A Trip to Anthony Road Wine Company

Two weeks ago, when Nena and I were in the Finger Lakes region to take part in the PALATE 2009 festivities, I wanted to keep our visits to tasting rooms casual and mostly as 'civilians' so we could taste at our leisure like we did years ago before LENNDEVOURS became what it is today.

There was one exception, however -- our visit to Anthony Road Wine Company the morning of our arrival. 

I don't remember when I first learned about Anthony Road, but assistant winemaker, Peter Becraft, used to live in Brooklyn and work at Greene Grape (the shop I partner with on the New York Cork Club) so there was a connection there. I also know that I've tasted winemaker Johannes Reinhardt's rieslings before and enjoyed them without exception. Anyway, I got in touch with Peter and set an appointment for us to meet in person and taste.

I'm glad that I did. The wines we tasted were terrific, but the real pleasure was meeting and talking with Peter (left) and Johannes (right). There is a certain realness, a down-to-earthness about people in the Finger Lakes that is palpable and infectious. Everyone is so passionate about what they are doing and they want nothing more than to share that passion with you. The folks at Anthony Road epitomize that attitude. These are real people with real passion doing real work.

We also met John and Ann Martini, who welcomed us with open arms and told us a bit about the history of the property, how the sub-zero temperatures affected their vineyard and about John's weekly trek to New York City to sell wine at the green market. The Martinis planted the first vines on the site in 1973. The vignoles vines planted way back then are still viable and have attained "honorary vinifera" status as Peter put it.

For more than 20 years, the grapes they grew were sold to wineries throughout the Finger Lakes and New York, but with the 1989 vintage, they decided to produce their own wines. In 2000, Johannes, a native of Franconia, Germany, joined Anthony Road as its new winemaker.

His winemaking philosophy comes through clearly in his wines. He makes his wines based on what Mother Nature gives him in the vineyard (a cliche, but true in this case) and there is a consistent minerally-citrusy freshness to his whites that we really enjoyed. He also only uses Finger Lakes fruit in his winemaking, something that seems obvious but can not be assumed in the region.

Johannes is also refreshingly honest and straight forward. That is no more apparent then when we talked about cabernet franc, one of my favorite grapes. He has clear lukewarm (or colder) feelings towards it, disliking the "dusty" aromas and flavors it can have in the Finger Lakes. Instead, he prefers to use it for rose or blend it with Lemberger -- a unique blend Anthony Road pioneered on Seneca Lake that has been since been adopted by a handful of local wineries. Johannes dislikes cab franc so much that he wants to reduce the percentage of it in this blend down to around 50% going forward.

He's also upfront about vineyard management in the region, saying that they unfortunately many growers "grow all grapes the same way."

We didn't taste the entire portfolio during our visit, skipping the "Tony's" line of entry-level blends with 3+% residual sugar. But we did taste much of the rest of the Anthony Road line.

Some quick notes straight from my notebook:

Devonian White ($10):  Non-vintage blend of Cayuga, chardonnay and pinot gris. Crisp and citrusy with light minerality. Great, bright acidity and a long, dry finish. Great value.

2007 Chardonnay No-Oak ($13): Lemony with an almost-nutty not. Clean and balanced. A little austere.

2007 Dry Riesling ($16): .6% RS. Faint pencil eraser on the nose with ripe, juicy lime and peach. Vibrant and alive on the palate. Peach, citrus and pineapple? Very very good. 

2007 Semi-Dry Riesling ($15): 1.9% RS. Overtly fruity and peachy. Plump, fruity, sweet mid-palate. Citrusy acidity slices through it. Well balanced. Nena's favorite.

2007 Martini-Riendhardt Selection Riesling ($22): 2.1% RS. Beautiful floral, lime and pear aromas and flavors. Amazing balance. Tastes less sweet than RS would indicate. Super-long finish. My favorite.

2007 Rose of Cabernet Franc ($13): .6% RS. 94% cabernet franc. 6% Lemberger. Simple strawberry. Hints of something smoky.

2006 Cabernet Franc-Lemberger ($18): Blackberry and smoke. A little green/underripe. Decent mid-palate. Green, thin finish.

