Winemaker Dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn - Elmira

By Jane Laszlo, Sales Representative

One of the great perks of my position at Heron Hill is setting up winemaker dinners with our winemaker Thomas and local chefs. It's awesome to witness the interplay between the artistry and creativity of the chef balanced by the scientific and organoleptic skills of the winemaker. Both chef and winemaker create, but when they work together a synergistic effect is brought to life. The ultimate goal is for the taster to experience a new combination of flavors that are unique. "The sum is greater than the parts." It's impossible to ignore the fine detail of the flavors, textures and aromas. One of my favorite pairings to date was a red snapper with lobster butter and fresh lavender paired with the Heron Hill Unoaked Chardonnay. It was truly a tasting experience!

Crème Brule is also a favorite of mine, especially when accompanied by a finely balanced Heron Hill Late Harvest. I've enjoyed many great Crème Brule’s that have paired beautifully with our Heron Hill Late Harvest Vidal Blanc. Another great dessert experience includes using the Heron Hill Ingle Vineyard Late Harvest Riesling 2006. This was recently rated, Outstanding - 90 points, by Senior Editor of Wine Spectator, James Molesworth. He writes, "Shows a mature whiff of marzipan, followed by creamed peach, yellow apple and lemon verbena flavors, all allied to a rich palate. Not overtly sweet, this lets its flavors hang with balance and elegance. Nicely done." Our winemaker, Thomas offers an elegant match to this wine suggesting poached Asian pear with a light crème anglaise, accompanied by an assortment of fresh local field berries that would encourage a fine acid interplay with the wine. Maybe a few sprigs of fresh mint on the side....

Attending a winemaker dinner is a great way to experience the chef and winemaker's visions as well as giving you the opportunity to ask questions or chat with them. It's always a fun and enjoyable evening to share with friends or family. Our next winemaker dinner is currently in the works for Thursday July 30th from 6pm- 8pm. Heron Hill is proud to pair up with executive chef John Kelly of the Hilton Garden Inn - Elmira. Reservations can be made by contacting Debby Cacala at the Hilton Garden Inn at (607) 795-1111. The cost will be $75 per person or $140 per couple.

Thomas and I hope to see you there! Click here for more info about the event.

Does the production team get enough recognition?

By JJ Pierce, Production Manager

So summer is once again upon us here at Heron Hill Winery. The summer time crowds have returned and as is the norm we in production are elbow deep in bottling all the great wines that we produce for our customers every year.

That being said, I was reflecting back on the years that I have been in this industry and I had a revelation. Sometimes the people behind the scenes in the wine industry don’t always get the recognition that they deserve. Lets face it, whenever you read an article in a wine magazine or a newspaper article about a particular winery the only people that seem to get any recognition are the winery owner and/or the winemaker, and they do deserve it! But in any good winery such as Heron Hill there is also a great wine making or production TEAM. The winemaker does direct and control all aspects of the wine making process but in wineries the size of Heron Hill or bigger the winemaker cannot perform all the manual work that is needed. Here is where our unsung heroes come into play, most of these people have years of experience such as myself. I have been trained by some of the best engineers throughout the world on winery equipment along with a lot of much needed on the job training, as have our other production employees. That’s why we enjoy being able to participate in our winery blog.

Every person has their own set of talents and we cannot only perform jobs for which we are trained but in some cases we can all perform each other’s job. There is a strict system of checks and balances and we can all fall back on each other’s knowledge if there is ever any question or concerns. This is why we at Heron Hill produce the very best products for our customers. So next time your sitting back and reading about your favorite wine or favorite winery remember its not just the Owner and the Winemaker that have a stake in how good a wine is but there is a whole TEAM behind it and we all have pride in what we produce!

Going local in the gift shop

By Danielle Shaw, Wedding & Events Coordinator

The season is just getting started for me, which brings a lot of excitement. Our first wedding was on Saturday June 13th. The stormy weather stopped just in time for the beautiful ceremony over looking Keuka Lake. Everything worked out so amazingly. It was a great way to start off the wedding season of 2009.

Aside from the weddings at the winery, I work on the majority of ordering for our gift shop. The focus this season is to support our local artisans and vendors by selling their items in our gift shop! 90% of the new items we are getting in are from NY, ranging from the delicious Yancey’s Fancy Cheese to handmade jewelry by Kristin Smith of Magic Moon Designs. Supporting our local economy is something that has always been important to Heron Hill Winery and I. As the Wedding and Events Coordinator I am able to suggest local vendors for our wedding couples, and I am delighted to take it a step further with local gift providers. Make sure to look out for samplings throughout the season from local foods in our gift shop.

