This wine has depth, dimension and a story behind it

Winemaker Morten Hallgren is establishing Ravines Wine Cellars' heritage with his 2002 Meritage.

The name Meritage was created as the result of a contest in 1988. Several wineries in California felt that their best wine could be made from a blend of grape varieties, rather than from a single grape type. It was a technique similar to the centuries-old tradition of making wine in France.

The winning contest entry combined the words merit, to signify the worth of the wine, with heritage, to honor the Bordeaux, France, tradition of blending fine wines. Before a winery may place the trademark name Meritage on its wine, it must comply with certain requirements. The blended wine must be made from at least two of the eight red grape types or three white grape types used to make wine in Bordeaux. A fee is also paid for the use of the name, usually reserved for the winery's best blended Bordeaux-style wine.

Cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot are the most frequently used grapes to make Bordeaux-style red wines in the Finger Lakes.

I stopped by Ravines Wine Cellars recently, late on a Saturday afternoon to visit with owners Morten and Lisa Hallgren. Lisa invited me to stay for dinner and we spent the next few hours talking about their vision for the wine business in the Finger Lakes.

Morten has increased his production from the first year. He hopes to eventually limit his expansion to 5,000 cases per year. At that point, he feels he will be able to create enough quality products to nourish his family business.

As we were preparing to eat on the porch, a storm rolled in from the west and obscured our view of the Keuka Lake bluff. When the rain started coming at us sideways, whipped by the wind, we decided to go inside for our meal.

As we dined on pork chops and sauteed baby zucchini squash, I learned more about what Morten is looking for in each grape type he uses to make his Meritage wine. Merlot often provides tastes of cherry, chocolate and coffee. He looks for cabernet sauvignon to provide structure and cabernet franc to provide earthy and spice tones for the wine blend.

It is a full-bodied red wine. Yes, there is a taste of cherry, but it is subtle and mingles with the overall taste of the wine. There are also some earthy tones blended in with tastes of chocolate and blackberries.

Aging in oak barrels, according to Morten, provides a toasty taste. He has found a supplier in Pennsylvania who makes excellent American oak barrels.

Morten feels that the key factor that makes these barrels so good is the age of the trees used to make them. The 200-year-old oaks provide wood with a very tight grain for making barrels. It's just what he is looking for to complement his barrel collection.

The Ravines 2002 Meritage wine is now available. Unfortunately, it is not distributed in many stores. On your next fall foliage trip, you may want to head for the east side of Keuka Lake and stop at Ravines to taste their Meritage for yourself.

Jeff Richards' wine column appears Saturdays. For comments or questions, he can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: thewineguy