Trip to the Finger Lakes part VII - Hector Wine Company and Ryan William Vineyard

After lunch, we headed over to Hector Wine Company where we tasted five wines and I don't appear to have taken any photos at all!

The Pinot Blanc 2016 had a floral bouquet and was quite exotic. It had a nice weight and was bigger on the palate than I'd expected from the nose. "Ripe fruit, excellent minerality" said G. I think we all liked it. The Dry Riesling 2015 was pleasant enough but I felt we'd had better elsewhere, while the Gewurztraminer 2015 was a nice pale gold colour and had the classic gewurztraminer perfume.

The Cabernet Franc 2015 was paler than some and almost farmyardy on the nose. I wasn't altogether sure about it but D pointed out that it was very young, so maybe it needs time. The Forge Pinot Noir Classique 2015 meanwhile was a shade darker than some of the pinots we'd seen with nice legs. It delivered a massive amount of chewy tannin and was quite hard going at this stage. I felt it needed at least 5 years while G described it as "classically styled".

Our last visit of the day was to Ryan William Vineyard where we tasted six wines. Possibly I was feeling slightly jaded by this stage, as the Gruner Veltliner 2015 didn't do much for me, although it was appley and had good acidity. Perhaps it needed food. The Dry Riesling 2014 was more my thing, made in an Alsatian style and aromatic. G described it as "very successful." The Gewurztraminer 2014 was also Alsatian in style and had that classic lychee thing, but I found myself wondering how much I actually like gewurztraminer. The Chardonnay 2014 was made 50% in French oak barrels and 50% in stainless steel and was elegant, with a creaminess to it and notes of lemon curd.

Moving on to the reds, the Pinot Noir 2012 came in at 12.4% alcohol (very precise!) and had a delicious fruity nose. Black cherry was mentioned. Again there was a lot of tannin but I felt it had potential. Finally, the Cabernet Franc 2012 was appealing and one couldn't accuse it of being stemmy. They referred to cassis, black plum and cocoa which seemed accurate. "A lot of red for 20 bucks," said G.

I wandered off to make another new friend, this half sized cat which was friendly and let me pick it up... Feline fix acquired, it was time to drive home.