Mark your calendars for July 4th. It is our first live music session on our terrace with a great local band, Misfit Karma. Also attending is Sandy Guerin who will be representing her company ‘For Claudia’s Sayke’ which is located right in Hammondsport, New York. She will be sampling all of her handmade natural skin care products. Hope to see you then!

A great way to enjoy Semi-Sweet Riesling - Sangria!

By Steve & Pam Acker, Managers at the Seneca Lake Tasting Room

Hello again from Steve and Pam at the Seneca Lake tasting room of Heron Hill Winery! The soft scents and gentle warmth of early June beckon us to linger outside just a bit longer. That calls for a glass of Heron Hill Classic Semi-Dry Riesling 2007 on the porch, deck or dock as evening falls.

We welcome back all our good neighbors who have returned for the season to once again enjoy the very special feeling of summer on Seneca. Open daily to serve you, we will be adding a new tasting bar to the patio for those great early summer days when you just don’t want to come inside. If you have friends visiting from out of town (and who living on the lake doesn’t!!!) we invite you to bring them by for a taste and let them experience our award winning wines and the truly unique flavor of the lakes. Then take home a favorite bottle or two to share over dinner and you have an instant party. Check out our gift shop that features many locally produced products that pair beautifully with our wines.

Our event tent will be arriving shortly to accommodate larger tasting groups. Please call ahead if you are planning a group visit of 10 or more so we may better serve you.

Whether you are an avid fisherman, golfer, gardener or beach bum, summer calls for getting together with friends and family for food and fun. As the weather warms and barbeques and picnics become the menu of choice, remember that a well-chilled bottle of your favorite Heron Hill wine is the perfect accompaniment. Pair grilled shrimp or chicken with a fruity white such as our Eclipse White 2006, a warm weather favorite or the crisp refreshing Classic Chardonnay 2007. Try ribs with a Riesling of your choice. For an afternoon event, keep things light with a flavorful White Wine Summer Sangria made with our Classic Semi-Sweet Riesling 2007. The recipe follows.

No matter the season, day of the week or the menu choice, a glass of wine makes an ordinary day a little more fun and festive. We are happy to share some of our food and wine pairings with you and also love to hear some of your own favorites. If you like the idea of hosting your own wine tasting party for some friends, we can help with that as well.

We hope to see you soon at our tasting room and retail shop on Seneca Lake. In the meantime enjoy the upcoming lazy, hazy days of summer with some friends and a glass of Heron Hill wine. We will be!

WHITE WINE SUMMER SANGRIA

Ingredients:

3-Bottles Heron Hill Semi-Sweet Riesling 2007 well chilled

1-litre bottle lemon-lime seltzer

¾ cup orange liqueur (optional)

¾ cup orange juice

Cranberry juice

1-each lemon, lime and orange thinly sliced

Freeze cranberry juice in two ice cube trays several hours before serving. Keep all other ingredients well chilled. In a large pitcher or punch bowl combine wine, liqueur (if using) and orange juice. Add sliced fruit and let sit for a few minutes to combine flavors. When ready to serve, add the seltzer and cranberry ice cubes.

We're officially on Snooth and Twitter (and of course Facebook)

By Kitty Oliver, Marketing & PR Director

June is here (my ½ year mark), and our marketing & PR front is really taking a hold! Everyone in the staff has been such a huge help with all of the efforts taking place. My Mac and I are the command center, and there is so much going on lately!

First of all we’re really trying to spread the word about our free, live music here at the winery all summer long. Weather you live locally or up in Rochester, it’s definitely worth the trip to enjoy some great blues/rock/jazzy music out on the terrace. Vista views of Keuka Lake, award-winning wine and live music, count Augustus and I in for a few Saturday visits! We do a great job in supporting our local musicians by hosting free mini-concerts every Saturday (12:30-4:30) all summer.

We are also signed up to sponsor the main music and entertainment tent at the 1st annual Finger Lakes Riesling Festival in Canandaigua on August 15-16, 2009. Some of the bands playing include: Shama Lama, Blues Family Show Band, Wild Nik West, Campbell Brothers and Nik & the Nice Guys. Wineries, restaurants, artists and musicians will join together for a weekend-long celebration, you can stop by to taste some of our wine too!

Yes, Twitter – we’re finally up and running! You can follow us @HeronHillWinery to see what’s being bottled, get the latest scoop on new releases, find summer deals, learn about featured wines, get event info. We’re tweeting about all sorts of things happening at the winery. It’s the fastest way to keep up with Heron Hill Winery!

