Our Winery
News
Listen to Judy on Finger Lakes Wine Country blog radio about Barbecue at the Wineries June 26 & 27
A great review from Dave Falchek from the Gewurztraminer Twitter tasting on April 14:
"From when I started drinking Finger Lakes wine in the early 1990s I viewed Keuka Spring Vineyards as a good performer, plugging away, but unlikely to rock the Kasbah. Today, I view it as one of the top wineries in the region. Not only has it developed a competency with a range of wine styles, it is a pioneer on the east side of Keuka Lake –one of my favorite places on earth to be.
The Keuka Springs wine was off-dry, compared to the other, which were bone dry. The nose hit some vanilla and gala apple skin notes and the flavors were of white peach and spice. A bit candied, but acid and phenolics pulled it all together at the end with nice balance. This wine improved with more time in the glass. 4/5 $17."
Full link at http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/emptybottles/?p=161
Keuka Spring Vineyards Wins Best White Wine in
hear Mark's interview on Savor Life about the award
See Democrat and Chronicle reporter Jeff Blackwell's video about Keuka Spring
and the Keuka Lake Wine Trail
and a written article about Keuka Lake wine
Harvest Update from
Glorious Gewürztraminer
We have picked and received all of the grapes for the season, crushed and de-stemmed them. Some, like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, are undergoing punchdown and pump-over a few times daily in order to complete fermentation on the skins and extended maceration. Others are pressed, and in tanks and beginning their transformation into wine.
An example this year for
Just like the color change this year, our harvest was, in a way, slow and gradual. Like the photographer waiting for the perfect moment when the leaves are that just-right combination of fire red, amber, and pumpkin orange, we waited, and watched, with crossed fingers for the grapes to attain a beautiful ripeness, while hoping to stave off too many cold mornings. We did have that
Our first batch to come in were Cayuga White grapes at the end of September (25). Harvest lasted a full month (about the time it took for all the leaves to change here). Last to be harvested were Cabernet Franc and Lemberger grapes at the end of October (29). Upon recommendation, we had dropped Cabernet Franc clusters twice earlier in the season to encourage maximum ripeness in the grapes and were hoping it paid off. Each of these batches came in at solid Brix levels. Tonnage was reduced in the Cabernet Franc due to our cluster-dropping (about half average). Lemberger was productive as usual, producing a nice amount of yield. In between this time Chardonnay (hand-harvested this year), Riesling, Seyval Blanc, Vignoles, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were harvested and received, all at Brix levels and quality which
View a photo collage of this year's harvest.
May 2009
We are now pouring 8 gold medal winning wines in the tasting room. Recent winners include: Riesling Reserve 2007, Riesling, Riesling 2007, Crooked Lake White, Pinot Noir 2007, Lemberger 2007, Cabernet Franc 2007, Merlot 2006 and Miller's Cove Red 2006. It's a great time to taste these vintages. More on competitions and the 2007 is featured below. In addition, several of our wines have recently been featured in Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, such as Chardonnay 2006 (86 pts.), Gewurztraminer 2007 (85 pts.), Pinot Gris 2007 (84 pts.), Miller's Cove Red 2006 (86 pts.), and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2007 (86 pts.). You don't want to miss out on these spectacular wines: come in and taste them or order online!
Find us on Facebook! We now have a Facebook page and are a Facebook group. We look forward to connecting with you.
Our tasting room is now open daily so please stop in and visit. The blooms are out and it's really beautiful in Keuka Lake country.
Febuary 2009
Another gold medal for Keuka Spring!
In the recent Florida State International Wine Competition, Keuka Spring Vineyard's Lemberger took a Gold medal. We have entered this competition for a number of years. 1382 wines were entered, of which 180 took gold medals. Other Keuka Spring wines awarded in this competition include 2007 Chardonnay, 2007 Cabernet Franc, Celebrate, Claras Red, 2007 Reserve Riesling, 2007 Merlot, 2007 Merlot Reserve, 2007 Epic Reserve, 2007 Pinot Noir, Harvest Blush, 2007 Seyval Blanc, 2007 Cayuga White, 2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 Riesling, Crooked Lake Red, 2007 Millers Cove Red, and 2007 Gewürztraminer.
People often ask about competitions. How do they work? Do we travel to each one to enter our wines? The answer is no. We submit our wines to the competitions and they judge the wine with a panel of tasters. Many of the judges have extensive experience sampling and evaluating wines, and biographies of the panel of judges can often be found on the competition's web site. Why do we enter competitions? They give us, and those who taste our wine, a sense of where we stand in wine quality and taste in the wider wine world. Our wines are compared not only with New York and wines from the Eastern U.S., but also compared with wines from the West Coast of the U.S., including California, and all over the country, and most often, with wines from all over the world. We are proud of how our wines and Finger Lakes wines have fared in competition.
News from 2008 that is applicable to the vintages available now!
An Outstanding 2007 Harvest
2007 was an excellent season for our wine grapes here at Keuka Spring. We had warm weather, high Brix count in the grapes (Brix is a measure of sugar and ripeness), and outstanding grape quality. As usual, we took great care in the vineyard and winery to ensure that the 2007 vintages will be superb. For example, as in the past, we hand-picked the estate Lemberger and Cabernet Franc grapes.
According to Len, the 2007 season and vintage is comparable to 2005 in terms of warmth and dryness of weather and ripeness and quality of the grape harvest.
