Wine Press FINAL 10-14-10

July 14, 2012

 

             New Yorkers discover New York, Kevin Z returns, Classic coming up, and lots more happening in New York Wine Country.  Happy Bastille Day!

 

             Cheers!          

             Jim Trezise

New Yorkers discover New York (the other one)

 

           I spent most of this week escorting people from New York City around the Niagara and Finger Lakes wine regions, which proved to be a real eye-opener (and palate pleaser) for our guests.

            This "Vineyard Visit" is an important part of our overall New York City promotion program orchestrated by our colleagues Michael Gitter and Kayt Mathers of First Press Public Relations.  The group of 10 flew into Buffalo Sunday morning and visited the five participating wineries in the Niagara region; went to the New York Wine & Culinary Center for a tasting of wines from Thousand Islands Winery and 21 Brix (Lake Erie region); and enjoyed a superb "New York" dinner by Executive Chef Mike Sokolski created around four Finger Lakes wines before retiring at the Inn on the Lake in Canandaigua.  That long day was just the beginning!

             For the next two and a half days, the four retailers, three sommeliers, and three wine writers visited over 20 Finger Lakes wineries, worked half a day in the vineyards and cellars to get a "hands-on" experience, and enjoyed more great "local" food at Veraisons (Glenora), Red Newt Bistro, and Knapp Restaurant--a great illustration of how the wineries have driven the locavore revolution in the Finger Lakes.  The group also took a boat trip on Seneca Lake and was pampered at the fabulous Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel.

             This was an important and enjoyable group of young professionals in the wine world representing restaurants (Craft, Flatbush Farm, and Maslow6 wine bar), retailers (Flatiron Wines, Columbus Wines & Spirits, Union Square Wines, and Fermented Grapes), and media (Zagat.com/BlackBook, Metro--daily newspaper in NYC, Boston and Philadelphia--and Cravings).  None had previously been to either the Niagara or Finger Lakes regions!

               At the end of the visit while lunching at Knapp, I asked what their take-home impressions were in terms of the regions, the wines, the people, or anything else.  One prominent retailer said the trip made him realize that he needs to immediately create a new section in his store, a restaurateur told me privately that he ordered several wines that he sampled, and virtually everyone commented on the natural beauty of the Finger Lakes and the spirit of cooperation in the industry.

               A similar trip with a different group will take place in the Hudson River Region in late August, and another on Long Island in late October.  And there are lots of other plans and activities all the way through March of next year.  Getting attention in the world's most competitive wine market takes time, effort, and money, and we are grateful to the Department of Agriculture & Markets for securing the funding that makes it possible.

 "Z" is for Zraly

 

            About a year ago, Kevin Zraly received the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award.  How richly deserved.

          I recently had the pleasure of  chauffering Kevin around the Finger Lakes for a few days, since he came to attend the 50th anniversary of Dr. Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars where, decades ago, the then long-haired college student spent a winter graftings vines with the legendary Dr. Frank in a cold garage so he could better understand wine, literally from the ground up.

          That was only the beginning of a worldwide wine odyssey that has taken him to nearly every wine-producing region (with plans to visit the missing ones very soon).  His love of wine, the people who make it, and the regions inspired him to become the wine educator extraordinaire (Windows on the World Wine Course) and the author of the world's best-selling wine book, with four million copies sold--and counting.

           I've known Kevin for nearly 30 years, but what impressed me again is how nice a guy he is--no egomaniac like some I know--and how hard he works.  He was here to gather new material for the 27th annual edition of the Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, and at every stop engaged the winemakers and took copious notes, even though the amount of space that can be devoted to the region is tiny.  He really has a thirst for knowledge.

           I can't wait until the new edition comes out, and hope I can get a signed copy.

New York Wine & Food Classic 

          Our annual wine competition, the New York Wine & Food Classic, will take place in a month, with over 700 wines already entered and more than 20 expert judges from around the world to evaluate them.
             Representatives from the media include Jim Clarke, Caroline Helper, and Amy Zavatto from New York City; Fred LeBrun from Albany; Dan Berger from California; Bernard Burtschy from Paris; and Julie Arkell and Maggie Rosen from London.  Enologists Jill Blume from Purdue and Todd Steiner of Ohio State join Chris Gerling and Anna Katharine Mansfield of Cornell; and the wine education field is covered by Lorraine Hems, Linda Lawry, and Dr. Bob Small.  Retailers include Valerie Corbin of Astor Wine & Spirits in Manhattan and Bill Mahoney of Premier Wine & Spirits in Buffalo, with Rene Chazottes of the Pacific Club (CA) and Jerry Pellegrino of Corks (MD) bringing their restaurant expertise.  The group is rounded out with wholesaler Phil Ward and regional wine specialists Ann Littlefield (California), Ann Miller (midwest) and Coke Roth (Pacific Northwest).
              Organizing a wine competition is an awesome challenge, and fortunately we have Teresa Knapp to take it on, with a great group of volunteers and our other staff members helping out how she directs.  Even in a competition with only 700 wines, that means 2,800 individual bottles (4 per entry) which  have to be received, unpacked, coded, labeled with little stickers individually, repacked into boxes for individual flights, with the first bottles going onto a refrigerated truck and the others staying in the temperature-controlled warehouse.
              At the actual competition, in the back room, teams of two work on opening, pouring, and serving the wines to their respective panels, as well as clearing the glasses when they're done tasting.  Then there's the scoring, data entry, and so much else going on--organized chaos.
               A major reason we have the Classic at the Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel (besides it being a great hotel and a great supporter of the local wine industry) is that it is only about five miles from Lakewood Vineyards (Teresa's family's winery) where the entries are received, sorted and stored.  That proximity greatly saves time, hassles, and money.
                While the Classic is a ton of work over several months, it's always worth the effort--a great way to showcase who is doing the best job these days in New York, and to reward them by generating huge and immediate sales.    
 Free Run...

 

             New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli paid a visit this week to the New York Wine & Culinary Center where a small group of industry representatives enjoyed a luncheon meeting with him and some of his staff members.  The Comptroller is an elected official who has wide-ranging responsibility for the State's finances, and we appreciated his wanting to know more about the grape and wine industry's growth and aspirations.  He was clearly impressed with our economic impact ($3.76 billion annually) and the fact that 55 of 62 New York counties now have wineries, making wine a statewide industry.

 

                 Cazenovia Beverage Trail, the state's newest, is a great example of how the industry keeps expanding and cooperating.  There are now two businesses open--Good Nature Brewing, and Harvest Moon Winery at Critz Farms--with the new Owera Vineyards slated to open later this year and an Empire Brewing outlet next year.  Cazenovia is a charming little town at the south end of a lake of the same name (south of Syracuse), and lies in the district of Assembly Agriculture Committee Chairman Bill Magee, a great champion of our industry as well as the rest of agriculture.

 

                 Finger Lakes Wine Festival is on this weekend at the Watkins Glen International racetrack, with thousands of people boosting the regional economy with purchases of wine, food, gasoline, hotel rooms, gifts and much else.  The wine industry is a major economic engine on state and local levels.

 

                  Standing Stone Vineyards 2011 Riesling was #3 on the "Top 5 Rieslings Under $12" rated by Gregory Dal Piaz on Snooth.

 
 
               "Wine is liquid food."
                                                                  -- Robert Mondavi 
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