Bringing the Wines of New York to the Wine Bloggers Conference

When Lenn Thompson, Publisher and Editor of LENNDEVOURS blog, and I decided to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma last month, the wheels in Lenn’s head started turning, looking for an opportunity to get our beloved NY wines in front of a group of wine bloggers from around the country and beyond sometime during our gathering. He asked me to help him to gather a selection of wines from the Finger Lakes AVA and have them shipped out to our wine blogger friend, Russ Beebe of winehiker witiculture, the official blog for californiawinehikes.com who took great care of them for us. The tasting was structured as a casual, and self-guided overview of NY wines with Lenn opening the bottles and placing them on the countertops of the kitchen area at the center of the gathering of around 40 bloggers who were invited. As Lenn outlined in his post about reactions to the New York wines, it was the end of a long day with many wines already poured during the day’s earlier events, so this casual setting was well-received. For reactions to specific wines, please see Lenn’s post and watch for updates on Open Wine Consortium.

Thank you to all of the wineries who submitted their wines for the tasting. A recommended next step would be to follow up with some of the bloggers in attendance with additional wine submissions for their review (for those who accept submissions), from the comfort of their homes, now that they have had an overview of NY wines.  Feel free to contact me directly if you’re interested in discussing this strategy.

Dr. Konstantin Frank was one of the winery sponsors of the Wine Bloggers Conference and a review of the submitted 2006 Rkatsiteli is posted on my new friend, (and fearless WBC chauffeur) Remy Charest’s blog The Wine Case.

Finger Lakes Reds Rated Good to Very Good in October Wine Enthusiast

So when you think about the wines of the Finger Lakes, do you automatically think of Riesling? Of course, the region is most famous for its white wines, and now the producers here are receiving increasing acclaim for their red varietals as well.

The October issue of Wine Enthusiast includes reviews of fifteen wines of the Finger Lakes, thirteen of which are Finger Lakes reds, in the monthly section “The Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide” . The wines that were reviewed include:

87 Chateau Lafayette Reneau 2005 Owner’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

87 Dr. Konstantin Frank 2006 Dry Rose

87 Red Newt Cellars 2005 Cabernet Franc

86 Damiani 2006 Barrel Select Cabernet Sauvignon

86 Sheldrake Point 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon

86 Swedish Hill 2005 Optimus

85 Goose Watch 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

85 Keuka Springs 2005 Epic Reserve

85 Treleaven 2006 EIS Lake Harvest Riesling

84 Anthony Road 2006 Cabernet Franc / Lemberger

84 Atwater 2005 Red Table Wine

84 Bellangelo 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

84 Billsboro 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon

84 McGregor 2005 Black Russian Red

84 Shaw NV Keuka Hill Reserve Red Table Wine

The review of Chateau Lafayette Reneau stands out for the winery’s distinction as having a reputation for elegant wine and could be one to look to for more quality reds in the future. Overall, this is real progress for the region, on its way to establishing a solid presence within the top consumer wine publications that are so often looked to for a stamp of approval, both by wine consumers, distributors and those in the direct-to-trade circuit.

Several wines from Long Island were also included and rated at 86. Bully Hill NV Ravat 51 received a rating of 84 and designation as a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy.

NY Wineries: Interested in Getting Your Wine in Front of Top Wine Bloggers?

 

Lenn Thompson at top blog LENNDEVOURS just announced the first Wine Bloggers Conference 2008, October 24-26 in Sonoma, CA.  In his post, he presents a golden opportunity for NY State wineries:

“There will be speakers like Gary Vaynerchuk and Alice Feiring, vineyard walks, tasting competitions and wine dinners. There will also be an informal (or maybe even a formal) New York wine tasting if I can get a handful of NY vintners to sign on with me.”

If you’re interested in the opportunity to have your wines featured at this gathering of the top wine bloggers, please contact Lenn Thompson directly at lenndevours (at) gmail.com.  He’s still working out details with the event organizers at this time.

UPDATE:  I will be attending this event, my first time in Sonoma!  My husband is the best!!!  I’ll keep you updated as we get closer to the date.

Finger Lakes Wine Event: Only 6 Full Judges Tickets Left for the Golden Nose Awards

The Finger Lakes Third Annual Golden Nose Awards are almost here and this will be my first experience with the event. I’m happily holding a Full Judges Ticket and I’m very excited about it. The awards are based on the selections of a panel of consumer wine judges who will be tasting and rating the wines of the Finger Lakes Appellation. The Golden Nose Awards judging, dinner and awards ceremony will be on Saturday, May 31 at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY with a welcome reception on Friday, May 30 at The Rockwell Museum of Western Art. Fellow Golden Nose Awards Judges, let me know if you would like to connect at the reception.