New Wineries on Keuka Lake

Our "Rovers," Jon and Maggie scouted out a new winery for us!  Célene and Sébastien LeSeurre are the winemakers and owners of Domaine LeSeurre, located in Hammondsport, NY on Keuka Lake. Jon reports that the wines are good - "buttery-ish on the Rieslings".  He said it is very slight, but a nice addition!  

 There is also another winery tasting room coming to the same area - near Dr. Frank in Hammondsport. Point of the Bluff winery is actually located on the bluff at the point between the 2 forks of Keuka Lake, but the tasting room is opening on Memorial Day on the Hammondsport side.  Michael Countryman is the winemaker.  We have lots of new places to try! 

Wow, it's been awhile, eh? Sorry but we are working on our move to the Finger Lakes Region....

Tonight Jim and I are doing a taste test. We kept meaning to get to Shalestone Vineyards this summer, but because of circumstances way beyond our control, we just keep missing them. So yesterday I went to the McKenzie Child Sale and Festivities for Columbus Day and stopped at the "Bet the Farm" retail shop in Aurora. We tasted "Bet the Farm" wines: Pinot Grigio, Traminette, a white blend, Gamay Noir, Pinot Noir and Cab Franc. I liked what I tasted. They were all light, smooth, but also complex. The winemaker was actually trained by Lou Damiani and does her winemaking at Damiani. Anyway, I bought 2 Shalestones wines at the retail shop because I fear we won't make it there before it closes again this year. I bought the Pinot Noir and Cab Franc. Tonight we opened the Shalestone Pinot Noir. It is full of cherries, nutmeg and coffee with a long finish. Jim, however felt it tasted more like a Cab Franc with green pepper tones. I agreed that the tannins were evident half way through, but then I got cherries again. He disagreed (as we do often these days) and went downstairs to get our benchmark of pinot noirs, Heart and Hands, to compare.

Heart and Hands is like eating a golden delicious apple: smooth, round, full and lush. It gives you that warm fuzzy feeling. The Shalestone is cherry and more fruit forward. I like them both and we are having a discussion about the fairness of comparing them. I think they are both good, though different. Jim prefers Heart and Hands. " That's the way it is" at our house tonight. Try some yourself and let us know your opinion.

Chpt. 2, Dorothy's Not in Kansas Anymore...

Oskar, Oskar, Oskar, you didn't tell us about your marketing department! We met Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard's best kept secret the other day.... Sarah! We went to the tasting room where this lovely young lady was pouring the wines. She was articulate, knowledgeable and friendly. We had a wonderful time sharing the wines with her. As wannabe case club members, we got the royal treatment beginning with the 2008 Chardonnay, of which we bought 2 bottles. Slightly oak-y (Stainless and French oak barrels), but clean, crisp and citrus-y also, it is a great summer wine with seafood. Then we moved on to the delicious Rieslings and the 2009 Gewurztraminer (which we also purchased even though I promised my husband no more Gewurz). The thing is, when there is a really wonderful Gewurz, you just have to buy it! Owner/winemaker Fred Merwarth makes different Rieslings with grapes from his different vineyards such as the Wine Spectator 90 point 2008 Dry Riesling from the Magdalena Vineyard (his northern most vineyard) and the WS 92 point (!) 2009 Dry Riesling from the HJW Vineyard. It was fun doing a side by side tasting and comparing these delicious wines. Lastly, we purchased a 2009 Late Harvest Riesling which was an absolute treat (you'll just have to try it)!
As we discussed the wines, we also asked Sarah about herself. She is here for the year interning at Hermann J. Wiemer from Germany. This astounded us because of her perfect English. OK she has a VERY SLIGHT accent, but hardly noticeable. She has travelled extensively and has accompanied Oskar on jaunts to NY City and Washington D.C. to market Wiemer's wines. Her ultimate goal is something in marketing wines internationally. Then she told us her age. Just to be polite, I won't give exact numbers. Suffice it to say, she can't legally drink in the US and is not even in her second decade of life. (Interesting aside: she was able to drink in her country at 16, but couldn't drive a car until 18. Hmmm...)
This led Jim and I to ponder how mature and capable Sarah is in comparison to American teens her same age. I am a high school educator. Sarah's whole demeanor, confidence level and knowledge base blows away most of my students. Maybe Sarah is an over achiever, but regardless, this speaks loudly to the education of our children in comparison to the rest of the world. While I disagree with thrusting the business model onto education, SOMETHING needs to be done to better educate our children and their parents. If the Sarah's of the world are setting the bar, our children are falling way short.
Kudos to Sarah. We wish her the best and hope that as she deals with wines globally, she'll remember her year at one of the Finger Lake's finest wineries and promote the wonderful wines of the region. (Oskar, how about a raise for her)?

Step up Danny Wegman!

We have a wonderful grocery store - Wegman's - in our area. Wegman's is a great sponsor of many important initiatives locally and we are glad to have them. One of the areas that they support is the local farmers and local produce. They are an integral part of the New York Wine and Culinary Center located in Canandaigua. OK, so far so good. But I need to call Danny out on his minimal support of the Finger Lakes wineries in the Menu magazine that Wegman's puts out a few times a year. I conducted a little informal research by looking back into the 2009 Menu magazines and this is what I found:
Winter 09 - out of 16 wine and food pairings printed, Wegman's paired 0 (that is the big ZERO) New York State wines with their recipes. Boo.
Summer 09 - out of 18 recipes and wine pairings, Dr. Frank's Salmon Run Riesling is the only Finger Lakes wine suggested. (come on, Salmon Run is Dr. Frank's low-end wine, not his really good stuff, but we'll take whatever we can get).
Fall 09 - of 14 wine and food pairings, only Fox Run's Chardonnay was suggested to represent NY wines. Boo again (NOT to Fox Run, but to Wegman's for such minimal support).
Holiday 09 - again - only Dr. Frank's Salmon Run Riesling suggested out of the 22 wines mentioned.
Finally, Winter 10 - a little better - 2 wines were mentioned: Dr. Frank's Chardonnay and Heron Hill Pinot Noir

Overall, I would say a pretty poor showing for someone as powerful and influential in the Rochester Area as Wegman's. Many of the wines they pair with their recipes are from California. My suggestion is that if Wegman's wants to promote their California wine connections (as I'm sure they are doing), then they should at least suggest 2 wines with each pairing - one from the Finger Lakes and the other from California or elsewhere.
Come on Danny Wegman, Step up and promote the wineries in your backyard!

Whodunit?

Most cities have "All of (insert name of your city) Reads" to promote literacy by having a book the whole city or town reads and discusses at their book clubs! Well now we have "All of the Finger Lakes Region Solves the Wine Murder Mystery!" This great promotional idea comes from a Webster consulting firm, CLI, with the goal of promoting Finger Lakes Wineries and their excellent wines. So - go to http://www.areuinthegame.com/home.htm to find out how to play the game and gather clues. The deadline to submit your entry form is January 31 with winners to be announced February 2nd. You will want to start playing now as some clues can only be obtained at the wineries. And yes- there is a cash prize! Wouldn't it be cool if one of us figures out who killed the world renowned wine expert at a tasting conference held in Geneva NY (at a place sounding very similar to Belhurst Castle pictured above)? See you sleuths at the wineries!