Comparing red wines, year by year

The red wine was really fine at Standing Stone Vineyards.

Thirty-five wine enthusiasts gathered around tables in the wine cellar on Sept. 28 to taste the Hector vineyard's Pinnacle wine. Owners Marti and Tom Macinski were our hosts throughout the vertical tasting comprised of seven successive vintages of their Bordeaux-style wine. The purpose of a such a tasting is to analyze the qualities of the same wine from year to year.

We sampled varying blends of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot wines that were used to create Pinnacle, Standing Stone's premium red wine, from 1995 through the 2001.

"95 ... had a good growing season, plenty of heat, sunshine and little rain," Marti said as she recalled the weather and what impact it had on the 1995 harvest. The vintage had held up very well, I thought. It had an earthy taste with some hints of chocolate.

According to Marti, 1996 was one of the all-time cold, wet seasons.

"Jim Hazlitt did a great job, pulled this one out in a big way," was how Marti referred to the crop that year. The 1996 blend turned out to be 90 percent cabernet sauvignon. It had a bright cherry taste and was fruitier than the 1995 vintage.

As we moved on to the 1997 vintage, Marti mentioned that it was the start of a "string of three very nice years." The 1997 Pinnacle was very rich, full and tasted of dark cherry -- and it had a worthy companion when we got to the 1999 vintage.

"Until 2001, many felt the 1999 vintage was the best," Marti said. It was a full, rich, smooth wine with cherry taste.

That brought us to the 2000 vintage Pinnacle. Several wineries succeeded in making excellent red wines for that challenging year, and the 2000 Pinnacle is a great example. Although it was lighter in body, it had a bright fruit taste. It also earned the best Bordeaux-style wine in the 2003 New York Wine & Food Classic.

Ah, but what about the 2001 Pinnacle? "We try to be in sync with Bordeaux, in line with fine wine producers," Marti said. The yet-to-be-released 2001 Pinnacle is a very full-bodied, rich wine with dark cherry taste. As a young wine, it leaves some tannin on your tongue, but it already is a wonderful wine. It will only get better with age.

Tom and Marti's original vision for their winery focused on Riesling and chardonnay grapes. They were therefore dependent on area growers for a supply of red grapes during Standing Stone's first years of operation.

After early success with red wine, Tom and Marti decided to revise their business plan and planted red grapes in 1997 and 1998. According to Marti, as the young vines mature they should produce grapes with more fruit flavor and structure for the wines.

"We are control freaks, Marti added. "From now until harvest we will be watching the vineyards. These are our babies."

With all of that attention from Tom and Marti, even a challenging year should produce good red 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