Sorry Mr. AARP, we don't want any of you "cool" members having a heart attack when you get your AARP magazine! Reading further, it says the Jamie herself won't be an AARP until November 22nd! Snap! She's YOUNGER than me, has gray hair and is hiding under water! Now I'm feeling pretty darn good about myself until the teenage daughter brings me down by pointing out that I got the short straw in the important female attribute gene pool. Poor me. Poor Jim. Damn those details!

On the plus side, a winery that pays meticulous attention to detail is the Vineyard of Hermann J. Wiemer. We visited his winery on the west side of Seneca Lake late last summer and had a wonderful chat with Laura who served us the wines. The tasting room is located off the retail shop in an enchanting old stone and wood barn on the property. It was cool and shady inside, although you could wander out on a sunlit stone patio. We were the only ones there initially, so we got the chance to try some wines that we might not have had the opportunity to in a large group. Fred Merwarth is the current winemaker, but Hermann J. Wiemer is still very involved and checks the vintages daily. The winery produces small lots which enables the winemaker to have the best control of the final product. As a legend in Finger Lakes wine development, Hermann J. Wiemer's Vineyard has won many, many awards. Check out their website at http://www.wiemer.com/ for more information and to sign up on their e-mail list.

Here's what we tried:

1999 Chardonnay. It was sold in limited quantities until gone, but was at its peak last summer. Really nice - bold.

Cabernet Franc - dry and delicious. It was in the top 3 of 100 in international wine competition.

Gewurztraminer - tasted of peaches and melon. Yumm. I really like Gewerz.

2006 Dry Riesling described by Laura as"heaven in a glass". And it was! .9 percent residual sugar - crisp!

2006 Reserve Dry ( 1.5% residual sugar)

Semi-Dry Riesling (2.4% rs) sweeter with a nice finish.

Late Harvest (3.4% rs) Yumm.

I loved everything I tasted, but the best was yet to come. We were able to taste the ....

Trochenbeerenauslese ($50.00 a bottle). Wow - this was the nectar of the Gods!

Finally, we sampled the 2003 Select Late Harvest Riesling- at 13% residual sugar it's honey taste just lingered.

It is well worth a trip to the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyards to sample the wines. You will understand the meticulous care and attention to details that make this winery stand out!

Updates and Ramblings

I have been very bad about updating. Let's see, there were the college FASFA forms, Rory's surgery, Bryn AND Jim's big milestone birthdays. I turned around and it is March! By the way, Rory is doing fine. Of the 2 tumors on his liver, one was benign and the other a slow growing cancer. We are hoping that the other spots on his liver are also the slow growing kind and that we will have much more time in the pleasure of his company! He was a real trooper (6 days at the vets) and is back to rough housing with Maggie.

Maggie will be 3 this month, and we're still waiting for our female "Marley" to settle down. Case in point: the dog is very talented in the barking department. She can bark with a bone, stick, 5 pound dumbbell, sock or just about anything else in her mouth. The other day she was out in the back yard barking and barking. I was going to call her in before the neighbors started complaining, when I notice a deer standing in the thicket about 10 feet from her, staring at her. There's our Maggie sitting in the snow, stick in mouth, barking at the deer, tail wagging, as if to say "look at me, look at my cool stick - let's play!" The deer-statue must have stood there staring at her for a good 5 minutes before she snorted ("you're nuts") and ran off -much to Maggie's disappointment. Fortunately our girl doesn't let things get her down (combined with her memory lasting about 1/17th of a second), and she came bounding happily back to the door.

Did you notice in this morning's D&C, the article about the Wine Spectator scoring several of Seneca Lake's 2006 Rieslings? The ratings were as follows:

Anthony Road's semi-dry Riesling - 89 points
Atwater Estate's Riesling - 88 points

Chateau LaFayette Reneau Johannisberg Riesling- 88 points

Fox Run Reserve Riesling - 88 points

Red Newt Reserve Riesling - 88 points

White Spring Riesling - 87 points
What a real honor for those Seneca Lake wineries to be among the top rated wines!

Here are some upcoming wine events in March (thanks to http://www.localwineevents.com/). By the way, March is a great time to hit the wineries because there are usually smaller crowds and you can often get some quality chatting time with the people there.

St. Patrick's Irish Weekend
Mar 15, 2008 (Sat) to Mar 16, 2008 (Sun) @ 9:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Place: Cobblestone Farm Winery and Vineyard
Romulus
Cost: Free Admission
Wine Event
Join us for a St. Patrick's Irish Weekend. Enjoy award winning wines paired with complimentary Irish fare such as Irish stew and scones.more: http://www.localwineevents.com/Finger-Lakes-Wine/event-172014.html

Finger Lake International Wine Competition
Mar 28, 2008 (Fri) to Mar 31, 2008 (Mon) @ 9:00 AM - 5:00 AM
Place: The Crowne Plaza Hotel
Rochester
Cost: No cost
Wine Event
The fastest growing wine competition in North America. WINERIES; You are cordially invited to enter THE 8TH ANNUAL FINGER LAKES INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION TO BENEFIT CAMP GOOD...more: http://www.localwineevents.com/Finger-Lakes-Wine/event-158119.html

World Tour of Food and Wine I
Mar 29, 2008 (Sat) to Mar 30, 2008 (Sun) @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Place: Nine wineries surrounding Keuka Lake
Penn Yan
Cost: Fee $20 per person in advance, $25 per p...
Combo Event
Join us for an inspiring event of food and wine pairings on quaint and charming Keuka Lake. Each winery has selected a country or regional food to feature along with fine wines. As...more: http://www.localwineevents.com/Finger-Lakes-Wine/event-159452.html

Cruisin' the Tropics Weekend
Mar 29, 2008 (Sat) to Mar 30, 2008 (Sun) @ 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Place: Wineries along the Seneca Lake Wine Trai...
Watkins Glen
Cost: $25 per person/$18 for designated driver...
Combo Event
Pull out your tropical shirts, put on your sunglasses, go sockless in your boat shoes, wear your favorite beach hat, and join us for a weekend of relaxation in the tropics . . . ju...more: http://www.localwineevents.com/Finger-Lakes-Wine/event-159723.html

Enjoy!