Tasting on the East Side of Seneca Lake

Ryan William Vineyards

On a beautiful February day (read above freezing temps and clear blue skies,) we ventured to the east side of Seneca Lake (NY Finger Lakes) to do some tasting. Had some great wines (see photos of generous flights) and met friendly and knowledgeable people. Fabulous day trip. Click on the winery name for more information. Here are some highlights….

Chateau Lafayette Reneau

Chateau LaFayette Reneau

Cab Sauv:  smooth, raisin, peppery, licorice, dry finish

Meritage:  warm, comfortable; dark fruit, hint of spice, dark berries, spicy oak, dry finish

ryan William Vineyards

Ryan William Vineyard

Pinot Noir Reserve 2020: nose—cherry; palate---cherry right off, plum, hint of spice

Cab Franc/Merlot 2020:  fruit, dark fruit, black pepper, savory note, hint of leather, dry finish

lakewood vineyard

Lakewood Vineyards

 Port 2022: Baco Noir plus Frontenac; smooth with nice plum and red currant flavors finishing with a little anise. Great for upstate New York fall and winter sipping.

chateau lafayette reneau

Wine Tasting: Ryan William Vineyard

Doing something a little different--a video of our tasting at Finger Lakes winery Ryan William Vineyard. Perched on a southeast hill overlooking Seneca Lake, the atmosphere reminds me of a couple of Paso Robles (California) tasting rooms.

Producing approximately 3,000 cases annually, their 10 varietals are 100 percent estate grown and responsibly farmed: Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Syrah.

**Note: regarding the question in the video about French vs. American oak barrels, I knew that the flavor profiles were different for each, but I wasn’t sure what the flavors were. First, both are made from various species of white oak. In a nutshell, (no pun intended,) French oak contributes a more savory profile—reminiscent of wood, nuts, coffee/cocoa, pepper. American oak is sweeter and more vegetal with more notes of lighter flavors—vanilla, coconut, dill, brown sugar. Other factors also affect the wine: size of the barrel (smaller equals more flavors,) type of white oak and its terrior, and toast, or amount of char on the barrels.

These are the tasting notes for the “Red Flight:”

• 2016 Pinot Noir: smooth, ruby color, medium body, cherries, red berries, some spice to the finish, fruit forward—not as earthy as the classic Burgundy I expected, but nice, off dry.

• 2016 Merlot: sweeter, more fruit—plums, more spice, licorice on the finish, and richer than the Pinot Noir; liked this very much.

• 2018 Cabernet Franc: some initial earthier elements—tobacco or leather?, rich plum to cherry, more layers/complexity for sitting and sipping, finishes with light wood notes. *My fave, bought two bottles.

• NV Barn Red: blend of Cab Franc and Merlot that is a better than average everyday wine, fruity, crowd-pleaser red that would be great with burgers and Italian sausages on the grill.

• Gruner Veltliner: no tasting notes on this. They gave us complimentary tastes of the GV, but I’ve never been a fan of the varietal anyway, and I’d just tasted four reds, so I’m sure my palate wasn’t optimum. I didn’t think I could be fair.

Friendly people, excellent cheddar chive biscuits, and quality crafted wine. Looking forward to returning for a Friday lunch.

The New Old Sparkling Wine: Petillant Naturel

Red Tail Ridge vineyards overlooking Seneca Lake. The winery is sustainably farmed and was New York’s first LEED Gold Certified winery.

This article was published in The Wedge Newspaper, February-March 2019 issue.

There is a genre of “natural” wines. Not only are the farms (vineyards and wineries) usually organic, sustainable, or biodynamic, but the methods in which their wines are produced are traditional with little intervention by the winemaker.

 While this movement is becoming trendy, the “natural wine movement” began in France about 40 years ago as a protest of sorts to modern, mass-produced, industrialized wines with homogenized flavors. Old World winemakers thought that grapes were being manipulated for the popular palate rather than allowing the grape’s true character to develop in the barrel and in the bottle. Of course, the techniques and methods of natural wine weren’t new 40 years ago, either, having been used and finessed over centuries of winemaking prior to that.

If a bottle is labeled “unfiltered,” “unfined,” “natural,” or “minimal intervention,” it is probably considered a natural wine. There is no formal designation or certification as there is with organic or biodynamic products, or as with the farm produce designation “Certified Naturally Grown.” The general criteria followed by wine organizations and producers include: grapes are hand-picked from low-yield vineyards; there are no additives---no sugar, no cultured yeasts, no artificial flavors or colors; minimal or no filtration; no added sulfites (or only a minute amount) as a preservative. 

Because of the hands-off techniques involved, the wines often look different from the other wines on the shelf. They may be cloudy and have sediment resting at the bottom. In tasting, natural wines often have yeasty, earthy or funky flavors because of the natural elements like sediment still present in the bottle.

One type of natural wine is petillant naturel, or “pet nat.” These are interesting sparkling wines produced in the methode ancestrale which pre-dates methode champenoise, the most common technique for making sparkling wine. In methode champenoise additional yeast and sugar are added to wine in the bottle for a second fermentation that produces bubbles (carbon dioxide.) Pet nat wines are bottled before the first fermentation is complete, and no additional yeast or sugar is added. The CO2 by-product remains in the bottle and creates bubbles which also vary in intensity, but are softer on the palate than methode Champenoise bubbles. Pet nats are generally low-alcohol, easy to drink, and can be red, white, or rose.

