It been a long time... NYS Wines Intro

Recently I've come to the realization that I have let some good things go to the wayside. One of which is my online tasting notes. In an attempt to regain some creativity in an increasingly mundane job I've decided to resume my online notes. So I've poured myself a glass of Trimbach Gewurztraminer and without further ado, I'd like to begin this week's tasting notes.

Rather recently I helped my wife write a wine article for the Buffalo News. While it was alot of fun and I received a decent amount of good responses from my participation one minor criticism remained with me. I had given the people of Buffalo a list of about 15 wines from regions outside of New York State. So as a bit of redemption, and while I collect and taste through local wines from both the Niagara Escarpment and Finger Lake wineries I decided to start with a little gem from Long Island that I found a few years ago. Pindar Pythagoras NV is a classic Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec that retails for around $14. Traditionally New York State wines are known for their white wine, specifically Riesling and Vidal Blanc, however, the red varietals on Long Island benefit from the same coastal weather conditions that is evident in cool weather Washington State wines. Pindar is a one of the wineries that is responsible for the uprising of the wine industry in Long Island. Long Island wines are bunched among a region called the Benchlands. This is a sandy and rocky sandstone wine region that was left by drifting glaciers thousands of years ago. While this vintage of Pythagoras celebrates the 20th anniversary of the winery, Pindar does not put a vintage date on the bottle. This light ruby wine exhibits essences of strawberry, black cherry, cocoa, cream, eucalyptus and raspberry. Pythagoras is a medium bodied red berry flavored wine with a sharp acidic light cranberryesque finish and a long oaky outro. Try pairing this wine with a barbecued duck confit sandwich with cilantro cole slaw and five year cheddar biscuits. For more information on Pindar or to order some wine from their fantastic portfolio please visit www.pindar.net

Thanks again for your time and remember to keep an open eye and an open mind. See you real soon.

Harpersfield Winery Taste

On the second installation of our Winemaker Wednesday series we featured the wine of Harpersfield Winery presented by the owner Patty Ribic. Chef Tim King and Pete Evanovich put out a spread of cold dishes that accompanied the wine perfectly with the Burgundy and Alsatian style wines the winery produces.

The two cold dishes offered was a lovely traditional Peruvian seafood Ceviche with scallops, shark, and whitefish; followed by a roasted vegetable gazpacho. Of course both of these were offered with handmade bread sticks, a cheese platter, and marscapone and chocolate sauce drizzled over crustini.

Before we get to the tasting notes, I'd like to mention a precursor. There was a bit of confusion on the supply of the wine we offered that day and only ended up featuring five of the six wines I promised. For those of you that showed up for this event, I am truly sorry for the confusion. I did however try to make up for it by opening a few bottles of unrelated Riesling to sample out to those who were willing to try. But enough about my downfalls and lets get on to the wine.

Harpersfield Winery is a unique winery located just outside of Geneva, Ohio. While Harpersfield has been around for decades, it only recently was bought and transformed the winemaking into into a French-based wine concept. The winery concentrates most of its 18 acre vineyard on the Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir varietals giving it that extra Burgundian/Alsatian flair. The wine itself isn't excluded from the old world style offered by the wineries French farmhouse decor. For more about Harpersfield please visit: www.harpersfield.com

Our first offering from this great winery was a Alsatian favorite Gewürztraminer. Gewürztraminer is slowly gaining popularity among American Riesling drinkers. The often mispronounced (ga-VERTZ-trah-mee-ner) and greatly misunderstood varietal offers a fantastic floral nose that other white varietals can't live up to. The Harpersfield 2005 Gewürztraminer "St. Fiacre" (retail $18) is deep gold in color with heavy honeysuckle and floral perfume reminiscent of the great Gewürztraminers coming from the Alsace. This great summer varietal is lightly effervescent upfront with a long fruity semi-dry finish. The strong floral tones and lightly semi-dry finish in this wine allow it to compliment any spicy dish. I suggest pairing this with pan seared scallops and Thai fried bananas.

