Niagara Escarpment

Local Wines for Summer Picnics

When you talk about the summer picnic season, you can’t avoid mentioning Memorial Day weekend, and with more Americans drinking wine these days, I can only assume beer won’t be the only thing people in western New York will be cooling off with this weekend. Since a recent Buffalo News wine story seems to have left out any mention of local wines in their picnic wine selections, I thought I’d give my two cents on what you should drink from local wineries with that picnic fare.

Chances are when you think of warm weather wines, you think of white, so I’ll start there. If you dig the dry stuff, Schulze Vineyards & Winery has a Siegfried Reserve 2007 wine that will bring that refreshing acidity and green apple fruit your mouth is watering for. If Riesling is your bag then, try either of these Niagara Escarpment AVA Rieslings. For the dry Riesling drinker in you Freedom Run Winery’s Estate Riesling 2008 is my pick, and if you like the hint of sweetness in a semi-dry, Eveningside Vineyards Riesling 2008 is for you.

For both the oaked and unoaked Chardonnay drinkers, I recommend Arrowhead Spring’s Chardonnay 2006. Duncan Ross seems to have a touch with this grape and I’d pour this one for any dry white drinker, no matter their love or hate of oak.

When you can’t decide what to pair with picnic foods, a dry to off-dry rosé usually does the trick. Freedom Run’s Celebration Series Dry Rosé is a great example of a crowd- pleasing summer sipper. With notes of strawberry and watermelon coming through in a supple yet refreshing rosé wine, this one doesn’t disappoint.

If you’re doing some BBQ’d meats you might prefer some reds at your picnic. In my opinion summer reds must be fruity with soft tannins and a medium body, and Leonard Oakes’ Frontenac 2007 is just that. It’s juicy and soft with mellow tannins that will pair well with BBQ ribs, pork or burgers. Schulze Vineyards & Winery’s Cabernet Franc 2007 is another versatile red that will pair well with those choices or even that grilled rib eye steak.

What do you pair with dessert or what do you serve for those sweet wine drinkers? Well Honeymoon Trail Winery’s Pink Catawba is a double-gold medal sweet wine that will win over those sweet taste buds. If wine IS the dessert, then Niagara Landing’s Vidal Blanc Icewine 2007 should fit the bill with its apricot and honey flavors and lengthy finish.

No matter what your eating or who you’re eating it with, it’s more than easy these days to find a Niagara wine to open up with your friends and family this summer. There’s truly something for everyone at these wineries, so don’t let your local wine expert’s silence about local wines lead you to believe that we are just doing sweet stuff out here this summer.

Some More Icewine Recognition

The more I get out and see what some other wine regions sell as dessert wine, and specifically how much they charge, the more I realize just how precious the climate of the Niagara USA wine region really is. While they do get a lot of local press, it's great to see national recognition of these small wineries' icewines. Schulze Vineyards & Winery just received a gold medal for their 2008 Vidal Icewine at the Riverside Wine Competition in California. Ann and Martin Schulze were thrilled when they read the news on the NYWGF’s website. Last time I visited the winery, Ann greeted me with a “Did you hear? We got our gold!"

As recent as last April, Wine Enthusiast included a photo and review of Niagara Landing’s 2007 Vidal Icewine with a score of 86 points. Last year the same wine was awarded a gold at the New York Food & Wine Classic. Arrowhead Spring Vineyards & Winery also got rave reviews from Wine Spectator recently for their 2005 Vidal Icewine with a 90 point score, a rare achievement for a New York State winery.

With 2009 bringing the addition of some interesting varietals other than vidal for icewines, I hope the momentum keeps moving in this direction as the world outside of this small community realizes they don’t need to shell out the big bucks to drink Ontario dessert wine. They may just find comparable quality from Niagara USA’s wineries at half the price.

Ice Wine Harvest 2009

Martin Schulze of Schulze Vineyards & Winery braving the chilly temps to harvest his frozen crop.

If there’s a buzz leaking out of the Niagara wine region it’s certainly coming from the handful of local wineries producing ice wine. Sure there’s red wines, white wines, dry wines and sweet wines in the region, but ice wine is one of the few varieties that we can declare with confidence is perfect for our climate.

