When the location of next year’s Wine Blogger’s Conference, the Finger Lakes AVA, was announced I was thrilled. This area south of Lake Ontario in central New York is home to 115 wineries with 9200 acres of grapes and produces Gewutztraminer, Pinot Gris, sparkling wine, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Lemberger, Chardonnay and Ice wine along with its signature variety, Riesling. I’ve not yet traveled to the Finger Lakes and look forward to my summer 2015 visit to learn and taste wines that are receiving plenty of buzz.
To help satisfy my craving for the onset of the trip, I was fortunate to be included in a recent Twitter chat highlighting many of the outstanding Rieslings of the area. Follow the link to the text of the online chat where other wine bloggers and I shared tweets about winemaking techniques, palate profiles of the wines, our total enjoyment of the Rieslings received as samples, and more. The four wines reviewed below were sent to me by the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance whose mission is to “increase the visibility and reputation of the Finger Lakes AVA, its wines, and wineries”. I’ll be taking an extra large bag with plenty of wine sleeves next summer so that I can take home bottles of these terrific wines! And you can be sure that I’ll be writing about my experiences upon my return in mid August.
If you haven’t yet enjoyed Rieslings from the Finger Lakes consider purchasing a bottle at an incredibly reasonable price and begin your discovery of this cool climate region…one sip at a time.
**Chateau LaFayette Reneau Dry Riesling 2013 – Pale yellow, almost transparent, aromas of pear, apricot and salinity wafted from the glass. Dry with tastes of more pears, green apples, hint of grapefruit, and citrus were light and tart. There were intense tastes of green apple on the long finish. This elegant, balanced wine would be perfect with sushi or spicy Thai dishes. Cost is $13.
