Rendezvous with Riesling

By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend the Second Annual Rendezvous with Riesling event at the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, New York. As the name implies, this event brings together sampling of New York wineries, mostly from the Finger Lakes, to showcase their most recent riesling offerings.

I highlight some individual wines below.

This event also served as my first visit to the Wine and Culinary Center. While I had always assumed that it had something to offer, I'll admit that I was a bit dismissive of a centralized Finger Lakes venue. If I happened to be in the Finger Lakes, why not just spend my time visiting the wineries at their own locations?

Frankly, I was blown away by the overall quality of the Wine and Culinary Center. It was laid out wonderfully, the decor was inspiring, and the staff was friendly and courteous. This places simply exudes excellence in wine and showcases a regional pride. And, as this event demonstrated, the advantage of a centralized venue is that one can sample a variety of wines from different areas without the burden of extensive travel.

I highly recommend the Center to all LENNDEVOURS readers. If you are planning a Finger Lakes trip, make sure to check out the website and see what is being featured during your stay. The Center is a time-saver but it is just as beautiful and fun as many other tasting rooms in the Finger Lakes. Plus, some of the events add dimensions to wine education that most tasters cannot gather from a winery visit alone.

The Wines
The wineries brought their rieslings to be sure, but many also brought other wines as well. There were a lot of good wines, but I will highlight a few that grabbed my attention that night. 

But first, a general riesling observation: the 2006 dry rieslings are excellent almost across the board, while the 2007s seem to excel in the semi-dry style and falter a bit in the dry. A select few wineries pulled off a good dry 2007, but I think the semi-dry is a safer bet for a blind grab off the store shelf.

Some highlights:

2007 Silver Thread Semi-dry Riesling: A great example of the 2007 vintage which seems to find the point of balance between ripeness and acidity at a slightly sweeter level.

2006 Lamoreaux Landing Gewurtztraminer: Just plain wow -- this keeps on pleasing with its hints of spice over a firm mineral structure.

2006 Treleaven Late Harvest Resling: A warm, dry summer and a long, temperate fall brought these grapes to heights of complex sweetness that is pure and delicious. This is probably the best example I've ever had in the Finger Lakes.

2006 Standing Stone Dry Riesling: You won't find this at the winery any more after Wine Spectator rated it a best-buy. If you see this on the store shelf, grab a few bottles now. This is a fine example of a strong, mineral-backed 2006 Finger Lakes riesling.

2007 Ravines Dry Argetsinger Vineyard Riesling: This wine was sourced from a single vineyard with unique soil for the region.  This riesling is one of the few dry styles for 2007 that achieved a ripe but complex flavor beyond the limitations of the vintage.  Only a few cases made, so call the winery directly for this one.

2006 Dr. Frank's Dry Riesling: This riesling is a solid and widely available example of a great 2006. The mineral taste is strong but nuanced on the palate and the fruit has hints of apple and melon.

2007 Hunt Country Late Harvest Vignoles: Another strong example of what a hot fall produced in terms of late-harvest wines. Flavors of nuts, honey, and citrus fruit make this a diverse pairing option.

2005 Shaw Dry Riesling: This is one of the few 2005 rieslings still available from any Finger Lakes winery as the proprietor is slowly releasing his supply. The 2005 vintage has a little bit of everything, which is evident by this wine in terms of both its fruit-forward nature but its underlying backbone.  Most 2005's are not as austere as examples of the 2006 vintage.

Comments

[Bryan]

A friend of mine was there with a Niagara winery riesling grown in chattauqua county. With its petrol and steely qualities, he mentioned it just doesn't show well with those perfumed aromatically enabled FL rieslings.

[Jason Feulner]

I regret that I didn't get a chance to try a wine from the specific winery you're mentioning. The non-Finger Lakes wineries were in a small room, and I was cornered by a few garrolous folks in there who took up most of my time which eventually led to my need to escape (long story). It's hard not to miss a few opportunities in one of these large tasting events!

I think there are a lot of 2006 FL rieslings which have steely and petrol-like qualities, attributes that would be rare in some vintages, say 2007.

[Lenn]

These types of events can be very difficult to get around at. Especially once you're at all known in the industry...people snag you and won't let you go anywhere else.

Jason, were there any Long Island wineries there? I doubt it...but there are some riesling here worth checking out at least.

[Jason Feulner]

According to the handout, Duck Walk and Pindar were there. I think I recall seeing the booth with one or the other, but it was in this same smaller room where my visit was hampered and then cut short out of necessity.

There was certainly a call out to other NY regions, but as you imply it was basically going to be a Finger Lakes show since the wineries here showcase their rieslings so prominently.

I probably should have tried to go back, but alas the evening slowly crept away from me. I'm sure if it was an event of a different description there would have been a stronger showing of all kinds of wineries from various regions throughout NY.

[Lenn]

Unfortunately, most of the programs at the Center end up being primarily Finger Lakes events, both because of proximity and because, in my opinion, that's how the NYWGF likes it :)

Pindar, for all I've said about them in the past, does make a nice riesling and a sometimes-very good late harvest one too.

[Jeff]

Ditto

[weekendwino]

Jason, Thanks for the recap of the event. I wish I could have been there. In my opinion, the Finger Lakes 2007 Dry Rieslings are showing a lot like the 06's were showing in their early months after bottling, with a lot of acidity that makes them seem a bit unbalanced. But the '06 Dry Rieslings really settled down when I retasted them months later and kept getting better as they aged. So I'm waiting to retaste the '07's after some more bottle aging. The Semi-dry's seem more balanced with more Residual Sugar balancing the early bold acidity.

[Melissa A. Dobson]

Jason, I'm sorry that I missed you at Rendezvous with Riesling. My husband and I attended the Master Class with Kevin Zraly on May 9th. We absolutely loved it. Kevin is approachable, animated and makes class fun by interacting with his students.

Like you, we were absolutely blown away by the New York Wine and Culinary Center. I applaud them for elevating the image of the New York wine industry and look forward to our next visit.