SPARKLERS
For almost two centuries, the sun has risen over the beautiful hillside vineyards of upstate New York, illuminating the placid, dewy vines, their leaves yellowing and their grapes turning gold for the coming vintage. Sparkling wine has been one a mainstay of the New York wine industry since before the Civil-War era, when some of the top champagne-makers from France were recruited to the region by local wineries. French winemakers like Jules Masson, Henri Roualet, Albert Bricout and Jules Crance were hired by the Pleasant Valley Wine Company, Germania Wine Cellars and other nineteenth century wine companies to bring the classic winemaking methods of Champagne to the Finger Lakes. The sparkling wine tradition was born in these early wineries, situated in the hills around the town of Hammondsport at the southern end of Kueka Lake. In 1863, the Pleasant Valley Winery shocked Europeans by winning a gold medal at the Vienna Exposition for its Sparkling Catawba. In 1867, French judges were stunned when another Finger Lakes sparkling wine ranked among the best in a blind tasting at the Exposition Universale in Paris.

Today, sparkling wines from New York represent some of the best values in the world. They are intensely fragrant, with both finesse and a lusty vitality, easily convincing that they belong right there in the ring with Veuve-Clicquot and Moet. Most are made from blending Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, the traditional grapes of the Champagne region of France, while others are made from Riesling and other varieties. Blanc de Blancs are exclusively Chardonnay, while Blanc de Noirs are exclusively Pinot Noir. Methode champenoise refers to the classic method for making sparkling wines, developed in France, of bottling a blend (cuvée), of still wines with a specified amount of yeast and sugar, to induce a secondary fermentation in the bottle. This bottle fermentation is what puts the bubble in bubbly, giving it that charming vivaciousness and rich, creamy character that frolics on your palate.

CHARDONNAY
Chardonnay is a wine of many faces, with ripe, luscious styles that explode on your palate with exotic tropical fruits, along with more subtle, elegant versions that emphasize bright citrus flavors and mineral nuances. Winemakers love Chardonnay for its reliably high ripeness levels and its versatility. Its homeland is Burgundy, where it makes everything from crisp, tangy Chablis to rich, smoky Montrachet, but it is a truly international variety. Dr. Konstantin Frank, one of New York's vinifera pioneers, produced the state's first Chardonnay in the Finger Lakes region in 1961. Since then, Chardonnay has become the dominant white wine grape in the Finger Lakes and on Long Island. Rather than try to imitate the rich, buttery style of California Chardonnay, New York winemakers have sought to define their own unique, individualistic styles that express the spirit of each region with clarity, purity, ripe fruit and elegance. And have done so with amazing success.

RIESLING
One of the world’s best food wines, Riesling may be the loveliest of all white wine grapes in the world, if only because of its longevity and its ability to transmit the unique characteristics of the vineyard in which it is grown. Its most striking characteristic is its intense floral perfume reminiscent of a warm summer meadow bursting with wildflowers. The grape was traditionally grown in Germany and Alsace, but New York Riesling is a flower all its own. What makes it truly unique is the mineral-rich, glacier-derived soils on which it is grown. New York's Finger Lakes region is undoubtedly producing some of the best Riesling in the United States, where the ideal combination of cool climate and shale-based soils combine to create Riesling with a firm and juicy palate packed with luscious tropical fruits flavors and a distinct mineral character. The finest Riesling can be positively incandescent, with a pure jasmine blossom aroma that draws you into the depth and richness of its inscrutable soul.

PINOT NOIR
Pinot Noir, the great red grape variety of Burgundy, "queen of red grapes," is nothing short of pure nourishment for the soul. Pinots have a pure and clear nature, with solid structure and a transparent face that expresses an incredible emotional character. Good Pinot can have an alluring perfume of violets and cherry blossoms, an elegant vivacity and finesse that lends the wine a kind of poetic beauty. It has lower tannin levels than other red varieties, so it often takes on a velvety softness unmatched by any other red grape. The Finger Lakes is the most promising region for Pinot Noir, with its well-drained shale and limestone soils and relatively cool climate, which prevents this early ripening vine from maturing too quickly, preserving its delicate structure. The fascinating, meaningful and delicious wines that derive from this region show that Pinot truly belongs there. The best New York Pinot Noirs are intense, voluptuous wines with vibrant fruit and a subtle oak influence, which can tell us something about the earth and the spirit of the place where they were born.

