Tasting Hermann J. Wiemer's soon-to-be-released 2011 Rieslings with Fred Merwarth
Posted: Oct 5, 2012 12:00pm ET
On my
second day in the Finger Lakes I made my usual lap around Seneca Lake, the
region's most prominent lake and home to the largest collection of wineries.
While I
always try to mix in some new faces on each trip, I need to stop in at benchmark
estates on a regular basis. Since assuming control in 2007, Fred Merwarth has
made sure that the Hermann J. Wiemer estate hasn't skipped a beat. With 75
acres under vine and three-quarters of its 15,000-case annual production
represented by Riesling, this is the flagship winery for the region's best
grape. You can reference notes on previous stops here via my June 2009 and November 2009 blogs.
Housed in
a large brown barn on the main road along the west side of Seneca, the winery
was abuzz with activity during my visit. Labeling, pressing, all amidst the normal
energetic nature of harvest. Though no grapes were coming in this day, as the
weather was a little wet and gray, Merwarth was even-keeled as always.
"It's
similar to last year, as the botrytis pressure is coming as full ripeness
comes," he said. "It's tricky because we're waiting for fully ripe flavors and
sometimes botrytis development can outpace that. But that's the thing with the
Finger Lakes. I keep telling my interns this is a normal Finger Lakes harvest.
It's cloudy, it's unsettled and the weatherman is always wrong. You can never
plan for a harvest in the Finger Lakes; you just have to react to things."
"This
season was dry and fresh though, up until the last 10 days or so. I'm really
happy with the fruit we picked for the dry stuff," added Merwarth, noting that
he still has a fair amount of fruit still hanging, despite the generally early
harvest.
"It's a
little nerve-racking to have 70 tons of Riesling still out there for possible
single-vineyard and late-harvest wines. It would have been easier to take it
all in last week, but then it would have only been good—it wouldn't have
been that next level, which is what we want for single-vineyard and TBA
bottlings."
With
that, we headed out to the Magdalena Vineyard, about 15 miles up the road from
the winery. The old, graying barn fell down over the winter during a storm.
Here, as well as in the neighboring Josef Vineyard, there are a few rows that
have been picked at the lower part of the vineyard, while the majority of the
fruit further up the gradual slope remains. Merwarth builds his bottlings with
successive picking—early picking for acidity, middle and later pickings for
increasingly riper fruit flavors and potential botrytis. See the accompanying
video as Merwarth talks about how he manages picking times in his vineyards,
with an eye on how the fruit will create the final blend.
After
kicking the dirt for a bit, and noting a little bit of new botrytis infection on
some bunches, we headed back to the winery to try the not-yet-released 2011
lineup. Always a late release, the 2011s took an even longer-than-usual time to
ferment. Starting with the Riesling Finger Lakes Dry HJW Vineyard 2011, which represents a blend of six
different pickings, the wine is tense and crackling, with taut lime, tarragon,
quince and bitter citrus notes. The Riesling Finger Lakes Dry Magdalena Vineyard 2011 didn't finish its ferment until
Aug. 2 (Merwarth uses natural yeast and does not push the fermentation with
temperature changes, but rather lets them move along at their own pace). It was
then bottled almost immediately afterward, Sept. 1, which is why
Merwarth is waiting to formally release the wine.
""I'd
rather have evolution in bottle, where the wine unwinds better, than leave it
in tank for any extended period of time after the ferment," he said. "Plus with
10 months of slow ferment and lees contact, the wine was stable and clarified
anyway at the end, so no need to let it sit further. But I do want to wait
until it's recovered a bit from the bottling before releasing the wines."
The
Magdalena bottling shows quince, pear peel and green almond notes. It's very
pure, with mouthwatering freshness and a lovely echo of slate on the finish.
"I always pick fruit thinking 'dry Riesling' first, though, and
then hope I have enough left over to make some of the single-vineyard bottlings
separately," said Merwarth as we tasted the Riesling Finger Lakes Dry Reserve
2011.
Made from a blend of
Magdalena, HJW and Josef vineyard fruit, the wine is
very vibrant and open already, despite the late bottling. It shows great cut,
with kaffir lime, green plum and pippin apple notes, with a nervy finish that is
already showing impressive breadth.
With 70 tons of fruit still hanging, I figured
it was best to let Merwarth get back to work. Next stop: Ravines winery, where
Morten and Lisa Hallgren have recently moved into new digs, shifting from their
Keuka Lake base to a spot on the west side of Seneca.
Kyle Schlachter —
Colorado —
October 6, 2012 9:54am ET
Thanks for the report on the Finger Lakes. I always enjoy hearing about the not-so-big regions!
Doug Wallace —
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA —
October 22, 2012 4:47pm ET
We have been purchasing Wiemer wines for over 15 years and believe that their rieslings stand up to the best produced anywhere in the USA. The interesting thing is that so few folks have discovered the quality of this winery outside of New York. The Finger Lakes region should be on everyone's list of go-to sources for riesling, especially Wiemer.
Thanks for the report on the Finger Lakes. I always enjoy hearing about the not-so-big regions!