Trip to the Finger Lakes part X - Red Newt and Damiani Wine Cellars

With the finish of that last sweet riesling we'd tried at Hermann J Wiemer still lingering on, we arrived at Red Newt Cellars and had a spot of lunch out on the terrace. For once, a pulled pork sandwich wasn't on the menu. I had the closest thing to it, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

Another beautiful sunny day in the Finger Lakes!

Then we went inside and had a tasting. We tried three rieslings to start with. The 2013 Riesling Tango Oaks Vineyard ($26) had remarkable acidity and was very zingy. The man pouring the wines told us it needed food. Even better was the 2013 Riesling "Knoll" Lahoma Vineyard ($35), which was a splendid bottle of serious riesling (I suspect I'm quoting G here) with great concentration and grip, off dry, with a good finish. We picked up a bottle to take away with us. Finally, the 2011 Riesling from the Bullhorn Creek Vineyard ($22) was fascinating, with some botrytis going on, and stone fruit with a nice core of acidity.

Of the reds, I found that the 2014 Cabernet Franc didn't quite do it for me, with a slightly bitter finish, and the 2013 Merlot Glacier Ridge Vineyards wasn't my thing either although possibly it just needed time. The 2012 Merlot ($22.50) was better and apparently 2012 was a very good year - we bought a bottle of this too. The 2012 Viridescens ($42) was their version of Meritage, with 67% merlot, 28% cabernet sauvignon and 5% cabernet franc. This was very attractive and we thought it needed to be kept for 10 years.

Finally, we tried the Hellbender which was similar to port. With all due respect, I think I'll be sticking to port...

We moved on to Damiani Wine Cellars, where things were somewhat chaotic. I think we'd just happened to arrive at a busy time and they also told us they had a photo shoot going on. After hanging about for a few minutes the tasting eventually commenced with the Brut 2011 ($33.99) which we were told had been disgorged this summer. It was made in the style of champagne, mostly pinot noir but with some chardonnay and pinot meunier. This was impressive, toasty, with an excellent finish, and seemed like good value. We bought a bottle to take away with us.

Then we tried six reds. The Pinot Noir Reserve 2012 ($46.99) was from a single vineyard, unfined and unfiltered. It was a very pale colour and I found I wasn't getting much at all from it. The Merlot Reserve 2012 ($40.99) was more powerful, with a lot of tannin. We wondered if it would soften, given that it had already had five years. The Cabernet Franc 2013 was full-bodied, complex and interesting but had some way to go, while the Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 and Syrah 2013 were both perfectly nice but overshadowed by the Meritage 2013 ($26.99) which was a blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon, 18% cabernet franc and 27% merlot. This was complex and serious and again, needed time.

This completed our trips to the various wineries on this trip - twelve altogether. Thanks so much to D for selecting these places for us to visit and for ferrying us about, it was a real education!

Trip to the Finger Lakes part IX - Hermann J. Wiemer

Next up was a trip to Herman J Wiemer, where we were given a tasting by an affable Swedish chap who we later learned was Oskar Bynke, one of the co-owners.

We started with the Field White ($16.50) which was a mixture of gruner veltliner and riesling from 2016 along with some vin clair chardonnay from 2015. As I understand it, vin clair is a kind of grape must. This came in at 11% and my notes just say that it was interesting. Must try to make better notes in future!

However, it turned out that they specialise in riesling at Hermann J Wiemer, and we then tasted our way through quite a few.

The Dry Riesling 2016 ($19.50) was off dry and we liked it. Oskar compared it to a trockenbeerenauslese and told us that they carried out 34 pickings over the course of 7 weeks, so they got a mixture of grapes at different levels of ripeness.

Then we tried the Riesling HJW Vineyard 2015 ($39) which is made from grapes from one of their coolest sites. This was less fruity but more sophisticated than the previous wine, but we actually preferred the Dry Riesling especially given that it was half the price. The Riesling Reserve Dry 2015 ($29) was somewhere between the two and had more fruit but still a sense of being "wrought" according to G. He then had a revelation which was that the last two wines had a lot of sulphur, which would explain why we found them less attractive.

The Riesling Magdalena Vineyard 2015 ($36) was from grapes from a riper site by the lake, and had a lovely aromatic nose. We preferred it to the HJW but it was still relatively pricey. The Riesling Josef Vineyard 2015 was considerably sweeter and in a richer style and had a lovely mouthfeel. D mentioned honey.

The Semi-Dry Riesling 2016 ($17.50) is picked earlier and has a lower alcohol level, coming in at 11 to 11.5%. This had lovely aromas and was very Germanic but G found it slightly short and D thought it wasn't as complete as the other wines. The Late Harvest Riesling 2014 ($24.50) was not really botrytised but had a wonderful fruit and sweetness. It got a star from me.

We moved on to a couple of wines which weren't actually rieslings! The Cuvee Brut ($37), which I think was from 2013, was 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot noir. and was very impressive, like a good champagne.

The Field Red ($19.50) was a mixture of blaufrankisch, cabernet franc and a little bit of cabernet sauvignon. This wasn't my cup of tea, possibly because I don't like blaufrankisch. Then again I could have been getting it confused with my nemesis, Spätburgunder... I preferred the Cabernet Franc 2016 ($25) which had low yields. D said that their Cab Franc is consistently good year on year, and he has several vintages of it.

By this stage I think we'd gone completely off the tasting menu and were being offered things gratis which was very kind of Oskar. We finished with two sweet wines. The Noble Select Riesling Magdalena Vineyard 2013 ($75) was made from 100% botrytised riesling and had a lovely thick texture. It was sensational, but the Noble Select Riesling Josef Vineyard 2013 ($115) was even better. This is not only hand picked but extensively sorted and again was quite extraordinary. It had a lovely apricot note, and the finish went on for at least 10 minutes until we arrived at our next destination. It comes with a hefty price tag but perhaps this wasn't extortionate if you compare it to something from Germany and it was certainly a wine built to last. A real highlight to end with.

Trip to the Finger Lakes part VIII - Seneca Shore Wine Cellars

On Friday morning, we drove over to Seneca Lake where our first stop was Seneca Shore Wine Cellars. Here we met David DeMarco, the owner, who happens to be a friend of D.

David was exuberant and charming and gave us a tour of the winery which was very entertaining. I enjoyed hearing about his business model. He sells most of his wine directly to his customers rather than going through the retail trade, and his branding suggests that the wines are medieval in approach i.e. small scale rather than made by some industrial conglomerate in a huge impersonal factory somewhere.

We tasted our way through twelve wines altogether. I was impressed by the Dry Riesling 2016 which had a lovely limey zinginess to it. The Chardonnay Balanced Barrel 2014 was was very good, but the barrel-fermented Chardonnay 2013 was even better, with a golden colour and buttery richness which reminded me of a Meursault. Given that it was $14.99, it was really very impressive.

The Pinot Noir 2012 was smooth, light, easy drinking with good acidity, and had only just been released, while the Cabernet Franc 2012 had oomph, with smoky, tarry notes and would be great with barbecue. There was no sign of stemminess here. Dave told us that cabernet franc is often overcropped and that's when it starts to develop those green pepper and green bean flavours which I can't stand.

But the jewel in the crown was undoubtedly the Kylix Cuvee, which is a cabernet franc from 2007. It was big and rich, with velvety tannins. I liked it very much and it retailed at $24.99, making it an absolute steal in my opinion.

No doubt the medieval angle plays well with your average tourist, but these are not novelty wines by any means. We put together a mixed box to take away with us and not only did Dave refuse to let us pay for them but he added a few more, which was really very generous. This tasting was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!