2011 Riesling Growers

John Leidenfrost – East side Seneca Lake.  The Riesling portion of this vineyard is higher up the slope than the Pinot Noir but this makes sense as you want the Pinot as close to the warming effects of the lake as possible.  As you walk the vineyards, you have to make sure not to trip off the huge hunks of rocks that are often upturned from the tractors in the vineyard.  This fruit was the earliest we harvested and as the wine ages it shows more and more earth and wet stone…very complex.

Harvest – Thursday Oct. 6th

Chris Verrill – East side Seneca Lake.  We were introduced to Chris through Morten Hallgren of Ravines fame.  This vineyard is deceiving because the slope is gentle and at first glance, the richness of the soils would make you think the wine that this vineyard gives would be fruity but it is very much the opposite.  The wine produced from Chris’ vineyard shows a distinct minerality.

Harvest – Oct 12th

Sawmill Creek Vineyards – East side Seneca Lake.  This is a well known and very respected vineyard and everyone wants to work with the fruit grown here.  The funny thing is that in 2011 we had not had this vineyard scheduled in our line-up: fortunately, we were at the right place at the right time and were able to secure a little bit of fruit.  We are very happy with the results and the resulting richness is very interesting.

Sunrise Hill Vineyards – West side of Cayuga Lake.  This is a relatively new and incredibly maintained vineyard.  The amount of work that goes into this vineyard is really amazing.  What we like about this vineyard is the proximity to the lake and the fact that there is always great air movement.  This will allow us to harvest much later than other vineyards.  That is REALLY exciting.  This year we picked in two passes.

Harvest – Oct 17th…1st pass

Harvest – Oct 28th…2nd pass

Images of Riesling harvest from 2011

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