I’ve also fine-tuned our Snooth database. Snooth is the BEST site for tracking your own wines, reviewing them, learning about other wines and even buying wine. The Snooth team was very helpful while I was cleaning up our wine database (thanks Gregory Dal Piaz)! Each wine has a label picture, wine characteristics, food pairings and awards, it’s a great way to keep track of the Heron Hill wines that you’ve tried! I personally use it and refer back to it when I want to buy something that I really liked (but can’t remember the variety or vintage).

I just recently finished a project with two students at RIT. They took the Spring course of Hospitality and Service Management Marketing (Wine, Beer & Spirits) with Donna Scheid teaching the course. Donna is the Assistant Director of Executive Education & Marketing at RIT and has been a great facilitator for this project. Being a former Graphic Design college instructor at FLCC, I loved the experience of working with the young, fresh minds of talented students! They really went above and beyond and did a great job of analyzing Heron Hill and our marketing layout. Great job Zakiah and Kenneth, I’m sure you’ll prove to be valuable assets to your future employers!

We’re moving ahead at Heron Hill with the Marketing and PR, I love it! On the home front, Augustus and I are still reading Wines of the World when we get a moment. He has something else on his mind though – crawling!

Upcoming festivals and events

By Christina Bowe, Wholesale Sales Manager

With the warm weather comes the days of festivals and outside events for Heron Hill Winery. It’s amazing how many different venues and requests I get to taste and display our award-winning wines.

When thinking about my upcoming blog entry; I thought about some of the interesting adventures you might want to look for over the Summer.

By Water

Old Forge Lake Cruises, which sails out of Old Forge, NY will be kicking off their season on June 5th for their first wine and food pairing. Heron Hill will be on board to cruise the Fulton Chain of Lakes and give the history of the winery along with a wine and food pairing experience. Check out the website at www.oldforgecruises.com. This is going to be a unique adventure and should be loads of fun! We will be returning in the Fall for a foliage cruise.

The Mary Jemison which leaves out of the Cornhill Dock, in Rochester, NY cruises the canal with a local restaurant and winery on board for a scenic cruise with a food and wine pairing. This not-for-profit organization has another boat (The Sam Patch) that leaves out of Pittsford in Shoen Place. Schedules have not been made yet for 2009, but we’re hoping to be back on board this season.

By Rail

Adirondack Scenic Railroad kicked off their wine trains last year and has been a huge success. This nonprofit organization offers passengers an unlimited New York wine tasting, New York State cheeses and light refreshments as well as a complimentary Uncork NY wine glass. The Adirondack Scenic Railroad offers many different scenic excursions departing from Utica's beautifully restored Union Station, which is an impressive station in itself. Heron Hill wines can be purchased for an additional fee by the glass or share a bottle with your friends, while you sit back and view beautiful scenery while riding the rails. Last year’s events included a Blues Train that departed from the Thendara Station in Old Forge. Check out their website at www.adirondackrr.com.

By Car

The Rochester Public Market has been in operation since 1827, making it one of the oldest continuously operating farmers' markets in the nation. Heron Hill is proudly the first Finger Lakes winery to be displayed, tasted and sold at the market for the past 15 years. Over the years new wineries have come and gone, however, Heron Hill remains a constant on Saturdays from May 1st until the last weekend of the year. Come taste some wine or buy that special bottle for dinner that evening.

Sterling Renaissance Festival is always an exciting thing to do for the summer. It is conveniently located just to the left of the Gift Shoppe as you enter from the parking area. Each weekend the Festival's wine tasting booth will showcase 4 wineries, which means that over the course of the 2009 Festival season, you could sample great wines from 28 separate vineyards. You'll be able to purchase wine by the bottle.

Festivals

Over the Summer and the Fall there are many festivals which bring the New Wines together with New York products. These food and wine festivals are a fantastic way to support your local farmers, wineries and food purveyors. Check for any local events, and check them out, they can be a lot of fun! I am still looking for the event aboard a private jet or a cruise in the Caribbean, but haven’t been contacted yet.

To be kept up-to-date on Heron Hill’s upcoming events, sign up to be our friend on Facebook (which is updated regularly) or check out our webpage at www.heronhill.com. Have a great Summer and I hope to see you on the road…..

Botrytis Cinerea – The Magical Mushroom

By Thomas Laszlo, Winemaker

Pictures: The three pictures show the progressive stages of Noble Rot used in making our 2005 Select Late Harvest Chardonnay. The process from healthy grape to Noble Rot usually takes two weeks. At any time during that period all hopes of a great wine can be lost by an excessive rainy period rendering the grapes useless except for green fertilizer when they drop to the vineyard floor!

