Grape Expectations: Finger Lakes

In college, my drinking habits were regrettably limited to keg parties and games of flip-cup drowning in a watery brew my friends termed “the Beast.” Though Syracuse was mere miles from the Finger Lakes, I never visited the area’s celebrated cluster of more than 80 vineyards. So, long after I’d graduated from cheap beer, I head back to the region for a far more sophisticated drinking game: the wine crawl.

Five hours from Boston, the meandering roads around Cayuga and Seneca lakes force a slow, circuitous route, but I’m determined to hit a dozen sipping rooms in two days. Unlike in Napa or even Long Island, Finger Lake winemakers seem to spend paltry sums on tasting rooms; most consist of a rustic barn and a few folding tables. Instead, money goes to wine production and quality control—a tradeoff I’ll learn to appreciate. As a bonus, I find a handful of new, romantic luxury bungalows around each lake. (There’s nothing like wining with country folk by day and sleeping in a Frette-draped king-size bed by night.)

At the Hosmer Winery near Cayuga Lake, the energetic hostess has a spiel for every bottle: The 2005 chardonnay is full of pear and melon, while the 2003 Vintner’s Reserve riesling is “balanced and lush.” The Cayuga white grape, I learn, is a French-American hybrid created by Cornell University in the ’60s that grows best around its namesake lake. The winery’s delicious 2004 Cayuga white is floral like a sauvignon blanc, but has the feather-lightness of a riesling.

The quality of Cayuga whites I come across varies considerably, but the rieslings are always exceptional. Forty years ago, prominent vintner Dr. Konstantin Frank was the first to produce European grapes at his eponymous Keuka Lake winery, guessing correctly that the vines would be able to withstand central New York’s cool climate. Today he still grows some of the region’s best dry and semidry styles (his 2004 dry riesling has won multiple national awards).

And ice-style wines are mostly a hit, too. At Standing Stone Vineyard, husband-and-wife team Tom and Marti Macinski make an award-winning variation. But judging by the humble yellow farmhouse, fame hasn’t gone to their heads. In the rickety barn out back, a friendly old fellow in a plaid shirt pours samples of vidal. After the initial sweetness, apricot and honeysuckle balance into something lovely and mellow.

The local reds I try, on the other hand, are mostly flat and uninspired. I taste dozens of flabby cabernet francs and almost give up altogether—until I reach Lamoreaux Landing in Lodi. Its tasting room is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, with 16-foot-tall picture windows overlooking Seneca Lake. As a pretty, laid-back staffer describes how the eastern shore’s soil conditions and wind patterns nurture red varietals better than those on other sides of the lake, a swish cowboy from Colorado saunters up and asks her to prove it. She pours a sample of the 2003 merlot. Together, we sip. We consider. He gives her a nod. “Not bad at all,” he proclaims, before asking for another glass.

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