Forge Cellars Les Allies Riesling 2013

Founded in 2011 Forge Cellars has quickly become the benchmark producer for bone-dry Riesling in the Finger Lakes and in the United States. The unique cool climate region of the Finger Lakes has help to define Forge’s dry Riesling as a wine that combines cool climate aro-matics of peach and apricot with balanced texture and refreshing acidity all while maintaining low levels of alcohol. Their Dry Riesling Classique garnered the #31 spot on Wine Spectator’s “Top 100” lists in 2017 and 2020 for the 2015 and 2018 vintages, respectively.

Partners, Louis Barruol (Château de Saint Cosme in Gigondas, France), and Richard Rainey have been working together since their first vintage in 2011 to produce hand-crafted, terroir-driven, bone dry Riesling, cool-climate Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Franc. Focusing on the east side of Seneca Lake—the deepest of the Finger Lakes at 620ft—the duo works with several premier sites with considerable slope and an abundance of different clones and soils. They have long-term relationships with growers throughout the region, and work closely with them to cultivate healthy grapes and develop viticultural programs that work well for each individual site. Bellows is the estate vineyard at Forge Cellars, which is farmed biointesively and dense-ly-planted to Riesling and Pinot Noir.

Each vintage, a variety of lieux-dits (single vineyard bottlings) are produced in limited quanti-ties. These wines reflect the substance and diversity of southeast Seneca Lake, and pay homage to Forge Cellars’ exploration of the region. Of most importance in the winery’s lineup is their Classique, which represents their work on a larger scale. All of their lieux-dits, each vinified separately, are the basis of this wine and represent the DNA of Classique. In the words of Lou-is Barruol, “This wine is like you and me—we are individually unique, but we represent all of our ancestors at the same time. We carry their traits.”