Now on to the following weekend. My wife D and I drove up to other D’s house in upstate New York which I last visited in 2017. G and H were already there, having taken the train from New York City a couple of days earlier.
D shared many amazing bottles from his cellar with us as can be seen from the photos.
He also introduced me to Zaya 16 year old rum, which it turns out I can get in the local booze store at a very advantageous price, hurrah!
My wife isn't really into wine, so on the Saturday she and I went for a hike on the Finger Lakes trail, starting at Sugar Hill State Forest. We got slightly lost but otherwise it was an enjoyable trail, not too muddy and with the occasional mushroom and some little frogs.
On Saturday
evening, we had a wonderful dinner party with the five of us, and D’s friends Bob,
David and Charlene. This included a trio of wonderful Californian cabernets from 1973:
Beaulieu Vineyard, Freemark Abbey and Sterling Vineyards, followed by a pair of
Sauternes from 1983 - Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey and Rieussec. The hardship! I don't think my wife had ever seen a dining table laden with so many wine glasses and antique silver cutlery.
On the Sunday,
we went out to a few wineries for tastings. Things seem to have changed a lot
in the six years since I was there last, and everything seemed more touristy
and commercial. Where previously the tastings were around $5 if memory serves,
now the standard charge seemed to be $15.
We started off
at Domaine LeSeurre, where I particularly enjoyed the semi-dry Riesling from 2020 and
had visions of sipping it on our deck. Since our deck is currently under construction,
that’s unlikely to happen this year, but I did buy three bottles and have consumed
two of them already, so can confirm it’s a lovely wine to drink well-chilled in
hot weather, and only 12% alcohol. I was hoping to buy a bottle of their sparkling wine
too, but was told that I’d have to join the wine club, which was a little offputting, so that didn’t happen.
Next up was
a winery I hadn’t visited before, called Weis. As the name suggests, this is
run by somebody from Germany. I really enjoyed this tasting. They had an
interesting white called “Heart of the Lake” which is made from a new grape variety
called aravelle. There was also a nice light fizz which contained this grape. The
pinot noir was light and pretty, and the cabernet franc was also in the lighter
style. I seriously thought about joining the wine club, but have since
discovered that I can order some of their wines from the booze store here in
PA, so may just do that some time!
Then it was
on to Ravines. As in 2017, the wines here continue to impress and though they’re
perhaps a bit more expensive than the local competition, they are built to
last. I absolutely loved the pinot noir which was really interesting and a little wild, and the late
harvest vignoles was a must.
We had
lunch at the café/pub in Hammondsport and in the afternoon attempted to visit Dr
Konstantin Frank, but it turned out that the tasting offerings here were too
touristy and/or outdoors for our liking, so in the end we abandoned them and moved on to McGregor.
This was nice because we got to sit at a table inside and our flights of wines were
brought to us, along with a few nibbles, so we could sit and discuss amongst
ourselves more easily without having someone hanging around waiting to pour the
next glass. As on my previous visit, the star of the show was the Russian River Red, which
has now been renamed Saperavi Grand Reserve. We tasted the 2017 vintage which
was quite a tannic monster and needs at least another ten years, I’d say.
Enormous thanks to D
for driving us around, having us to stay over the weekend and sharing so many treasures from the cellar. We had a wonderful
time!
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