Winemaker Notes
Red Newt Cellars's goal is to make a dry Riesling as powerful and textural as the very best that come from Germany, Austria, and Alsace. This wine has become a hallmark product of Red Newt and propels the winery’s reputation as a world class Riesling producer ever higher.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is precise and mineral with a tightly wound core of lemon, white grapefruit, white pepper and slate. Structured. Medium-bodied, dry and full of energy.
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Wine Enthusiast
This striking dry Riesling delves into deep tones of ripe apple, lemon and stone on the nose, lifted by a brisk note of early spring air. It's rich and broad yet textural and succulent in feel, built by ripe fruit flavors that are honed by persistent acidity and a gentle grip of white tea. While a delight to drink now, this could be enjoyed through 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Riesling The Knoll - Lahoma Vineyards is from Seneca Lake. It comes in with five grams of residual sugar, 7.5 of total acidity and 13.2% alcohol. When last seen, this was fabulous. Let's check in. This, as a library wine, shows you what a maturing Riesling can do that younger ones cannot. More burnished and complex, it still has plenty of energy and a fresh feel. Focused but nuanced, this has an intriguing finish now, not just a gripping one. It is aging a bit faster than I suspected, though. That's not to imply there's anything wrong with it, only that it is in a very good place now. In fact, as it aired and warmed, it got better and even seemed fresher.
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Wine & Spirits
The Knoll is a small rise above this Seneca Lake vineyard that typically produces some of Red Newt’s most intense wines. This one is pure and smoky at first pass, with scents of lemon oil and alder smoke; with air, a faint peach note emerges. It’s dry and pure in its passion-fruit flavors, the texture finely salty and electric.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
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.