Journey to Finger Lakes: A final note

Beginning note: The snow started falling about halfway to our final destination at Tastecamp, a bloggers’ wine weekend showcasing the best of Finger Lakes wines. It wasn’t an accumulating snowstorm but certainly not one you wouldn’t expect in early May.

I was more concerned for the vines that were off to an early bud break with the warm spring than I was for those of us who didn’t pack for this sort of thing. After all, we didn’t come to the Finger Lakes to get a tan. We were there to taste, drink, learn and digest as much as we could to get a better understanding of region well on its way to great things.

Looking back, it was a thorough, well-run and informative three days put together by Lenn Thompson and Evan Dawson, both of the New York Cork Report. Structured tastings were sprinkled with moments of levity. Formal dinners had just the right amount of conviviality. And the down and dirty BYOW after-after event on a boat that was firmly moored to its dock, well, what happens in Watkins Glen should stay in Watkins Glen. Right? I wish that were true, however, this was a bloggers’ event and every word, every moment, every utterance made its way to someone’s blog.

All added up, it’s a pretty good portrait of the region from a myriad of perspectives (see note at end of post for a link to all the coverage from the bloggers).

I was honoured to be asked to tag along with such a fine group of bloggers and would love to attend the next event. I also hope that the organizers (that’s you Lenn and Evan) consider an offer from the Canadian contingent that sometime in the future (2012?) you bring Tastecamp north to Niagara. We will help you put on quite a show!

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Our longest drive of the weekend came on the last day. Through winding country roads and small villages with only one coffee shop along the way, it was a pleasant enough jaunt that eventually led to Sheldrake Point, situated on a hill overlooking the beautiful western shore of Cayuga Lake.

Sheldrake Point has a country feel to it with a cosy tasting room and the Simply Red lakeside bistro that was bustling with breakfast diners on a Sunday morning. We were hustled into a private tasting room for a morning buffet of artisan cheeses, smoked salmon and fresh-baked pastries. But it wasn’t long before we were down the business of tasting wine.

Sheldrake Point specializes in showcasing wines that display the characteristics of the Finger Lakes microclimate from crisp riesling and pinot gris to elegant cabernet franc and icwine.

The highlight of the tasting was a retrospective of the winery’s dry riesling program. We were poured wines from 2004, 2002 and 2001. It was certainly helpful to taste how this dry rieslings evolve over time, not unlike the experience at other Finger Lakes wineries visited on our trip.

The most striking evolutionary note is the pronounced petrol that gains in concentration as the rieslings age. Petrol (some even describe it as diesel) adds a special note of complexity in riesling that lovers of this grape appreciate. The petrol is balanced off by ripe citrus fruit that round out over time as the acidity softens. The 2001 riesling was starting to show its age and taking on burnt caramel flavours and some other funky attributes. I came away from the weekend concluding that five to seven years was about right for aging these highly acidic, dry rieslings. Here’s a review of some of the other wines I liked:

Sheldrake Point Riesling 2008 — This is finished with a touch of residual sugar and shows peach, apricot and pears on the nose. It’s juicy and fresh on the palate with a touch of honey to go with ripe tree fruit all balanced out with decent acidity.

Sheldrake Point Gewurztraminer 2008 — A soft gewurz, not overly done, with musk, grapefruit and lychee notes.

Sheldrake Point Late Harvest Riesling 2008 — Sweet apricot compote to go with peach and apple notes. It’s lush, very sweet with lovely mouthfeel on the palate. A late harvest wine that reminds one of our Niagara stickies.

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And, some closing thoughts on Tastecamp East.

The Finger Lakes region of New York has a good energy about it. The quality producers are pushing the envelope in terms of quality and working well with the varietals that are suited to the unique microclimate. The most exciting wines are riesling (from dry to sweet), gewurztraminer (when picked with balanced acid and ripe fruit), cabernet franc (does well vintage to vintage), and pinot noir (will start delivering fascinating wines if wineries reduce yields and consumers shell out for these wines that will be expensive).

Some of the varietals that I wasn’t impressed with include the Bordeaux grapes (merlot, cabernet sauvignon), chardonnay (which surprises me because it does so well in Niagara), vidal (when made in a dry style), and anything that wasn’t a vinifera grape.

I came to love and appreciate the dry style of rieslings made in the Finger Lakes even though I am generally a fan of the German and Niagara style that includes varying amounts of residual sugar in the finished wine balanced, of course, with racy acidity. The RS just punctuates those  tropical, peach and apricot notes.

But I totally get the dry style. Firm, austere, searing acidity with crisp citrus fruit. I get it. It works well with food, it’s mouthwatering and, perhaps more importantly, it gets better with time in the cellar as it softens and comes into balance. Do consumers have time to wait? That’s where the challenge lies. As long as there are brilliant minds such as Morten Hallgren (Ravines) and Hermann J. Wiemer out there making these top-notch wines and preaching the gospel of riesling to their fans (and piling up awards and critical reviews) consumers will catch on and learn that riesling, like any fine wine, is always better with a little patience.

One other important thing I learned on this trip, my first as a blogger (if I can even call myself that), is that never in the history of wine has there been so much critical attention paid to to fermented grapes. 35 or so bloggers beaming out instant information, photos, and videos to thousands of other wine lovers all across North America and potentially the world is a new force of opinion makers that is quickly supplanting the traditional stodgy few who used to dominate opinions and could single-handedly determine if a wine flew off the shelf or lingered there collecting dust.

Diversity in wine, as in life, is a good thing. A very good thing.

Cheers.

Click Tastecamp for full coverage from other bloggers who were in Finger Lakes.