Wine With Dinner – The Finger Lakes Wine Festival

Over the July 18 weekend, I attended the 2008 Finger Lakes Wine Festival held for the past dozen years at Watkins Glen International on the southern end of Seneca Lake. Once a year, this huge racing complex is transformed into the Finger Lake’s largest tasting room. The 2008 event hosted a record number of 89 New York State Wineries – there are over 100 in just the Finger Lakes, which is the largest wine producing region east of California. Wineries from Long Island to Lake Erie were also in attendance. Festival goers, numbering in the tens of thousands, paid $40 ($35 advance sale price) for the weekend tasting and were given a souvenir wine glass and a 130-page Tasters Guide to help navigate them through the 500+ wines poured at this huge event.

I was reminded of the first annual Finger Lakes Wine Festival, which I attended back in 1994. It was held on the grounds of the New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls and was also a weekend program with, at that time, a record breaking attendance of about 8,000. We tasted wine in three large tents manned respectively by 30 Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake and Keuka/Canandaigua Lakes vintners. Nevertheless, the program was basically the same as it is today. There were booths set up featuring the work of local artists and artisans plus purveyors of gourmet and ethnic foods. Live music was featured as well by several bands and there was an Education Tent, in which I gave wine & food seminars along with several other featured speakers. All this for a single admission price for the two-day event of only $15 ($12 advance purchase price).

The Festival was conceived by, planned for, promoted and put on by a local vintner couple, Doug and Suzie Knapp, with the help of a few fellow vintners and close friends, all of whom believed in the project. It took at least a year to put together and Doug and Suzie even designed the logo themselves (which the current logo quite closely resembles). I knew Doug and Suzie for many years prior to this event, through my various trips to the Finger Lake that I made for local newspapers for whom I wrote wine articles. So, I helped staff the education tent and my wife, Georgia, joined a group of Suzie's local friends selling tickets at the main entrance.

But we all ended up doing more than one thing. Georgia, and I drove up on the Friday before to help with the set up. We pounded in tent pegs, ran water lines, strung up signs and, in general, joined the other willing volunteer workers in doing whatever we could to help Doug out. I recall seeing young Amish children in their severe black attire, pitching in with the adults in a myriad of chores. It was refreshing to see how these children of local farmers were able to take time away from their farm chores to help the vintners out getting this show up and running.

There was a "barn raising" atmosphere that day. Whenever one vintner was struggling to get something right with his tent, several other vintners dropped what they were doing to give him a hand, making jokes and laughing all the while. It was a beehive of activity and, like a beehive, everyone was working, not only for themselves, but for the Festival as a whole.
This was truly a grass roots project, led by a leading Finger Lakes vintner with a vision for what the Finger Lakes could eventually do for New York and the New York tourism industry. Doug and Suzie sold their Knapp Vineyard and Restaurant to Glenora Wine Cellars eight years ago and are now happily retired. – Jay Roelof - www.suburbanwines.com

Pour Lance

This was classic stuff. Lance, George, a friend Mark, and I showed up last Wednesday for the Pratt’s Inn BBQ-bring-yer-own, and we poured our wines blind. Lance added an element of competition to the festivities, and suggested that anyone who guessed someone’s wine, right down to the producer, vintage and single-vineyard would have his dinner paid for by the rest of the group.

Lance poured his white first, and we immediately began to brainstorm. Most of us thought Burgundy, but I came to the conclusion that I was sipping California Chard. I entered a guess of Kistler Vine Hill Road Chardonnay ’05, a wine I’ve never tasted, but suspected tasted like this. Poker-faced, Lance attempted to discourage my guess, but ultimately revealed the ’04 vintage of that very wine! A near miss, but an impressive enough attempt as to concern Lance about how guessable his red would be.

Half an hour later, confident and poised for success, Lance poured his blind red. Smelling it, it seemed mature and had us all stumped. This could have been anything from Malbec to Brunello. After about 3 minutes of cold silence, as if he were directed by Rob Reiner, George randomly uttered “I’m gonna go with Leonetti ……’97…...Sangiovese”. Now, although this was a wine he knew Lance to have recently acquired, it was still a clever and more-than-educated guess. And when I saw Lance’s I-don’t-wanna-play-anymore gesture, I nearly flipped. Out of the paper bag came the ’97 Leo! Ding, ding, we have a winner.

Lance, I think we have your number. Next time, you might as well bring your wines wrapped in Ziploc bags. A good sport, you are. Overall, it was a great night with some generous wines. Nice job, guys. –Michael Koehler - www.suburbanwines.com

Michael In Austria, Part V

Austria’s Pride & Joy: These terrassen, or “terraced” vineyards famous in the Wachau are farmed by Lagler, and are located a stone’s throw from the Danube. Wachau is also the only wine region in Austria to have its own wine classification system, in addition to the national classification rules. The Vinea Wachau Nobilis Districtus divides Wachau wine into 3 qualitative categories: Steinfeder indicates basic quality and at least 10.7% alcohol, while Federspiel guarantees at least 11.5% alcohol and is roughly on par with Germany’s Kabinett. Smaragd, named after the emerald-colored lizard that dwells in the Wachau vineyards, is evidence of top-quality, exhibiting at least 12% alcohol and less than 9 grams per litre of residual sugar. Often, the Smaragd-level wines of the Wachau are amongst the best Austria has to offer.