The next wine we featured in the taste is a must have for any Chablis drinkers. While the Harperfield 2005 Chardonnay "Fut de Chene" (retailing at $24) tends to be on the pricier side for an Ohio Chardonnay, it still exhibits great value for its quality. "Fut de Chene" loosely translates to aged in oak barrels in French. John is responsible for introducing me to the elegance of French Chardonnay. Harpersfield does a fantastic job at retaining the minerality and elegance of Chablis Chardonnay but still shows the depth that Chardonnay offers in parts of Napa Valley. This Burgundian beauty offers an earthy nose with slight suggestions of tropical fruit. Full crisp fruit leads to a nice mellow lightly buttery finish. Try pairing this beauty with lobster in a Champagne butter sauce, spinach parpadelle noodles and salmon roe caviar.

For our next selection we offered a varietal that does well in the Great Lakes climate. The Harpersfield 2004 Vin Gris de Chambourcin retails for $18 and is another great summer wine offered by the winery. Chambourcin is a French hybrid varietal that was widely popular in the 1970's. While most wineries offer this full aromatic varietal as a red selection, Harpersfield offers their Chambourcin as a rosé. This light pink wine offers strawberry, watermelon, and pear on the nose. Luscious fruit flavors lead to a long balanced finish. This was my favorite wine of the night and perfect for the patio on warm summer nights. John suggested serving this wine lightly chilled and after tasting I agree with the suggestion. Try pairing this wine with grilled tuna salad sandwiches with lemon-habanero mayonnaise and watercress.

Our first red selection for the evening was the Harpersfield 2005 Pinot Noir "Clos Mes Amis" (retail $25). Harpersfield does a fantastic job crafting cool climate Pinot Noir into an elegant wine that would stand up to many of its Burgundian counterparts. The 2001 vintage of this wine won a bronze medal in a state wine competition. Much like the "Fut de Chene" this wine exhibited a nice balance between old world and new world styles. "Clos mes Amis" offers nice cherry, cocoa, and dark fruit essences on the nose. The palate offers full fruit flavors leading to a long smooth rounded finish. Try pairing this fantastic red with crepes fruits de mer.

We ended the evening with an Ohio offering of a Bordeaux varietal. Cabernet Franc is a tough little black grape that tends to do well in the Northern cooler climates. Thanks to DNA fingerprinting it has been established that this varietal is one of the parent varietals to Cabernet Sauvignon. The Harpersfield 2005 Cabernet Franc (retail $25) is deep ruby in color and has elements of black cherry, strawberry, and spice on the nose. Full and fruity upfront leading to a nice subtle plumy finish this wine is a very elegant example of this varietal. Try pairing this wine with grilled pork burgers indochine and potato frittes.

Thanks again for your ongoing support of events like this and I look forward to seeing you at another one in the near future. All the recipes on this weeks blog were sourced from www.foodnetwork.com. Until next time remember to to keep an open mind and an open mind.

John & Dan's Picks, March 1st 2007

Feburary was a busy month for wine tastes. Numerous other restaurants held their Fat Tuesday tastes and mid-winter tastes to boost their wine sales. Due to so much activity, we were unable to book a distributor this week. So, John and I decided this would be a perfect time to feature some of our favorite wines that we were unable to present before.

As always our wines were accompanied by some food. This week Chef Tim King put out a mixed cheese board, miniature shell pasta tossed in a meat sauce, mini tube pasta with mussels and alfredo sauce, and home made bread sticks to accompany the wine this week.