As you know, ice wine is made from grapes left frozen on the vine and then harvested and pressed when temperatures settle below 18 degrees for a few days. The water in the grapes stay frozen and the sweet nectar of the grape is collected for fermentation. The end result is usually a wine with moderate alcohol, a high level of natural sweetness and laser-focused flavors. Usually fetching $40-$100 per half bottle (375ml), these wines are decadent and routinely call for a special occasion to drink.

Recently a New York Post travel writer visited several wineries here to highlight winter wines like ice wine and late harvest offerings. Our local media has considered the ice wine harvest to be newsworthy this season, as articles from the Buffalo News and Tonawanda News have featured some of our wineries that are making ice wine. Magazines like Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast have awarded respectable scores for these wineries, with Arrowhead Spring Vineyards receiving 90 points (WS) and Niagara Landing getting 86 points (WE).

There’s no doubt that this is just the beginning for local wineries that are taking advantage of our predictably cold climate. You can’t deny that the fastest journey to national recognition of Niagara wines may be through our ice wines. Expect more and more wineries to produce it every year as the buzz becomes louder and louder outside of just local media.

2008 New York Food & Wine Classic Results

The results are in for the NY Food and Wine Classic for 2008. The competition which has been called the "Oscars" of NY state wine is an all NY wine contest in which hundreds of wineries participate every year. The biggest prize, the Governor's Cup award was given to Swedish Hill Winery of the Finger Lakes for their 2007 Vidal Blanc still wine. They also picked up "winery of the year" based on number of awards given.

Niagara USA wines did well again this year as Niagara Landing, Schulze Vineyards & Winery and Honeymoon Trail Winery collectively scored eight medals. What I can only assume will be one of the next wineries to join the Niagara Wine Trail, Mayer's Lake Ontario Winery picked up two medals as well.

Here are the results for our local wineries:

Niagara Landing:
Gold- Vidal Blanc Ice Wine 2007
Gold- Chocolate Dream 2006
Bronze- Baco Noir NV

Honeymoon Trail Winery:
Bronze- Pink Catawba NV
Bronze- Frozen Niagara NV
Bronze- Full Moon NV

Schulze Vineyards & Winery:
Silver- Vidal Blanc Ice Wine 2008
Bronze- Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

As much as I think these awards go along way to bringing recognition to the Niagara Wine Trail, I also think that the way in which wine competitions are judged are generally flawed and that people shouldn't except results like these as an objective measure of quality. I would also like to add that more than half of the Niagara Wine Trail did not submit wines to this competition, so if your favorite winery didn't wine a medal they probably did not submit any wine. But those shiny medals sure look great hanging on those bottles in tasting rooms.

Wine Trail Promotions Expand

The Niagara Wine Trail's marketing effort has been expanding lately as it is focusing on Niagara Falls tourists and tourism operators and locals who still haven't made it to the wineries. The Niagara Tourism & Convention Corp. put together a who's who of tourism industry insiders to see for themselves what the area has to offer. One of those stops was Niagara Landing Wine Cellars in Lockport, NY. Obviously the goal is to draw tour operators to the wine trail, and hopefully add wineries to their packages.

The Vino Visa Pass is an innovative idea that promotes the "one price" ticket to visit each area winery. I've heard that in addition to it being available at the wineries, the pass will be sold at area grocery stores, thus reaching new customers that may not have been motivated to take the first step in visiting the wineries. The pass is $20 and is good for tasting at each of the twelve area wineries. The pass is good for one full year and makes a great gift.

Finally the wineries are offering a special for the next wine trail event, The Wine and Cheese Weekend, on June 14 & 15th. Each winery will have cheese from Yancy's Fancy to pair with wines. With a coupon, two tickets will cost $35 instead of the usual $40. I believe this is to encourage those whom have participated in past events to come out again. Local cheese with local wine, what could be better?

An Icy Return to Blogging

The past few months of long work days and hotel living haven't made for many inspired entries here. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I realized it may be interfering with my wine consumption as well. The fact is that it took a good arse-kicking from Lenn over at Lenndevours to get my fingers typing. Well that and a divine act from above which put me back in the Niagara Region for just a few days, one of which just happened to be the day when Niagara Landing and Schulze Vineyards & Winery harvested vidal grapes for ice wine. Check out my story at Lenndevours for the details.

You might also want to read the recent story in the Lockport Union and Sun talked about the ice wine harvest at Niagara Landing.