Getting Cozy in the Wachau: I spent the night at this charming estate in the village of Spitz of the Wachau region. It is centered on the property of Weingut Lagler, where the Lagler family has lived for 200 years. Karl Lagler tends old Gruner Veltliner, Riesling and Neuberger vines and creates some of the most world-renown wines of the Wachau. Amongst all of his cru wines, the centerpiece is the great multi-vineyard Gruner Veltliner Elisabeth, of which I sampled the ‘06. Harvested by 8 women named Elisabeth, this stone fruit and wet stone-laden Gruner is dry but potent and thick, and will probably mature for 30 years. - Michael Koehler - http://www.suburbanwines.com/

It's A Tough Job

People often envy me for the environment I work in. I get to taste great wines all the time. I sniff, swish, swirl, sometimes gurgle and spit out (most of the time). Many times I sit in front of 15-25 wines that I must evaluate. Aroma, taste on palate, longevity, finish, sense of place, uniqueness, price, availability, competition, anticipated customer appeal, – all considerations whether to purchase.

Taste a wine now – wait an hour and taste it again – store it and taste it the next day. Wines are ever-changing and often surprising. Just when you think that you can identify the wine; it changes again.

One of the more interesting events at Suburban is our blind tasting. Each year we cycle through a series of wines to determine the best deals by varietal, category and price. We are supplied with between 75 – 250 wines in a category and set up several flights for evaluation. Each bottle is bagged and numbered to insure impartiality. With the ever growing small wineries making their debut it’s rare to see a wine make our top 12 a second time (there are some exceptions).
Time to go, another flight has been set up (now, where did I leave my glass!!). – Fred Horowitz – www.suburbanwines.com

WINE WITH DINNER – Sparkling Wines and Summer Meals

Most people prefer white wines with their meals during the hot summer months, or an occasional rosé - rather than a heavy red wine. That makes a lot of sense to me. But, I find it interesting that many relatively knowledgeable wine consumers still consider sparkling wine as something to enjoy only on “special occasions” when a formal toast is in order. That’s too bad, because brut (i.e., “dry”) sparkling wine is probably the most universal food wine you will ever find!

But, you say, Brut Champagne is so expensive! Yes, dry sparkling wines from the Champagne district of France are expensive – and, by the way, they are not just for toasting, but are and always will be a terrific dinner beverage! But the important point here is that there are a lot of less expensive sparkling alternatives out there to go with your summer meals. French Champagne is not the only game in town.

For example, as I’ve said before, I am partial to serving Prosecco (a light, Italian, low-alcohol sparkling wine) before dinner and as a luncheon wine, because it is so inexpensive and goes so well with light foods and appetizers. There are many to choose from in the $9 to $15 range. With dinner, there are a whole host of similarly low-priced sparkling wines from which to choose, such as Spanish Cava and bargain-priced California sparkling wines.

Of course, in the $15 to $25 range, the number of brut sparkling wines available really becomes impressive. However, as wide as the assortment becomes, it will, unfortunately, not yet include any examples of good quality French Champagne, which now costs over $30 a bottle and, hence, is out the everyday meal category altogether.

So what? From just this short introduction, you probably have already stopped thinking of sparkling wine solely as expensive “Champagne” to be used only for special occasions and, instead, are ready to consider it as an affordable, refreshing summer dinner beverage. If you have, I guarantee that you will be pleased to discover how many affordable sparkling wines there are out there to enhance your meals …. and you will be doubly pleased to see how they will turn those meals into special occasions! - Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com

A Day In Paris

So, my flight was leaving at 9am from Paris to New York…I am ready, heading out the door of the hotel when my cell phone rings. It’s my wife, calling to tell me that Delta just called the house to inform her/me that the flight has been delayed until 6PM that evening. So here I am, dressed and ready to go with a full day in front of me (I had arrived the evening before so did not get an opportunity to sightsee). So immediately I hop on my laptop and go to the website for the Louvre Museum to see what the hours are. I have time for breakfast and then decide to go and see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo (among other treasures).

After breakfast, I head down to the concierge and ask for walking directions to the Louvre. I make the mistake of mispronouncing the word “Louvre” (I pronounced it “loov”). The concierge stares at me blankly and tells me he does not understand what I am looking for. We clear that up, and I head on my way. For what it’s worth, the people outside of Paris are truly wonderful, friendly and gracious.

Anyway, I walk over, and the place is truly massive. It would take days, if not weeks to truly take advantage of everything that the museum has to offer, but I am on a mission and head straight for the Mona Lisa. Well, here she is. It’s funny, I have always heard that it is much smaller than one might think, but I did not find that to be true. It was surrounded by people and security and you were kept at an arms length by ropes, but everyone got a chance to see what they came to see.

Then off to the Venus de Milo, which seemed like about a 3 mile walk! I wanted to see the Eiffel tower as well, so I was short on time….more soon. – Lance Cerutti – www.suburbanwines.com

Michael In Austria, Part IV

I’m seen here with Wilma Tinnacher of South Styria’s Lackner-Tinnacher. She and her husband Fritz create dozens of different varietal wines in their state-of-the-art winery, which is seated neatly into a duct-like section of their hilltop property. They have done remarkable things with grapes like Muskateller, Grauburgunder, Roter Traminer and Morillon, and their wines were amongst the most urbane of the entire trip. A superb equilibrium of fruit, terroir and varietal character is what they exhibit, and if I were to choose my desert island Austrian wine, it would be one of their bottlings.

A view of Lackner-Tinnacher’s spaceship-like winery…..a marvel of modern European architecture. Everything from sensor lighting to massive gliding doorways make this polished , sterile facility self-contained. Even their product packaging is cutting-edge…..they have successfully adopted the Alcoa Vino Seal glass insert as a closure for all their wines, and I have to say that I’m totally sold on it. It is more expensive than cork and screwcaps, and will potentially require a recycling campaign, but it’s the purest, most functional and most elegant alternative, and is the prime candidate for the future of wine bottle closure. - Michael Koehler - www.suburbanwines.com