Winemaker Notes
Medium intensity with dominant characters of pear, grapefruit, tea leaf and basil with elegant mineral undertones. Despite being a fresh, crisp, light style, the wine has a very good palate weight with a textural mouthfeel and lengthy finish.
Pair with feta-stuffed olives, sushi and seafood stir fry.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Rkatsiteli, from old vines, is holding nicely since first seen. Lively and fresh, this still has that long and juicy finish that made me drool a bit. It is young and vibrant, but it's a bit better integrated now nonetheless. That makes it better overall. It is nicely concentrated—while always maintaining finesse—with ripe and succulent fruit. It finishes very dry, and it has power to spare. It is not a fruit-forward white as such. There is a touch of a stony nuance on the finish and perhaps a touch of reduction. That got better as it aired out, and it mostly disappeared. The wine overall was better the next day—or even two days later. This focused and penetrating white is impressive, superb now and likely to hold well, perhaps (under screwcap) longer than anticipated. I'll continue to take the end-date drinking window in stages, though. Needless to say, it is a very nice value.
Cultivated in the Republic of Georgia for millennia, Rkatsiteli is an ancient grape that remains today the country’s most ubiquitous and popular white wine variety. It is important as well in many former Soviet-aligned countries where its cold-hardiness allows it to survive extreme winters and the grape’s inherent high acidity prevents over ripening in hot summers. Somm Secret—The climate of the Finger Lakes, New York is so similar to the wine regions of Georgia, that the conditions have inspired significant plantings there.
As the most historic wine-producing region in New York state, winemaking in the Finger Lakes area dates back to the 1820s and today as a region, accounts for 90% of the state’s total wine production.
Its narrow and deep lakes created by the movement of Ice Age glaciers create an environment similar to the classic Riesling-loving regions of Europe, namely Germany and Austria. The Finger Lakes retain summer heat that incidentally warms up cold winter air, making it fall down from the lakes’ steep slopes. When spring comes, the lakes, already cooled by cold winter weather, stave off vine budding until the danger of frost has subsided. The main lakes of the zone, that is those big enough to moderate the climate in this way, are the focal points of prime vineyard areas. They include Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca and Cayuga.
While Riesling has fueled most of the region’s success, today Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc enjoy some attention.