It’s one case where
wine and lawmaking do mix: A recent Supreme Court ruling may change how New
York State wine lovers get their wine and how local wineries sell it.
In May the Supreme
Court decided that in New York and Michigan — two states being sued for
unfair trade practices — both interstate and instate wine shipping should
follow the same rules. As it stands in New York, only wines shipped from
instate wineries (or from out-of-state wineries that have legally established
themselves within the state, although, so far, there aren’t any) have the right
to ship directly to consumers.
Now the state has two
choices: allow all shipments of wine from any state or stop the mailing of wine
altogether. That could mean trouble for most wineries in the Finger Lakes,
especially the smaller ones that rely mostly on direct and mail sales. Luckily,
Governor Pataki announced he is in support of shipping wine — providing a
reliable system can be put into place to stop underage wine buying.
It might not be quite
what a wine lover wants to hear, i.e., that it’s not a sure thing, but it is a
step in the right direction. If all goes well, consumers and small wineries all
over the country will benefit.
The
dream of getting unique and different wines without major
travel may finally become a reality. This is true for non-New Yorkers who want
wines from Long Island, the Hudson Valley, or the Finger Lakes. Finger Lakes
wineries like Bloomer Creek, Ravines, Red Newt, Shalestone, or Silver Thread,
as well as many others, would benefit — as will wineries and wine lovers in
Washington, Texas, and California. And although we Rochesterians are lucky to
be so close to the Finger Lakes, we should not ignore all those other great but
small wineries across the country.
Believe it or not,
even California has areas that are relatively unknown in relation to the “big
picture” of wine regions. We may all know the Napa and Sonoma wine regions or
even the Santa Barbara region made famous by the recent film Sideways, which has led to the increased
popularity of Pinot Noir, but have you heard of Carmel Valley wines?
Carmel-by-the-Sea is a
place where thousands of people go to visit each year. (Remember when Clint
Eastwood was its mayor?) If you go, hopefully someone in town will suggest you
sample some of the pretty fine wines being made in the valley.
That someone might be
Michael Burke, manager of one of the best cheese shops in the country. Burke,
who has been with The Cheese Shop (831-625-2272, www.cheeseshopcarmel.com) for
32 years, is also chief wine buyer and a very good winemaker himself. His Chardonnay,
which he produces with Dave Askew under the White Barn label, is serious and
well balanced. It’s a wine you can sip on its own or with some good cheese and
bread.
Burke helped me taste
some of the best wine being produced in the area. I even met some winemakers
who — no surprise — were passionate about what they do. They reminded me of
all those other passionate people in the Finger Lakes wine region who care so
much about the land, the wine, the people.
One of the winemakers
I met was John Saunders, who, with his wife Jana, runs Boรซtรฉ winery
(831-659-7563, www.boetewinery.com). When I visited Saunders on his 14-acre
winery (seven of which are planted) he was out in the vineyard, pulling off
extra leaves and clusters of grapes to help the grapes get more sun and thus
intensify flavor. He was doing this work himself under the hot, valley sun.
“This,” he said, “is something I want to do for the rest of my life.”
And his wines show his
dedication. He makes two wines, a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cabernet Franc. Both
are rich, flavorful big reds. Like most California wines, Saunders’ wines are
fine to drink on their own. But both were also quite subtle and would not
overpower food on the table.
Bill Parson’s
Parsonage Village Vineyard (831-659-2215, www.parsonagewine.com) is just below
Boรซtรฉ. They actually share some
grapes. Although Parson’s lot is smaller, he grows more grape varieties. Along
with Cabernet Sauvignon, he has a good amount of Syrah, some Malbec, Merlot,
even some Petit Verdot — all three of the latter, along with the Cabernet,
are traditional Bordeaux blending grapes. He even grows a little Grenache.
Parsons, like
Saunders, also makes rich and wonderfully well-crafted wines. Interestingly,
although Saunders and Parsons are right next door to each other, their wines
are very different. They even differ in their philosophy over how much water to
use in irrigation. One prefers to allow his grapes to drink and be happy while
the other wants his grapes to be in constant struggle for water so that they
come out fighting. It makes them edgier. In the end, both philosophies produce
extraordinary wines.
At Parsonage, Parsons
let me taste some Petit Verdot straight out of the barrel. Although a wine is
seldom made from Verdot alone — it is usually a blending grape — this
Verdot showed a lot of promise on its own. It’s very aromatic and almost
flowery. I visited Parsons at the same time as two winemakers from Texas,
Richard and Bunny Becker. Becker’s Claret and especially his Viognier, both
produced under the Becker Vineyards (830-644-2681, www.beckervineyards.com)
label, were quite good, dispelling any preconceived prejudices against wines
from Texas. (By the way, Texas has just passed a law allowing interstate
shipping.)
Whereas
Parsons and Saunders produce about 1200 cases of wines —
they are small wineries relying mostly on the winemakers, their families, and a
handful of employees — Galante, another Carmel Valley winery, is a bit
larger. It has 55 acres of grapes and produces about 6000 cases of wine a year
(compared to some wineries that produce hundreds of thousands).
Winemaker Greg Vita
oversees operations at Galante (831-659-7620, www.galantevineyards.com).
Although Vita makes some Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, he mostly concentrates
on Cabernet Sauvignon — actually, he makes three. Rancho Galante is a blend
of different clones of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape; it is versatile and easy
drinking. The Red Rose Hill is made from a small-berried grape that produces a
lot of tannins that allow this wine to age with grace. You can easily be enjoying
this one in 2025. The third one, Black Jack Pasture, is made from a clone that
has a large berry and therefore is a huge, juicy wine that can age, but it is
also quite drinkable shortly after bottling. It is one of those wines you can
enjoy by itself or with a slab of perfectly marbled Prime rib-eye steak. (What
else could stand up to all that flavor?)
Last, but not at all
the least, is a small winery across the hills from Carmel Valley, De Tierra
(831-484-2557), which has a total 5 1/2 acres — two of Chardonnay, three of
Merlot and one half dedicated to Cabernet Franc. Tom Russell, an organic
farmer, began his winery because he liked to drink and collect wine and so
decided to try to grow and make his own.
With his wife, Carol,
and a winemaker/friend from Italy, Lucio Romero, he, too, produces some
incredible wine. His Chardonnay ranks up there with some of California’s best,
and the Merlot is a great example of what this varietal can taste like when
someone produces it with care. This definitely is not one of those grassy,
green-peppery, stewed Merlots that most of us get by the glass in some
restaurant trying to be au courant.
It takes a good amount
of time and effort to make a good bottle of wine in general, but De Tierra
vines get a lot of additional hands-on coddling, plus they’re all organically
grown. This requires even more care, such as watching for mildewed leaves or fruit
that needs to be thrown out, which in turn, increases the cost of production.
Unfortunately for us,
most of these boutique wines are not yet available to the New York consumer. Of
course, the same, sadly, can be said about a Californian wanting to ship home a
case or two from one of the Finger Lakes’ finest. But if the legislature in
Albany can get things moving in the right direction, wine lovers everywhere can
afford to get some very special wines.
This article appears in Jun 15-21, 2005.
