| 53% Cabernet Sauvignon , 47% Merlot - After 15 months in our barrel hall, we selected the most expressive and promising barrels to create this unique Finger Lakes blend. They say “blending is an art”, well, we like what we see.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the world’s most renowned grape variety for the production of fine wine. With it’s rich history in Bordeaux, where the grape is almost always blended with other grapes, other regions of both the Old and New World have adopted this varietal to produce both blended and pure varietal wines. Ever eager to develop homes for vinifera in the Finger Lakes, grape growers have found a place in their vineyards for this marvelous grape.
Merlot is the Bordeaux region's most planted grape and notable for the great wines of St-Emilion and Pomerol. Throughout Southwest France, and increasingly, the rest of the world, Merlot has been gaining popularity with both the grape grower, winemaker, and consumer. Merlot ripens earlier than it's constant companion, Cabernet Sauvignon, and its early, plump, lush fruitiness produces wine that is both soft and supple.
Traditionally Merlot is one of the premier grapes used in Bordeaux wines, most often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to both soften and add complexity to the wines. Merlot has been emerging as a premium varietal in its own right, yielding a sensual, round wine that does not need the same care in aging as a Cabernet.
Merlot is relatively new to the Finger Lakes, thriving best above the shoreline in clay-based , cool soils that retain their moisture well and allow the grapes to reach full size. The grapes were grown by Jim Hazlitt, owner of Sawmill Creek Vineyards in Hector (three miles north of Atwater). |
