Two Finger Lakes Rieslings and a Meritage have received high scores in the most recent issue of Wine Spectator magazine, setting or tying records.
A dessert wine from Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars received the highest score ever for a Finger Lakes wine. The Dr. Frank Riesling Late Harvest Bunch Select 2008 ($69.99) earned a 92 rating.
In addition, Ravines Wine Cellars' Argetsinger Vineyards Dry Riesling 2008 ($24.95) received a 91 rating, making it the highest-scoring dry Riesling from the region. Ravines' 2006 Meritage ($24.95) earned a score of 89, tying it for the highest score ever for a Finger Lakes red wine with the Dr. Frank 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. Ravines' co-owner and winemaker, Morten Hallgren, was head winemaker for Dr. Frank's when that wine was made.
The Dr. Frank Riesling was produced in the labor-intensive, traditional trockenbeerenauslese (TBA) style, from grapes affected by the botrytis fungus, also known as "noble rot," that have shriveled into raisins. The wine's tasting notes explain the process: "The grapes were hand selected, crushed and then allowed to macerate on the skins for 15 hours. They were then pressed, cold settled and filtered. The wine then went through a slow cool fermentation for 60 days. It was then cold stabilized and filtered again in mid-December."
Fred Frank, president at Dr. Konstantin Frank, said his grandfather produced what is believed to be the first TBA style wine in the United States in 1962, the year Konstantin Frank founded the winery.
"The 2008 season had the perfect growing conditions to repeat this achievement and we are proud that this special dessert wine is able to gain recognition for Dr. Frank's and the Finger Lakes," Frank said.
The wine, which has a residual sugar content of 15 percent, earlier was named a Jefferson Cup nominee, the equivalent of winning a gold medal in the selective competition of American wines.
The Keuka Lake winery is at 9749 Middle Road, Hammondsport, Steuben County.
Ravines Wine Cellars also is celebrating its high ratings, which included a 90 for its Dry Riesling 2008 ($16.99), which has not been released yet.
"We were thrilled," Abel Gonzalez, who does sales and special events at the winery, said this week. He is the brother of co-owner Lisa Hallgren, who is on vacation with her husband.
Of the Meritage rating, he said, the Finger Lakes is producing a "very specific type of beautiful red wine," medium-bodied and pairing well with a variety of foods, rather than the high-tannin, heavier red wines of the West Coast.
The Argetsinger Riesling, which is a limited production and has not been officially released yet, will be sold mainly in the tasting room at 14630 State Route 54, Hammondsport, Gonzalez said. It will be available first to members of the winery's Ravinous Wine Club.
The ratings are important, Gonzalez said, because they allow restaurants and others who are considering buying the wines "to know we're respected."
The 2008 vintage for Finger Lakes Riesling “should be one of the best vintages yet for New York's Finger Lakes,” according to James Molesworth, senior editor at Wine Spectator.
He also said recently, “From dry to sweet versions, the Finger Lakes is slowly but steadily cementing its reputation as this country’s best source for Riesling.”
In one of the magazine’s recently published 2008 Finger Lakes Riesling Tasting Reports and in the wine ratings database, 58 Rieslings from 28 producers received reviews that are considered by the magazine to be outstanding to good.
Both are available online at www.winespectator.com, which requires subscriptions to read some stories.
Besides Dr. Frank and Ravines, the producers whose wines were honored are Anthony Road, Atwater, Belhurst, Cascata, Chateau Lafayette Reneau, Damiani, Hazlitt, Heart & Hands, Hosmer, Hunt Country, Keuka Lake, King Ferry, Knapp, Lakewood, Lamoreaux Landing, Red Newt, Red Tail Ridge, Rooster Hill, Sheldrake Point, Standing Stone and Wagner.
