Fruits and flavors found in out-of-the-ordinary wines

Specialty wines shared the spotlight with vinifera wines at the 2003 New York Wine & Food Classic.

JEFF RICHARDS/Star-Gazette Arcadian Estates Vineyards' 2002 Cool Hand Peach wine earned a double gold medal at the 2003 New York Wine & Food Classic, held Aug. 3 and 4 in Napa, Calif

In the last two columns, I've covered several award- winning wines entered by Finger Lakes wineries at the annual competition in Napa, Calif. This week, we'll finish with a roundup of some of the specialty wines that fared well in the Wine & Food Classic.

Riesling wines provided a strong showing again this year. Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard's 2002 Riesling Reserve won the Governor's Cup, judged the best wine entered in the competition. There were also several excellent cabernet franc wines entered in the competition. These award-winning wines provide further evidence that good dinner-type red wines can be produced in the Finger Lakes. How did wines that were made from other than vinifera grapes fare at the competition? Quite well, thank you very much.

The non-vintage Wisteria wine from Miles Wine Cellars earned a double gold medal and was voted the best in the blush wine category. When you think of California judges, who made up part of the panel, one might guess that the judges would be looking for a white zinfandel or gamay wine as a finalist in this category. As it turns out, the winning entry was made mostly from the eastern American Catawba grape, often criticized for its grapy, foxy taste.

Finger Lakes winemakers have learned how to do wonderful things with grapes that have been here for centuries.

The wine opens with sweet peach and strawberry flavors. It finishes with a crisp, almost cranberrylike tart taste. I was surprised to learn that this wine has 6 percent residual sugar.

Lakewood Vineyards' 2002 Borealis and Swedish Hill Winery's non-vintage Country Concord are two other wines that earned double gold medals in the Wine & Food Classic. Both wines are made from another eastern grape: the concord, the same grape type used by Welch's to make its purple grape juice.

The specialty wine class also provided some very pleasant surprises. The non-vintage Pear Meade from Earle Estates Meadery was voted best in that category. Pear wine was blended with mead, wine made from fermented honey, to create its winning entry. The Pear Meade is sweet and smooth, with tastes of honey, pear and ripe melon. What a delight.

Arcadian Estates Vineyards earned a double gold for its 2002 Cool Hand Peach. Winery owner Mike Hastrich had finished pressing the peaches and had begun the fermenting process when he brought Dave Shope on board as winemaker last year. Dave's work with the peach wine-in-progress turned out to be quite a winner. He heard from other winemakers, who had already seen the results, that he had earned a double gold for the peach wine.

"I started jumping up and down," Dave says. "It was my first contest." He went on to say that although the award honors him, he isn't letting it go to his head.

Dave knows that there is a lot more to learn in the wine business. He is already preparing the press for the next three tons of peaches they will be getting from Red Jacket Orchards in Geneva to make the 2003 vintage peach wine.

Jeff Richards' wine column appears each Thursday on the Twin Tiers Life Food Page. For comments or questions, he can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: thewineguy