Empty Glasses

With Day One of TasteCamp EAST 2010 drawing to a close, we can draw a quick conclusion: the Finger Lakes is really a land made for riesling, but it’s not then good thing coming out of this region.

Sunset at Red Newt Bistro

During the course of the day, we’ve been lucky enough to have been treated with great care by the fine folks at Heron Hill Winery (who hosted the lunch and noon tasting which regroped many producers around Keuka Lake), at Ravines Wine Cellars (with an afternoon tasting of a large part of their lineup) and at Red Newt Bistro (who hosted the dinner and organized a tasting along with Fox Run and Anthony Road). I’ll come back with more details once I’ve decanted my experience, as there is a lot to say.

As one would expect, not all wines were excellent, but some have pulled ahead of the pack. I’m quickly thinking of Heron Hill’s Ingle Vineyard Riesling 2007, which after tasting the 2002 will make you wonder how long it will last. The dry rieslings from Ravines are straight, focused and have a clear plan in mind, which holds up remarkably well over the three vintages which were presented to us. I was also surprised by the general quality of the red wines presented by Red Newt, Anthony Road and Fox Run, not only the collaboration Tierce 2007 in red (and from 2004 to 2006 in riesling), but the Merlot, the Syrah (!) and the Cabernet Franc/Lemberger.

I am sure that Day Two will bring as much pleasure, discoveries and enjoyment. It will take me a while to sort through everything, but I can take one thing for granted: there will be lots to talk about.

Related posts:

1. Tasting Through Riesling at TasteCamp 2010
2. Highlights from TasteCamp 2010
3. Can’t Get Enough of that Wonderful Riesling

Tags: Finger Lakes, Fox Run, Heron Hill, Ravines, Red Newt, Riesling, TasteCamp

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 8th, 2010 at 12:25 am and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.