Tag Ice wine

Highlight of FLX Visit

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Entrance to Standing Stone Vineyard & Winery

Entrance to Standing Stone Vineyards & Winery

     On every trip there is one experience that stamps its indelible mark on your memory. On this trip it was meeting Marti Macinski and the time we spent at her Standing Stone Vineyards & Winery. Upon our arrival she greeted us with a genuinely heart-felt welcome. Marti was accompanied by her personable and outgoing intern Griffin Lehman. She lead my wife and I through a tasting of all of her excellent wines. I was very impressed by how good all the wines were. If I were to use one word to describe all of the Standing Stone wines we tasted that day it would be balanced. Balance is very important to me when I taste wine because it allows me to taste all aspects of the wine without having certain overdone or underdeveloped characteristics create a biased wine. When you drink a wine made by Marti Macinski you can taste every nuance of the wine and the terroir of her vineyards.

     Her Riesling were some of the best that I tasted in the FLX and I tasted the best Riesling that I have ever tasted there on this visit. I really liked her Saperavi and it confirmed my opinion that this grape has great potential in the Eastern U.S.. She convinced us to try her Ice wine even though we were never fans of Ice wine. We are glad we did because we loved all four of her offerings : Chardonnay, Vidal, Grwürztraminer and Riesling. The entire menu of wines offered by Standing Stone Winery are well crafted and certainly worth your attention when you visit. I can highly recommend a visit to this Seneca Lake winery in Hector N.Y. for anyone attending the 2015 Wine Bloggers Conference or someone visiting the area looking for superior wine.  Standingstonewines.com  607-582-6051   9934 Rte 414  Hector, N Y 14841

View of Seneca Lake & Vineyards from Standing Stone

View of Seneca Lake & Vineyards from Standing Stone

Winter at Standing Stone Winery

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Wine Barrels Photo Courtesy Standing Stone Winery

Wine Barrels  Photo Courtesy Standing Stone Winery

I have just heard from Martha Macinski or Marti as she is known to everyone in the Finger Lakes.  She updated me on the happenings around the Standing Stone Winery that she and her husband Tom have owned since 1991.  They have just finished pressing frozen grapes to make Riesling Ice and Vidal Ice.  The grapes are not picked frozen but are picked as late harvest and then frozen commercially so that they may be pressed to make Ice wine.  The Riesling Ice 2012, Vidal Ice 2011 and the Riesling 2012 are all ready and will be bottled in early March.  One of the nice things about stopping by the tasting room during the winter is that there are fewer people visiting so Marti and her staff will have more time to talk and share details about the wine.  The vineyard crew is busy fixing any trellis components that have broken over the previous growing season.  Pruning will start in February and after that task is completed the vines will be tied up before bud break in the spring.  There was some concern that the recent spike in temperatures would reduce the snow cover that protects the vineyard during the winter but the cold nights and the return of normal winter weather prevented any damage to the vines.  Marti made me laugh when she told me that ” You would be surprised how much work it is to taste 10 barrels of Standing Stone Saperavi.”  I know it is a tough job but I guess someone has to do it :-).  They will be bottling some 2010 and 2012 wines in April and May with the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot being of reserve status and reportedly delicious!  Thanks to Marti for keeping me informed on the latest news from Standing Stone Winery which is on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake in Hector, NY.  If you want more info you can visit the website www.Standingstonewines.com or go to their Facebook page.

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