Wine Tasting in the Finger Lakes – Part 3

If you have stumbled upon this post and are interested in checking out the first two, follow this link to learn more about Finger Lakes wineries.

Our last day wine tasting dawned cloudy and cool, and we were pretty disappointed that we really hadn’t had ideal weather for seeing the sought-after Fall colors but there were still two highly anticipated wineries to sample, so life was still pretty good. The first, Weis Vineyards, we had learned about from trying their wines at the Graft Wine Bar several nights before. They were excellent then and they were excellent today but more on that in a minute. Wies Vineyards in on the next lake over, Keuka Lake, the third largest of the Finger Lakes and the most unusually shaped.  It has a fork and two very large arms whereas the other ones tend to be long and thin…kinda like fingers which shouldn’t really come as a surprise given the name. Sometimes when you drive up to a place, you can just tell that it’s going to be good…not too corporate, just a little eclectic with a mix of buildings and friendly (Ashlee Weis met us in the parking lot). Weis checked all the boxes.

Everything that morning was cast in monochrome shades of gray so yet again, no hint of the anticipated Fall colors.  The first view is a modern tasting and barrel room, juxtaposed with an old barn but once inside, the views from the tasting room are spectacular and as an added bonus …there is a foosball table at the lower floor of the tasting room but sadly, there was no one to play.

Peter Weis, is a sixth generation winemaker who stumbled on the Finger Lakes region while travelling the US. He found nearly identical growing conditions to his home on the Mosel river in Germany and set down roots, first as a winemaker at Dr. Konstantin Frank winery for 10 years before setting out on his own with wife, Ashlee.  Between the weather and the time of the year there were few other guests so we had a fair amount of time with the knowledgeable Sherry, our “winetender”. Of course, we started with the whites and the standout for both Karen and me was the Winzer Select Riesling until we had the Terroir Slate Riesling which was outstanding and one of the best Rieslings we had on the trip. If you can’t tell by now, we have a soft spot for Rieslings and really enjoy it when we stumble across a really good one. With just 1% residual sugar (RS), it had outstanding balance. I was never a fan of sweet Rieslings and thought that they had to be bone dry with next to no residual sugar but having tasted several in the last few days with a small amount of RS, I’ve become a convert. That hint of RS really creates a balance to the wines that I didn’t even realize that I’d been missing. The Gruner Veltliner had definite citrus notes with Karen picking up more lemon while I got more grapefruit. It was good but we’ve come to realize that Gruners just aren’t one of our favorites. I don’t see us joining an all Gruner wine club but it’s still nice to experience wines that are so different from anything gown in California. The Cabernet Franc was also the best that we tasted on the trip. Stylistically they are so different from Bordeaux or California Cab Francs and I’m still trying to get my head around them. Karen definitely embraced the style more than I did. We splurged and bought a couple of wines from Weis knowing they would never make it back to California because the last two days of the trip, we were staying with friends and they have a capacity to drink wine that can only be described as awe inspiring.

Leaving Weis, we headed to the other side of Keuka Lake to Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery, arguable the father of Finger Lakes wine making and Peter Weis’s previous employer before setting off on his own. The weather was still gloomy when we set out but 10 minutes before reaching Dr. Frank, the clouds parted as we crested a hill and there was a stunning view of the long sought after color with lush green grass, vibrant vineyards and an unbelievable splash of autumnal oranges and reds from trees in the background. There was even a conveniently placed turnout so we stopped and just drank in the views for about 10 minutes. They were spectacular.

Our final winery visit was to Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery. Dr. Frank was the first winemaker in the Finger Lakes to move away from native, North American wines and plant European wine grapes in the late 1950s. Frank, a Ukrainian immigrant to the United States, had a PhD in viticulture and after immigrating to the US, became convinced that cooler weather European wine grapes could not only survive but thrive in the Finger Lakes. Happily for us, his “experiment” was successful and became one of the principle factors in the emergence of Finger Lakes wines. Somehow, it seemed fitting to end with the winery that started it all.

The winery tasting room is a well-oiled machine and we were quickly enjoying our first tasting, a Blanc de Blanc made in the traditional style of Champagne (Méthode Champenoise) and aged for 36 months. It was excellent and bore a nice resemblance to our tasting in the Epernay area of France where the best Blanc de Blancs are made…small bubbles and nicely balanced. It was a great start. Frank has an extensive wine list but our favorites were single vineyard Rieslings named Eugenia and Margrit (named after Dr. Frank’s wife and daughter-in-law). We both preferred the Eugenia but really, it was kind of like trying to choose your favorite kid…there’s no right answer because they were both very well made. Of the reds, the old vine Pinot Noir was our favorite until, after a quick discussion with the manager, we tried the Amur.

Amur, is a deep, full bodied red wine grape that comes from southern Siberia and is one of those rare wine grapes that is actually a different species than almost all western European wine grapes that make up the vast majority of the wines that are enjoyed worldwide. Amur has surprising depth and balance for such a cold weather wine grape. It should age nicely for a number of years. It has an intriguing depth of flavor, with ample fruit on the front, but possessing a strong tannic structure in the back. I don’t know what it is about this wine grape but it’s fascinating (if you are a wine nerd like me at least). We finally decided to bite the bullet and bought a bottle; weight limit be damned on our return trip. It was really starting to get cold when we finally flew back to California so we were wearing our heavier clothes and after some shuffling between our two suitcases, we squeaked in right at the weight limit. The Amur is now sitting in our wine cellar and we’ll let it age for a couple of years and see how it improves.

While we still have a few cooler weather regions to try in the US, the Finger Lakes will be exceedingly tough to beat. The scenery is stunning and the wines are great, especially if you like Rieslings and drier Gewürztraminers. Even the Gruner Veltliners were pretty good (although they still aren’t our favorite wines). We will definitely be back.