Wine & Spirits - June 2020 - 46

YEAR'S BEST US RIESLINGS
intense wines. This one is pure and smoky at
first pass, with scents of lemon oil and alder
smoke; with air, a faint peach note emerges.
It's dry and pure in its passion-fruit flavors,
the texture finely salty and electric. (W&S
12/19; 217 cases) § -P.J.C.
517115

upper western shores of Seneca Lake, this has
a lot going on. Just shy of bone dry, it's floral,
dusty, wheaty and mildly green, with plenty
of lemon-lime flavor, and a mineral finish.
(W&S 8/19; 2,000 cases) § -P.J.C.
518393

$23

2017 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling (Best Buy) ^
Bright and citrusy, this dry white leads with
scents of lemon-lime and passion fruit, with
just a whiff of fusel. The flavors are tart but
not bony, with a core of peach and citrus that
turn dry and talc-like. It's a lean riesling for
clams. (W&S 12/19; 1,500 cases) § -P.J.C.
520222

91 | Boundary Breaks

2017 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling (Best Buy) ^
From a cool, late vintage, this nervy white is
lean, salty and mineral, mingling scents of
parsley and apple. With air the wine acquires
a juicy pineapple depth, broad and generous,
while holding to its brisk tension. (W&S
8/19) §-P.J.C.

520164

91 | Lakewood Vineyards

$15

2018 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling (Best Buy) ^
Scents of celery and apple skin give this wine
a savory first impression. It's bright and racy,
its apple juiciness spiked with lemony acidity.
Lean and mouthwatering, it makes a refreshing aperitif. (810 cases) § -P.J.C.
520163

91 | Lakewood Vineyards

$20

2018 Finger Lakes 3Generations Riesling ^
Citrusy and bright, this wine's tense redgrapefruit scents contrast its creamy core
of peachy flavor. The limey finish suggests
a pairing with ceviche. (195 cases) § -P.J.C.
517160

91 | Dr. Konstantin Frank

$25

2017 Finger Lakes Reserve Riesling ^ A lateharvested wine drawn from the winery's
Seneca Lake vineyard, this is generous and
tightly wound, the aromas of sour apple and
lees expanding into warmer, broader flavors.
That complexity makes it a fit for Sichuan
boiled fish. (W&S 8/19; 646 cases) § -P.J.C.
520265

91 | Hunt Country

$25

2017 Finger Lakes Reserve Riesling ^ Comfortable and broad, like salted crushed apples
spritzed with lemon, this feels bright but
relaxed, with a Meyer-lemon roundness that
would complement citrus-roasted salmon.
(141 cases) § -P.J.C.
520182

91 | Keuka Lake Vineyards $40

520227

91 | Lamoreaux Landing

$15

2018 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling (Best
Buy) ^ Another great Finger Lakes value, this
is lean and racy, jagged with minerality when
first poured. With air, a limey core of flavor
inhabits its middle, tense but with a modest
breadth, to cut against mildly spicy dishes,
like chow fun. (1,809 cases) § -P.J.C.

2017 Finger Lakes Falling Man Vineyard
Dry Riesling ^ No surprise: Falling Man Vineyard is steep. An east-facing slope on Keuka
Lake set on a 30-degree pitch, it grew a lemony, dry, racy white in 2017, with toothy
apple and lemon flavors, and just enough
savory minerality to spur an appetite for
chicken breast roasted in fresh herbs. (147
cases) § -P.J.C.
516869

91 | Ravines

$23

2017 Finger Lakes White Springs Vineyard Dry Riesling (Best Buy) ^ From Ravines'
limestone-inflected estate vineyard on the
46

WINE & SPIRITS

JUNE 2020

91 | Red Newt

$20

91 | Silver Thread

$18

91 | Three Brothers

$17

91 | Three Brothers

$17

91 | Weis

$25

90 | Boundary Breaks

$23

2018 Finger Lakes Semi-Dry Riesling
(Best Buy) ^ This smells of mango and guava
and has flavors to match, plush and a touch
sweet but firming up nicely with air. It finishes tense and tart; a wine to chill for a pork
chop. (200 cases) § -P.J.C.
520439
2018 Finger Lakes Zero Degrees of Riesling (Best Buy) ^ Three Brothers indicates
its wines' sweetness with a "degrees" rating.
Zero is the driest, all salt and lime at first go,
coming around to apple and white peach
with air. Its texture is firm and a touch raspy,
with lively acids for cold buckwheat noodles
with pork. (365 cases) § -P.J.C.
520438
2018 Finger Lakes One Degree of Riesling (Best Buy) ^ One Degree reflects a modicum of residual sugar, but this wine still feels
green and lean, like a white rose that has yet
to unfurl. Its lemon and lees scents introduce
flavors that feel broad and rich, more melon
than citrus, though it finishes with tension
and clarity. (900 cases) § -P.J.C.
520154
2018 Finger Lakes Winzer Select Riesling ^
This youthful wine stands out for its sunny,
tropical warmth. It smells of warm yellow
peach and has a fruit-tea savor; the flavors
run sweet and sour, ending bright, with the
linear elegance for an onion-and-chèvre tart.
(100 cases) § -P.J.C.
517114
2017 Finger Lakes Reserve Riesling ^ Harvested in the first week of November, this is
made in a spätlese style, with five grams per
liter of residual sugar. Yet it doesn't come
across as sweet, with its sharply focused citrus scent and its clean, elegant textural line,
delicate, fresh and mildly phenolic. (W&S
8/19) § -P.J.C.
https://www.lakewoodvineyards.com/wines/dry-riesling/ http://www.drfrankwines.com/wine-detail.asp?WineType=1&Wine=80 http://lamoreauxwine.orderport.net/wines/Whites https://enjoy.ravineswine.com/product/Dry-Riesling-White-Springs-Vineyard-2017?pageID=CCD7FD59-F722-0F61-2DBC-5DF1857F2DC4&sortBy=DisplayOrder&maxRows=10&
Wine & Spirits - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - June 2020
