Atwater Meritage Finger Lakes

On the nose, this seems like another baked fruit pie, but as it touches the tongue it hits the tip with acid and rolls through the mouth with a balance that is unexpected. Fruity, but not sweet, with deliberate tannins and enough oak to make it drinkable now, but encourage a few years of cellaring with a couple extra bottles. I fear cellaring it too long would result in one of those bottles that would need to be drunk within five minutes or flatten out. VERY GOOD.

Poplar Ridge Vineyards Bagley's Chelois Finger Lakes

This Non Vintage red is from the Chelois grape. The wine is very dark and judging from the cork has been in the bottle a while. The legs are oily but light, and the nose is ripe plum with a hint of eucalyptus. After much air, there are tannins, but it is very difficult to get past the acidity. MARGINAL

Lamoreaux Landing Cabernet Franc

This NV bottle Cab Franc I recently purchased is fruit forward, very ripe, almost candied, but not sweet, kind of like a baked fruit pie where the crust tones down the fruit. The tannins balance the fruit here and it lingers on the palate longer than expected. I'm thinking if they left it to allow for a slight increase in alcohol content it would be reminiscent of those California Syrah fruit bombs I relish. This is balanced well as it is and will go well with just about anything on the dinner or lunch table. It worked hard to keep up with a Mackeral dish, though I wouldn't recommend doing that. Perhaps a fresh grilled salmon with an acidic relish or side dish though. GOOD

Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Room Notes

I went to four wineries yesterday to do some tastings. I had been to one of them once prior, and it was the first time I got hit in the face with the "I don't really like my job" and "I wish you would taste your wine and go" attitude. It was at the end of the tasting hours in the 4 o'clock hour and two of the wineries, one more restrained than the other, were just kind of zooming through the motions. We can all understand that at the end of the work day, most of us want to spend time with our families, go to class, or go to dinner, or whatever. Yes, we all want to be somewhere else. The wineries are sophisticated businesses existing to make wine and make money making wine. Most wineries recognize it, but not all put it into practice, and that is that the wineries are also in the hospitality business, especially in their tasting rooms. It leaves a bad impression encountering this, "I wish you would taste your wine and go" attitude. I would recommend the wineries add yet another item to their ever growing "To Do List" and spend more time training their front line staff on the basics of hospitality.

Silver Springs Merlot

This 2002 vintage as with many of the other wines available by this label are limited production wines. The colors are dark and rich, but it is light on the palate and full of fruit, mostly blackberry. Not many tannins to speak of and this is a perfect wine for a burger or even a portobello veggie burger. I don't know if I would put this on the table with a steak, but it would certainly work well with prime rib. GOOD.

Silver Springs aka Don Giovanni Wines

Well I must say upon first tasting and interaction with the winemaker on a slow and quiet December 26th, that Silver Springs has some great wines. We tried just about all of their offerings except for the really sweet wines. The Merlots and Cabernet Francs were standouts and the Cabernet Sauvignon was also quite good. In the midst of our New Year parties and celebrations they all went down pretty fast. The 2002 Silver Springs Cabernet Franc was among the favorite, and I feel compelled to give it a proper tasting review, however, before I do that I must comment that this winery is not a true Finger Lakes winery as it seems as though some of their production is in Mattituck, NY. Since we are focused on Finger Lakes wines, I thought it prudent to mention this.

Happy New Year!

Taking a break from hobbies and work activities can be very refreshing. We don't do it enough. May the wine be plenty for this year's vintages, and may the crops show promise for the vintages to come. Happy New Year!