MERLOT
It's impossible to understand the utter seductiveness of Merlot until you experience it, and once you do, it's hard not to fall in love. An extremely outgoing wine, Merlot eagerly reveals its soul, inspiring confessions, insights and revelations. The best Merlots are supple, velvety-textured wines that explode with wild and effusive plum and cherry fruit. Each sip lights up the heart and sparks the imagination. In bordeaux-style blends, it is the kinder, gentler influence that softens the tannins of its robust cousin, Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot is perhaps most famous for being the primary grape in the great wines of St-Emilion and Pomerol in Bordeaux, including Chateau Petrus, the world's most expensive wine. In the warm, sunny, maritime climate of Long Island and many areas of the Finger Lakes it can produce robust, lusty wines with a plump, lush fruitiness that are just impossible to resist.

CABERNET SAUVIGNON
If Pinot Noir is the Queen, Cabernet Sauvignon is the King of red grape varieties. In New York, particularly on Long Island, it produces wines with incredible depth, passion and sheer power. It can be juicy and forthcoming, bursting with ripe fruit and a rich earthiness that evolves on the palate and lingers long after the first sip, displaying the kind of savage, erotic vitality that makes it stand out among red wines. Cabernet not only tends to have a strong personality, but also a distinctive character, since it conveys with incredible detail the subtle individuality and distinct signature of the vineyard site where it is grown. It is a wine that clamors for attention, sensual to the core, yet capable of displaying a fascinating range of temperaments. The North Fork of Long Island, with its temperate climate, long growing season and the warm ocean breezes off the Atlantic, may be the ideal site for this late-ripening grape, where it can achieve both thought-provoking complexity and flashes of visionary brilliance.

CABERNET FRANC
Cabernet Franc sings to you the moment you take the first sip, arousing a sense of awe and joy at the fact such a seemingly humble grape, long overshadowed by its more familiar relative, Cabernet Sauvignon, can produce such a dynamic, vibrant red wine that speaks to us on a much deeper level than the raw sensual and hedonistic pleasure it affords. New York winemakers have realized its potential and are now making some exceptional red wines from the variety. They are densely concentrated with ripe fruit flavors and wild herbs and minerals nuances. There can be no doubt that Cabernet Franc has achieved unprecedented popularity in the past decade, and seems poised to take center stage among a sleek new generation of New York reds from Long Island, the Finger Lakes, and the Hudson River Valley. It is a grape variety with a rich cultural legacy, responsible for many of the great wines of St-Emilion in Bordeaux, as well as the best reds of the middle Loire Valley.

BORDEAUX-STYLE BLENDS
Winemakers have long recognized that blending red grape varieties can be a valuable tool in enhancing the quality and character of their wines. The art of blending different grape varieties to create a more full-bodied, complex wine has been practiced in Bordeaux for centuries. Traditionally, Bordeaux reds are made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes, sometimes with lesser amounts of Malbec and Petit Verdot. The two Cabernets provide the backbone, character and longevity to the blend, while Merlot offers intense, lush fruit and its own trademark softness and suppleness. All of these Bordeaux varieties thrive in New York, where they are used in special proprietary blends that generally represent the producer's finest and most cellar-worthy red - a wine not only built to last, but truly expressive of its regional origin.

LATE HARVEST WINES
Are you ready for a taste of the nectar of the gods? A new breed of late harvest wines from New York is redefining the experience of ecstasy. These are wines that demand to be listened to, wines designed for meditation and contemplation. Botrytis cinerea, the so-called "noble rot" responsible for the distinctive character of the great sweet wines of Sauternes, Germany, and Hungary, has found a new home in the vineyards of Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the Finger Lakes. Select grapes are left to hang on the vine late into the season; the grapes become dried and shriveled, highly concentrated with sugar, and affected by Botrytis. They are harvested late in the season, pressed and fermented, eventually producing a sweet, luscious, honeyed nectar-like wine. Ice wine is made from ripe grapes deliberately left on the vine until late November or December. The grapes are picked by hand when frozen, carried to the winery and pressed immediately. The viscous, sugar-concentrated juice is fermented to produce a sweet, elegant and powerfully evocative libation that gains wisdom and potency with age.