Often in growing grapes there is a balance that exists between phenomenal quality and complete disaster. As winemakers and viticulture managers we dance a quiet ballet with Mother Nature, the Laws of Chemistry and artistic drive to create something that is unique with the ability to awe the taster. At times this ballet can turn quickly into a war that requires an exacting strategy of offenses and defenses in order to achieve a wine of awe. The making of top flight Noble sweet wine from the Botrytis Cinerea fungus presents the winemaker with the biggest challenge, more than any other style of wine that exists. A vintage that holds a promise of sublime sweet wine usually has the winemaker dancing the effortless ballet but on a dime it can turn to all out war!

In almost all cases of red and white wine winemaking, one of the most dreaded grape diseases is an attack of Botrytis Cinerea. In red wines the fungus causes off flavors with a dramatic loss in color and flavor (called Grey Rot). In dry whites the fungus can totally overcome the berry in fur (known as conidia) causing vinegar flavors along with oxidized mushroom flavors (known as Sour Rot). For the most part no sane grapegrower wants their grapes attacked by Botrytis. However, if the Botrytis attacks already ripe white grapes with a high sugar content and there is just the right amount of moisture for the fungus to form but not overcome the berry, then the most magical incarnation of Botrytis Cinerea occurs (Noble Rot).

How Noble Rot Occurs

The ultra ripe berries that are formed in very dry, hot vintages contain a high sugar content to start. A slight attack of Noble Rot occurs in the already very sweet healthy berries. The mold pierces the berries with its fungal hyphae leaving microscopic holes. The rot dies quickly because it can not handle the high osmotic pressure from the elevated sugar content and dryness. Then once the berry is pierced evaporation occurs. If the weather remains dry and hot the berries will shrivel and are often harvested in mid- October which is really not that late. In the best versions of Noble Rot, the Botrytis doesn’t progress enough to take away too much varietal character. The end result is a very concentrated, varietal wine that is high in sugars and acid. Often the shriveled, raisin like berries are selected berry by berry or are cut out in small clusters from the larger bunch. While the berry is a little furry and kind of brownish-purplish and may not appeal to some, the brave who taste it are amazed at the honeyed, tropical, concentrated yumminess.

Brief History of Noble Rot

For five years I was privileged to work with the world’s top Noble Rot wines in Tokaj, Hungary as the Head Winemaker for Chateaux Pajzos and Megyer. Each great wine has a story that borders on legend. Legend states that Aszú, (botrytis affected berries), were discovered in the early 1600s when the threat of an Ottoman Turkish invasion to the Tokaj region forced the ruling Transylvanian Princes of Hungary to send all able-bodied peasants to ward off the attack thus delaying the harvest into late fall. When the grapes were finally harvested, the Noble Rot had set in the berries. It was not until the following Easter when the wine was pulled from the cellars and tasted, that they realized the Botrytis jewel that had been uncovered.

In Germany the rot is called Edelfäule, in France it is known as Pourriture Noble, in Tokaj as Aszú and in the New World it is Noble Rot. Botrytis wines are some of longest lived wines in the world. It is not uncommon for the wines to improve for decades and sometimes centuries! I had the great fortune in Tokaj to taste an 1911 Esszecia. The wine had a natural sugar content of 60% and had been aged in barrel for 40 years before being bottled. While it was quite dark in color (think molasses) the wine displayed an incredible panoply of heady flavors ranging from dried apricot and figs to honeyed exotic spices. The mouth finish lasted for at least a half hour. It was truly a life altering moment in time!

Heron Hill Winery 2005 Select Late Harvest Chardonnay

The occurrence of Noble Rot in the Finger Lakes is certainly rare. The varieties most often affected are Riesling and Vignoles. The growth of Botrytis Cinerea in Chardonnay is most often viewed as a negative because seldom does Chardonnay achieve the necessary hang time needed to produce Noble Rot. Due to Chardonnay’s thin skin and relatively early ripening period, an infection of Botrytis usually means “Sour Rot” which renders the affected grapes unusable. Having made Botrytis affected dessert wines in three different countries from several different varieties, I have longed to make a Botrytis Chardonnay. Finally my wish came true. On October 31st 2005 a near perfect, complete infection of Noble Rot occurred with Chardonnay at the Ingle Vineyard.

Limited quantities of this once in a lifetime wine are still available at the winery and the website. The wine is still in an embryonic stage and will continue to develop gracefully over the next 20 years for sure!

For more information on the Heron Hill Winery 2005 Select Late Harvest Chardonnay, click here.