First we started with a wine represented by the Vintage Company, Nederberg Stein 2005 (retail $15). This white blend comes from the Western Cape, South Africa. While I am always a little reluctant in fully accepting South African wine this little beauty which is a blend of Chenin Blanc, Riesling, and Gewürtztraminer really caught my attention when I first tasted it. While many wine enthusiasts consider the South African Coast to be one of the up-and-coming wine regions of the world, I feel as a whole their wines and wine makers are in their adolescence and have yet to impress me with anything they have released. This does not however mean that I think South Africa will never produce good wine, I just think the program needs a bit more time to develop. However, Nederberg makes a pretty damn good wine indicating maybe South Africa is worth a revisit from time to time. While Nederberg was producing wine since 1937 the winery style and wine making really came around when they hired Gunter Brozel as their winemaker. He led them to their and South Africas first award in winemaking. Deep gold in color this wine exhibits tones of fresh pear and pineapple in the nose. Its light, fruity, and slightly sweet leading to a crisp acidic slightly tangy finish. Try this wine with a pan-seared tilapia with collard greens and dirty rice. For more information on this winery go to: www.nederburg.co.za

Next John and I decided to feature a wine new to the market. Marquee Chardonnay 2004 retails for around $12. Marquee's Classic series produces artisan style wines that are meant to be approachable and affordable small-batch wines. This wine from Victoria, Australia was bright hay in color featuring dried pineapple and hazelnut with a hint of oak in the nose. A nice bold fruit and slightly creamy start lead to a long citric finish. Try this wine with a creamed crawfish bisque or a roast chicken with cornbread and oyster stuffing and seasoned potatoes. To find out more about Marquee go to: www.marquee.com

Moving on to red we featured this new selection from Superior Beverage, Carneros Creek Reserve Pinot Noir 2004 (retail $24). This Pinot Noir is deep ruby, almost opaque in color which is a good indication of the intensity of this wine that shows cocoa, walnut, and heavy strawberry tones in the nose. This 2004 Pinot Noir has bold berry flavors upfront with a long rounded slightly spicy finish. John Webster described this wine as, "Without a doubt the finest Pinot Noir we have been offered in a long time." While I agree with him on the price point, I would be interested to see how well this intense (undervalued) wine would present itself with a little bottle age. I suggest getting some to cellar for a later date. Try drinking this wine with berry glazed roasted quail with carmelized onions and polenta. For more information on Carneros Creek wines check out this link: Carneros Creek Winery

For the fourth wine of the taste we tried Qupé Los Olivos Cuvée 2001 (retail $24). This Rhone blend of 53% Syrah, 27% Mourvèdre, and 20% Grenache is also a blend of the Ibarra-Young vineyard (67%) and the Purisima Mountain Vineyard (33%). Qupe is the brain child of Bob Linquist who is considered among the wine world as an innovative winemaker and along with the other few "Rhone Rangers" of Santa Ynez responsible for the popularity of Syrah in the American palate. This wine exhibits nice black cherry and plum with a hint of cocoa and tar on the nose. It is big and full upfront leading to a long rounded finish that seems to go on forever. This 2001 cuvée is hands down one of my favorite undervalued wines and has yet to dissapoint me every time I revisit it. Try this wine with grilled lamb kebobs served with lentils and wild rice. Find out more about Qupé at: www.qupe.com

We finished the taste with a unique varietal that thrives in South America, Tannat. Tannat is a rare French vareital that is assumed to have got its name from the heavy tannins in the wine. Our representaion of this strange grape is from Don Rodolfo Viña Cornejo Tannat 2004 and retails at $12. Its amazing that these young vines (six years old) produce such a full-bodied rich wine. At 6000 feet above sea level Don Rodolfo boasts being one of the highest altitude wineries in the world. This deep purple wine has heavy bright cherry and plum tones with a slight hint of honey and oak. The wine is dry and heavy with bright fruit that leads to a long acidic smokey finish. Try pairing this wine with beef curry and long grained rice. For some more information on this winery plase check out this link: Don Rodolfo

Sorry it took me so long to post this taste. I know I kind of fell behind, but within the next couple of days I will catch up with the other tastes and be right back on schedule. Until next time remember to keep an open mind and an open eye.