winemaking

Where to find Finger Lakes terroir

Once, on a road trip between Pennsylvania and Atlanta, we veered off truck-choked Route 81 and wandered back roads into a small southwestern Virginia hamlet for a bite to eat. We found a family-style restaurant where the locals drawled in a regional dialect we found charming. I’ve long forgotten what I ordered, but I’m sure […]

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Seven on Seneca: A wine journey (long)

Glacially gouged Lake Seneca is a protective godmother to the vineyards ringing her shoreline. Deep as she is – 640 feet at her deepest – Seneca rarely, if ever, freezes over in winter. She spreads a blanket of warmth over the vines to temper the cold. In summer, she reflects the heat back on the

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Learning more about ‘natural’ wine

Call it the nature girl in me. Whatever. I’m simply on a mission to understand the so-called “natural” wine movement and make up my mind about it. Wine is always an education. So naturally (excuse the pun), I went to one of my teachers, Charles Austermuhl, who holds the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET)

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Notes from Eastern Winery Expo

I’ve hung around enough East Coast winemakers to know they’re passionate about turning raw materials (grapes) into works of art (wine). But something else impresses me about them. They’re so willing to help each other. Now it’s true most of these wineries need alliances and wine trails to keep their small businesses afloat. But need

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What even IS natural wine?

I admit it. I’ve always been a bit of a nature girl. In a kayak or on a hike, the sight of a heron, hawk, osprey, or loon sets my heart aflutter. I prefer organically grown vegetables and free-range chicken eggs. Happier chickens, tastier eggs. That’s my mantra. Natural is good, right? A growing number

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