Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very elegant and creamy sparkling wine with a wonderful, seamless mouth feel. Plenty of berry and candied-citrus aromas. Excellent concentration and a very long,precise finish that doesn't want to stop. A blend of 65% chardonnay and 35% Pinot Noir . Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Ripe, vibrant, honeyspecked lemon and peach take the lead, underpinned by ginger and orange aromas. There’s lovely lively fizz on the palate, with more honeyed peach and citrus flavors. A touch of sweetness sticks out, but overall there’s balance, length and ample drinkability.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Cuvée Brut is the relatively typical 65/35 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, disgorged in January 2023 after 39 months on the lees. (Happily, the disgorgement date is on the label.) It comes in at 12.4% alcohol and with no dosage this year. This is a year younger than the 2017 Cuvée Brut in this report, yet that seems a lot lusher and more harmonious, while this is more of a straight-ahead sparkler. They seem like very different wines. Despite that "no dosage," it doesn't seem overly intense, let alone shrill. The 2019 Standing Stone in this report seems far crisper (and just a year younger, with less time on the lees). That's not to say this isn't very good; it is. Plus, don't misunderstand, it has plenty of freshness and good acidity showing off support for the fruit. If this doesn't seem quite as precise and focused as some here, you won't be disappointed. It should hold throughout the decade, maybe more.
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.