We also tasted some spectacular 2008 late harvest wines from the tank, but I think they are deserving of their own post. Stay tuned.

For now, get your hands on the rieslings and the Devonian White, a wine that would be a terrific house white for the summer.

Comments

[john witherspoon]

great post Lenn. Sounds like a great place to visit and my kind of peeps!!

I would love to taste the Martini-Riendhart Riesling, it must have some good acidity going on to balance out that sweetness!

[Wick-edly Sent Scented Candles]

It's a very untypical winery. I've tried their wines, very good. Now you just made me want to stop. Thanks for sharing this.

[M.T.]

I also like Anthony Road. In addition, I think it's Johannes who has an interest in Vignoles. If you like Vignoles, Anthony Road off-dry Vignoles is among the best (if not the best) in the Finger Lakes.

[Susan]

I bought two bottles of Anthony Road wine recently at the Union Square Greenmarket--I bought the dry riesling 2007 and the Devonian Red. I drank the red last week and really enjoyed it. Have you had that? I don't know what grapes comprise this wine, but found it to be a light red and very good.

[Cyclist]

Are they still using synthetic stoppers? I recently opened an older bottle (1991) of the Martini-Reinhardt riesling that I had been keeping only to find excessive oxidation. I'm finding this with many FL wines under these stoppers, which is a shame, since the rieslings can develop well. Please go back to corks or use screwcaps!

[Evan Dawson]

Cyclist,

Considering that Johannes arrived at Anthony Road at the start of this decade, I assume you meant 2001 and not 1991 for the Martini-Reinhardt selection. Or perhaps John Martini was just excessively prescient in those days.

They use synthetic corks on wines that are not designed for aging -- Tony's Red, probably the Devonians. All Riesling, late harvest and TBAs and vinifera reds get natural cork. But perhaps Peter Becraft can jump back in here and elaborate -- I don't intend to speak for the winery.

[jreinhardt]

Cyclist,

Sorry for that experience. This wine must have been our first MRS Riesling from the vintage 2001. We did close all of our wines back then with this kind of closure. Mainly because of the terrible experience I've had with natural
cork back in Germany. Partially also because of cost reasons. A decent natural cork would cost easily 4 times as much as a synthetic cork.

Besides the issues with this kind of closure we also did have not the "health and balance" in the vineyard to keep a good and promising wine going for years to come.

We changed two major things the past 8 years to avoid "unfortunate" aging:
A)THE VINEYARDS! They are at a much better stage now concerning health and balance (thanks to Vineyard Manager Peter Martini and his crew).
B)THE CLOSURE! All MRS-wines and wines which promise to age "well" with some years to come, are closed with a good natural cork!

[Cyclist]

Thanks for the response - it was indeed the 2001, your first vintage of the M-R bottling. I was rather surprised to see the synthetic closure when I went to open the bottle and am glad you went back to cork. Still, there is nothing so disappointing as opening a cherished bottle which one has been aging for years to find it corked. Have you thought about screwcaps?

Recently enjoyed a delightful '99 Riesling from Dr. Frank under natural cork...

[Peter]

Cyclist, Screw caps pose another cost issue for us as our bottling line is not equipped to accommodate screw capping. All is not lost though with your suggestion and you can taste the fresh results with our Tierce wine which is capped with screw cap. Since the inaugural '04 vintage, all of the Tierce wines have been closed with screw cap. These wines can only be found at Anthony Road, Fox Run and Red Newt. At Anthony Road we still have 3 packs for sale with the '04, '05 and '06 vintage. Possibly Lenn will review these wines to check on the results of the screw cap for short and long term aging. Thanks, Peter

[Evan Dawson]

Peter - I think the idea of reviewing the older Tierce is a very good one, given the wildly divergent opinions on screw cap utility. A good friend from Kansas City visited this past October and we greatly a enjoyed a 2005 Tierce; there was, interestingly, a subtle hint of petrol or burnt rubber which was previously not present. It had us wondering if the wine was evolving -- or experiencing a slow symptom of reduction. Either way, he bought three bottles and declared it to be the best FL Riesling he has yet had. High praise indeed.