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The Wines of New York State : Riesling, the Crown Jewel of the Finger Lakes
For many wine drinkers and critics, Riesling is the grape most frequently associated with the production of fine wine in the Finger Lakes. This is, however, a relatively recent phenomenon. Though commercial wine production in the region dates back to the 1820s, wine made from Riesling was not sold until the Sixties.
Prior to 1950, it was generally believed that it was too cold in the Finger Lakes to grow vinifera, the species of European grapes that includes Riesling. Then, in 1953, Charles Fournier, president of Gold Seal Vineyards, met an immigrant winemaker from the Ukraine, Dr. Konstantin Frank. Frank was adamant that vinifera varieties could be grown on Keuka Lake, and Fournier agreed to begin some experimental plantings.
Dr. Frank began planting vines for his own winery, provocatively named Vinifera Wine Cellars, in 1960. Both his winery and Gold Seal produced Riesling wines, many of them quite good, through the Sixties and Seventies. In 1976, the State of New York enacted the Farm Winery Act, which made it legal for grape growers to bottle and sell their own wine. It is notable that some of the fledgling wineries founded shortly after passage of the act, such as Glenora and Heron Hill, included Riesling in their repertoire.
— Dave Pohl
DAVE POHL, MA ’79, is a wine buyer at Northside Wine & Spirits in Ithaca. He came to Cornell in 1976 to work on a PhD in sociology; he was seduced by the wine business and has been at it ever since. He has been with Northside for nearly fifteen years, where he has recommended wines to many happy Ithacans and Cornellians.
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