Winemaker Notes
Blend: 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Cuvée Brut is a 65/35 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, bottled in August 2014 and disgorged in December 2017 (40 months on the lees). It comes in with five grams of residual sugar and 12% alcohol. It is quite dry. The Pinot Noir was sourced exclusively from Magdalena Vineyard, the Chardonnay from HJW and Josef Vineyards. This was seen before, but this is a new disgorgement. (Kudos to Wiemer for being transparent—the disgorgement is noted with a stamp on the back label.) Whether it's the new disgorgement or I simply was too unkind the first time around, this is much more impressive now. This has fleshed out, showing both more concentration and more intensity. Big, dense and palate-coating, this adds a gripping, dry and long finish with a little sharpness. There are some whispers of complexity now, too, but it is still young. At this point, I won't be surprised if it improves more in the bottle too.
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Wine Enthusiast
Wiemer's Cuvee Brut is fresher and more forward than the producer's longer-aged blanc de blanc. Yet amidst the cutting green apple and lemon, there's plenty of autolytic character, expressed as whispers of toast, rising dough and burnt sugar. It's vibrantly balanced by tiny, penetrating bubbles and a lingering, fresh finish.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
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.