Reds from the Finger Lakes?
Last week I was invited to take part in Twitter Taste Live, an event sponsored by the Finger Lakes Wine Country where various wine bloggers around the country taste the same four Finger Lakes wines and share their notes on Twitter using a common hashtag, in this case #flxwine.
I spent the night with the event host, Lenn Thompson, who runs the New York Cork Report, a dynamite blog focused on New York Wines, and Michael Gorton, a Long Island native whose love of the local juice he documents on his blog, Undertaking Wine. We were stationed at the Lieb Cellars tasting room where we were joined by winery general manager Gary Madden, one of those salt-of-the-earth wine industry guys that makes me love the wine world. Aside from having a great palate, Gary’s knowledge of wine across the world was great to watch as he conjured up comparisons between the wines we were tasting and Old World classics.
For this event we tasted four cabernet francs from the Finger Lakes. It’s a varietal I love, and actually favor when it comes to Long Island wine, but I’d never tried coming from the upstate region. I’ve had plenty of Finger Lakes Riesling before, but never reds, so I was looking forward to it.
Here’s my take on the four wines we tasted.
1. Fox Run Vineyards Cabernet Franc/Lemberger, 2007 – $14.99
At first I thought I’d never had a Lemberger, until Lenn told me it’s the same grape as Blaufränkisch, commonly used to make peppery Austrian reds.
This wine was so clear it looked like a gemstone, clearly filtered until the winemaker could see his/her face in it. The nose was absolutely lovely, with light floral and smoky notes mingling with bright cherry and cola scents.
On first taste the acid was a bit much, which pushed tart cherry flavors to the forefront. But given a little more time to open up and the fuit darkened to a cherry/blueberry blend. Not much spice, it was very fruit forward. In fact, at the end of the night, after tasting the other wines, which had much more spice and earth, the fruitiness seemed even bigger, but the nose was still lovely.
2. Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards Cabernet Franc, 2007 – $22
This was much different from the Fox Run. Initially, it had this barnyard funk on the nose, which I’m a big fan of, though it faded a little as aromas of dried currants, black plum, and dried mint.
Dried fruits lingered on the palate, and there was not much acid. But, man was this a spice-bomb, with pepper, mint, vanilla and clove. Nice dusty tannins on the finish, too. Later in the night we came back to this one and the clove on the palate hit me in the face. Lenn said it reminded him of a clove cigarette, those high school smokes people tell you make your lungs bleed. He was right on. I could taste 1996 on my lips.
I love a spicy wine, so I was a big fan of the Hazlitt. But I can see how someone who likes a little more fruit and balance would not be the biggest fan.
3. Rooster Hill Estate Cabernet Franc, 2007 – $20
Here was another wine where the fruit got a little lost behind layers of spice and smoke. On the nose I picked up a great assortment of flavors like smoky bacon, eucalyptus, black tea and a touch of molasses. However, while a lot of that spice stayed on the palate, I found I was looking for the fruit. There were hints of dark cherry and a little strawberry, but I wanted more. The fruit did grow the longer it was open, which leads me to believe decanting this might give it more balance.
It is definitely young for an estate wine, and I bet a little further down the road this thing is going to have great balance.
4. Red Newt Cellars “Sawmill Creek” Cabernet Franc, 2007 – $39
The last wine was probably crowd favorite on Long Island, though for a cold winter I really found I was craving the Hazlitt at the end. This Red Newt, however, was a study in balance.
On the nose were violets and earth mixed with bright, black cherry fruit. It had hints of eucalyptus, but they were slight.
On the palate it was quite elegant, with cherry and earth and just enough of the vegetal/herbal nuance I usually love from cabernet franc. There was really nice acid on this, and it made me crave roast duck, immediately.
In conclusion, I wouldn’t turn down a glass of any of these. But for my price range, I’d probably pick up the Hazlitt. On the other hand, in warmer months, the Fox Run might be a refreshing pour.
Next month, Twitter Tasting Live will focus on Finger Lakes bubbly. That should be a blast.
Photo courtesy of Undertaking Wine
© 2010, Henry E. Powderly II. All rights reserved.
Related posts:
Great Write up! Glad we got to taste some great stuff and I am looking foward to the bubbly too!
Sláinte!
Leave your response!