News & Notes

-- Calling all wineries from around the world, don't forget that the deadline of March 27, 2006 is fast approaching to submit your wine for entry into the 2006 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition with judging being done April 1-2 in Rochester NY. Last year's event attracted over 1600 wines from around the world.

-- Lenn at LennDevours blog clued me in to an interesting feature on the Appellation America website. They have descriptions of grape varieties paired with artistic renderings of those grape personality profiles. They also have a good reference page for the Finger Lakes appellation. You can also submit your own descriptions of grape varieties that do not have descriptions yet. I submitted a description for one of my favorite Finger Lakes grapes, the Traminette grape developed at Cornell University-
Traminette-> You are the daughter of that spicy bad girl of grape royalty, Gewurtzraminer and that dependable hard-working gentlemen Seyval Blanc. You have your fathers balance and strong backbone, but you have your mothers zest for life. You are a perfect spring garden of floral scents whipped by the winds of enchantment. You are the Princess Diana of the grape world. On the outside, you may appear to be the quiet and obeying wife, but on the inside there is a fire that longs to seduce anyone who ventures to know you.

-- Glenora Wine Cellars is running some wine specials: Monarch Cabernet – a fruit forward, easy drinking red, $8.99 for a 1.5L or $6.99 for a 750ml. Catawba – light, refreshing and grape flavored, $9.99 for the party size 1.5L.
Or if you need a little incentive to re-stock your wine cellar, order a full case of wine (either on line or by phone) and use coupon RESTOCK06 and they'll take an extra 5% off your purchase. (That’s a total of 20% per case!) Also, in their recent newsletter, they answer a question that has been on my mind, what with the unusual winter weather in the Finger Lakes this year:

"How are the vines doing, is the question that we often hear at this time of year as many of our friends and customers are concerned if the winter has caused damage to the vines (actually the fruiting buds.)
Each grape variety has a different tolerance to cold temperatures ranging from 0 degrees Fahrenheit for a variety such as Merlot to minus 5 to 10 degrees for Riesling and Chardonnay, to a minus 15 for many of the native varieties.
Unfortunately it not quite as clear cut as just being a “temperature only thing.” Other factors that can impact a vines’ ability to withstand winter cold temperatures would be the stresses of the previous growing season (heavy crop, lack of rain, and disease pressure). Probably the biggest potential for bud damage is an extreme rapid change in temperature. We are definitely walking the tightrope now with respect to “some possible bud damage” to “significant bud damage.” Our weather pattern this past week has been one that could create issues for us. Temperatures reached a high of 55 degrees last Thursday night then started to decline. By Sunday morning we were at 7 degrees. We will be cutting buds to check for damage this week. Keep your fingers crossed!" The Weekend Wino will certainly be saying a prayer for the vines!

--Sheila Livadas at FingerLakesWine.com writes her latest Finger Lakes winery profile on Atwater Estate Vineyards, located on the east side of Seneca Lake.