Pet nats are intriguing because each bottle can develop in its own way, even those bottled at the same time. It is not unusual for flavors, bubbles, and texture to vary with factors like temperature, amount of yeast, and aging. Winemakers generally like the challenge of bringing out grape characteristics with minimal intervention, leaving the primary juice and indigenous yeast to make its own magic.

 We recently visited the Finger Lakes to taste some of these original effervescent wines. 

Red Tail Ridge Winery (www.redtailridgewinery.com) on Seneca Lake has produced seven vintages of Petillant Naturel Riesling. A natural wine making process is a logical option for New York’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certified winery. Red Tail Ridge farms sustainably, controls pests humanely, and keeps production low to focus on quality.

For winery co-owner and winemaker Nancy Irelan, a self-proclaimed “bubbles fanatic,” pet nat wine is an “approachable sparkling wine with a shorter time in production and a friendly price point” encouraging and allowing people to drink sparkling wine more often than special occasions.

 Their 2017 Peillant Naturel Riesling was on the tasting bar. With a little cloudiness and visible sediment, it’s light and refreshing. It’s citrusy, with grapefruit and lemon flavors, then a strawberry finish. Also available is Red Tail Ridge’s 2018 Pinot Noir Rose Petillant Naturel.

Natural wines are part of Barry Family Cellars’ (www.barryfamilywines.com) philosophy and style. Located in Burdett a few miles from the east shore of Seneca Lake, they purchase grapes locally and produce small batches with “minimal intervention” to “showcase individual vineyards.” Many of their wines are also unfined and unfiltered. Winemaker Ian Barry says the traditional roots of methode ancestrale appeals to him. We tasted four that he has produced.

The first was Fossil & Till Riesling 2017 Petillant Naturel, a limited edition, special project for Barry. Light and refreshing, there was a slight herbal quality with the citrusy flavors. The second wine was their latest pet nat, the 2018 Cayuga “Pet Gnat” Petillant Naturel. This was an opportunity to taste a very young wine that is still fermenting. Cayuga is a white hybrid created at Cornell University, and these grapes in particular were certified organic. At this stage, as expected, it was a bit heavier with yeasty flavors. It will be interesting to see what flavors emerge as this continues aging.

We tried the Pinot Noir Rose “Pet Gnat” 2017 Petillant Naturel after that. This was a bit richer with cranberry flavors, and I tasted a floral note of roses. The last wine was the Leon Millot 2018 “Pet Gnat” Petillant Naturel. The red grape is a French hybrid, and I picked up strawberry flavors, though as it develops, flavors could become more cherry and spice.

Rustic pet nats offer winemakers like Barry the opportunity to hone the most ancient skills using grapes and time and to give modern palates a change from the mainstream, a challenging but satisfying process.

“It was something new and fun to try,” Barry says. “I thought it would be fun to produce a history lesson in a bottle.”  

Wine Pick of the Week: January 7, 2016

Lakewood Vineyards 2014 Port (NY)

This month I’ll be pairing the weekly wines with comfort foods, but what comes to mind as a “comfort wine?” Imagine a cold night with the wind howling outside. It’s probably snowing, but inside, settled in front of the fireplace, you pour from a bottle on the side table and sip the warm, sweet taste of port.

The Douro region of Portugal is the third oldest Designated Area of Origin in the world (mid-1700s) and is where Port, the wine, originated. Once British sailors discovered it and brought it back to England, its popularity spread because it held up so well on long journeys. And it tasted good.

Port is my go-to winter weather wine. Its high alcohol content gives you warmth through your system without the harshness of harder stuff—it’s a warm and fuzzy wine. There are many different types of Port, depending on how long it’s aged, where it’s aged, or whether it’s fortified (adding brandy or other liquor.)  

Lakewood Vineyards, in New York’s Finger Lakes, has a nice offering. The 2014 Port is a blend of estate grown Baco Noir (77.5%,) Frontenac (17%,) and Vincent (5.5%.) This one is fortified with grape brandy, also made with estate grown grapes.  

The nose is cherries that move to a blackberry/blueberry aroma. Cherries come to the palate first, too, then there’s a little spice—umm, some black pepper—transitioning to plums and raspberries. The finish is just dry enough to be noticeable. It’s warm, of course, with 18% alcohol content and legs on the glass. It coats the mouth, too, to savor.

Pair this with dark chocolate, but not too sweet. Nuts and bleu cheese would be better. Also raspberries with a plain, again, not to sweet cheesecake.  

Wine Pick of the Week: December 10, 2015

Dr. Konstantin Frank Chateau Frank Celebre Riesling Cremant NV  (NY)

If you drink wine and live in New York state, Dr. Konstantin Frank is a fixture, an institution, a standard in the wine industry, especially when it comes to Rieslings. Consistently winning gold medals for the last two decades in competitions throughout the world, Dr. Frank’s wines are what got the international and US aficionados to take a closer look at the Finger Lakes. That said, I saw this on the shelf and had to try it.

The nose is definitely honey with a touch of fruit—apple or a bit of citrus. Pale color with lots of long-lasting bubbles. By the way, this is made in the traditional Methode Champenoise with 100 percent Finger Lakes Riesling grapes.

The tasting begins with fruit—apples, actually—a little tart at first and not really sweet Riesling. Flavors transition to honey with the slightest hint of vanilla. It’s crisp, then silky. The finish is off-dry with just a waft of fall spice possibly.

This is a crowd pleaser for holiday parties, and the $20 price isn’t outrageous for the smooth flavors and unique take on this traditional grape. I will be adding a few more bottles to my frig.