What's in the Bottle: 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon

by Peter Bell, winemaker

After a whirlwind couple of weeks helping to wrap up the Tierce Riesling blend, serving with Scott and Tricia as a judge at the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, and giving a couple of lectures at the Rochester Institute of Technology, I finally found time last night to open and enjoy a bottle of our 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon that I'd found in my cellar.

If You Can't Laugh at Yourself....

by Dan Mitchell, regional sales manager

Wine is intimidating without a doubt. For years I have hosted people in the tasting room and given them a snapshot of cool climate Finger Lakes wines. I never speak about wines from other regions; I know enough to say "I don't know."  After I've given visitors a tour and extended tasting, they often ask, "How long have you been working here?" My answer is always the same: "Today's my first day, but I drink a lot of wine."  And if I'm feeling corny I'll tell them I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

There's No Telling Who You're Going to Meet in New Jersey

by Lauren Brunhofer, PR intern 


In college, there are two words that are very sacred to the average student: “Spring Break”. This week-long vacation is more than just a few days off from classes and academic responsibility. It is an opportunity to regain a sense of sanity after the seemingly endless duration of midterms. While some of us were lucky enough to venture off to a tropical oasis, I spent my Spring Break at home in everyone’s favorite state… New Jersey. Although I was unable to sip fruity drinks while sinking my toes into the sand, the weather was steadily above 50 degrees, which was paradise in comparison to the tundra of Geneva, NY.  

Dispatch from the South. The Deep South. The REALLY Deep South.

by Kelby Russell, winemaking team member from afar

Greetings from Tasmania!  (No, no... not Tanzania.  Look further east and to the south.  Nope, that's New Zealand.  Great place, had a blast making wine there last year, but look back to the west a bit.  It's part of Australia.  No, not quite - down a bit.  The huge island south of the main continent.  Bingo!  That's me waving from the north-central part of the heart.  Can you see me?  Excellent.)  Welcome to a land with a tiny yet hugely friendly population, the highest valued grapes in Australia, and simply unfathomable amounts of road kill -which I say full and well knowing what November in Western New York looks like.

A Little Information Is A Dangerous Thing

by Dan Mitchell, Regional Sales Manager & Resident Wise Man

Wine questions can be tough to answer. For years I have harassed Peter for information and was sometimes frustrated when he would answer my question with "I can't tell you why". In retrospect he could tell me, of course he could, but what he was really saying was "the answer is so complicated you will only get confused with the answer". Agreed. I spent six years in the tasting room before making the transition to full time on the road. I answered a lot of questions myself in that time (with Peter's information) and learned a long time ago that the answer to most wine related questions is "It depends on the wine".

Wine, Food, Music & Friends in the Beautiful Crescent

by Leslie Kroeger, Marketing Director

Spending time in New Orleans basically consists of eating, drinking, dancing, and listening to music - the latter being just about the best thing to do. Music is everywhere. When you get off the plane at Louis Armstrong Int'l Airport, the first thing you hear is good New Orleans Jazz. And from then on all you have to do is turn the dial to the best radio station in the world - 90.7 WWOZ; Listener supported radio that plays an amazing array of music from traditional New Orleans Jazz to new and local New Orleans musicians, R&B, Cajun, standard jazz, blues...all from the DJs' own record collections. It is quite eclectic.

2010 Tierce, Round II: That Selbstgefälling Feeling

by Peter Bell, winemaker

In my previous post on this subject, our heroes the Tierce Brothers (really six guys and a gal) had taken an initial, furtive stab at trying to see what our various tanks of Riesling looked like as a group.

Peter, Johannes, Dave: the Original Tierce Brothers, in a Rare Glamor Shot

This week we reconvened, minus Kelby, lugging bottles of the components that we considered appropriate for further evaluation. Twenty wines were now narrowed down to eight. The first exercise in what was going to become a long day of tasting was to see what the individual wines looked like, six weeks on.

Understanding Wine in One Quick Lesson

by Peter Bell, Winemaker

Yesterday I drove over to Ithaca, New York, to teach a class at Cornell University. The lecture I gave, titled Balance in Wine, has been a regular of mine in that class for 17 years now. I often begin by telling the students (most of whom are not planning to become wine makers) that understanding this concept is probably the single most powerful tool for understanding wine.

Lemberger Conquers the Big Apple?

by Dan Mitchell, Regional Sales Manager

I spent four days last week in The City That Never Sleeps and I found an interesting yet possibly not surprising fact: I didn't sleep very well.

Ramblings in the Sunshine State

by Peter Bell, winemaker

If you’re in the wine business, you can’t really escape wine, even while on vacation.  I wouldn't even want to really, but I’m often reluctant to tell strangers what I do for fear of what almost inevitably comes next: some variation on “Let me tell you about my experiences with wine…”