Cornell Memories

I learned to drink wine in college, and the Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling was always my favorite.

from the NYTimes

August 17, 2006
Dry Riesling Wins Top Award in State Contest
By HOWARD G. GOLDBERG
A 2005 dry riesling from the Finger Lakes was voted New York’s best wine in an annual contest yesterday.

The winner, a white made by the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, defeated 702 other entries in the biggest field in the New York Wine and Food Classic’s 21-year history.

The bottle costs $16 at the winery, on Seneca Lake in Dundee, N.Y. Given the Governor’s Cup, it was named “best white wine” and “best of show.”

The two-day competition took place in Canandaigua in the Finger Lakes region.

The competition was sponsored by the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, a nonprofit statewide trade association based in the New York Wine and Culinary Center, which opened in Canandaigua in June.

The Wiemer vineyard, established in 1979, is viewed by many as one of North America’s leading riesling producers. Mr. Wiemer’s 2002 reserve riesling won the 2003 contest.

The German-born Mr. Wiemer made 2,000 12-bottle cases of the winning 2005 wine. Most have been allocated to various markets. About 200 awaited distribution to merchants and restaurants in New York City.

Reached at his property, Mr. Wiemer said he planned to send the winning riesling to customers in about 40 states.

“It is not a typical riesling for the Lakes,” he said. “We had a warm vintage, and the wine is broader than usual.”

Except for 2005, rieslings have won the contest every year since 2000, giving rise to the perception that the Finger Lakes region has become one of the world’s principal riesling zones.

At the contest, Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars, on Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region, was declared the winery of the year on the basis of total number of medals amassed.

In major categories, the state’s best whites from the Finger Lakes included the following: Chateau Frank’s 2000 Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine ($39.99); Chateau LaFayette Reneau’s 2005 semisweet Johannisberg riesling ($14.99); and Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars’ 2005 ($24.99) gewürztraminer, which tied with Corey Creek Vineyards’ 2005 gewürztraminer ($25) from Long Island.

The best reds, also from the Finger Lakes, included ChateauLaFayette Reneau’s 2002 cabernet sauvignon ($19.99) and its 2002 pinot noir ($18.99).

Long Island contributed these winners: Jamesport Vineyards’ 2004 cabernet franc ($24.95), best overall red; Corey Creek’s 2005 reserve chardonnay ($30); Peconic Bay Winery’s 2001 merlot ($23.99); and Wölffer Estate’s 2005 late-harvest chardonnay ($37, half bottle), voted best dessert wine.

The best semidry riesling was Mazza Chautauqua Cellars’ 2005 ($12.95), made in the Lake Erie region.

All the wines were tasted blind, although the 24 judges, 17 of whom came from out of state, were told the grape varieties in each round.

The wine industry and influential wine periodicals treat the contest as the broadest, most representative index of the quality and styles of New York’s expanding wine industry.

Entries were submitted by 102 of the state’s 239 producers. As measured by total wineries, New York’s industry is the fourth-largest in the United States, after California, Washington and Oregon.