Classic Crunch: Finger Lakes’ Cool-Climate Finesse

The Finger Lakes region in New York state has been a riesling benchmark in American wines for several decades, with producers like Hermann J. Wiemer and Dr. Konstantin Frank proving that its lakeside, cool-climate location can produce wines of great elegance and depth. But defining the region by riesling alone is a huge oversight, and our recent tastings confirmed that it has evolved into an equally compelling producer of cabernet franc, gamay, chenin blanc and more.

Meaghan Frank, the fourth-generation owner and vice president of Dr. Konstantin Frank, thinks it’s a zeitgeist moment for the region. “There's just been this interest and hunger for different, unique things, whether it be different production styles or different varieties,” she said. “I think that’s also driven by the strong sentiment of experimentation in the Finger Lakes. There just seems to be this interest in, ‘OK, I've tried that, what's next?’ It’s so exciting and really primes the Finger Lakes for meeting this moment.”

Of the 434 wines tasted for this report – including those we rated during our deep dive earlier this year into the region’s cabernet franc wines combined with visits to Finger Lakes wineries in December as well as at-home tastings – 394 earned scores of 90 of higher, with 113 in the 94-plus realm.

Riesllings dominated the highest-scoring wines, led by the elegant, concentrated Apollo’s Praise Riesling Seneca Lake Lahoma Vineyard The Knoll Noble Select 2024 as well as the graceful Hillick & Hobbs Riesling Seneca Lake Estate Vineyard Lower Terrace Dry 2024. Paul Hobbs, who purchased the Seneca Lake land for Hillick & Hobbs in 2013, believes that the Finger Lakes can produce some of the finest rieslings in the world, and he’s invested the time and capital there to prove it.

“I had kind of quietly been looking for a place in the Americas that I thought could compete with the best of Europe,” he recalled. “And I didn't see anything in South America, nothing on the West Coast. But the soils, the climate, the slopes, all of it was right there in the Finger Lakes."

“I wanted to help illuminate the beauty or the possibilities of making great wine in the Finger Lakes” he added – and he has done just that through the lens of riesling, on which Hillick & Hobbs is exclusively focused.

It has been a challenging, expensive project, but the results have paid off: Hillick & Hobbs rieslings consistently earn high scores. Six of them in this report, for example, are rated 95 points or higher.

There are several non-riesling standouts in this report, too. The Hosmer Sauvignon Blanc Cayuga Lake Limited Release 2023, with its expressive fruit and garden herbs, and the concentrated yet refined and filigreed Heart and Hands Wine Company Pinot Noir Finger Lakes Mo Chuisle Estate 2022 show just how much potential there is across grape varieties and styles.

The Finger Lakes is an expansive region, and while it comprises 11 lakes, only two of them – Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake – come with with their own AVA designations (within the larger Finger Lakes AVA). It’s also important to note that Keuka Lake, which does not have an AVA designation, is home to a number of notable producers.

Regardless of AVA designations, it’s a region of distinct microclimates and remarkable biodiversity. On visiting the Hermann J. Wiemer winery, just west of Seneca Lake, I was greeted with a huge, 10-foot-tall map on the wall that showed not just which grapes and clones the highly respected producer has planted in which locations, but also granular information on the thickness of the topsoil and underlying geological layers; the depth of, and proximity to, the water of individual sites; spacing; elevation and more.

Discussions with producers also emphasized how much the surrounding waters define the character of Finger Lakes wines.

Oskar Bynke, one of the co-owners of Wiemer along with head winemaker and vineyard manager Fred Merwarth as well as Maressa Tosto-Merwarth, said their vineyards felt a lake effect not only from Seneca Lake but also from the Great Lakes – specifically Lake Ontario to the north and Lake Erie to the west.

The weather patterns, he said, “affect us quite a lot,” with the summer coolness slowing ripening and creating ideal growing conditions, resulting in crunchy, complex and focused wines like the Hermann J. Wiemer Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes Magdalena Vineyard 2023 and the structured yet delicate Element Syrah Finger Lakes Estate 2017.

The wines of Apollo’s Praise, which are produced by Kelby James Russell and Julia Rose Hoyle, also express the region’s intricate geology through the serious yet juicy and velvety Apollo’s Praise Gamay Noir Finger Lakes Lahoma Vineyard 2024 and chiseled, racy Ryan William Vineyard Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes Seneca Lake 2024.

The impressively wide-ranging portfolio of wines from Apollo’s Praise is not something that would have been likely 10 or 20 years ago, Russell noted. “When I came into the wine industry in 2009 in the Finger Lakes, everyone was trying to make cab franc like it was Napa cab sauv,” he said. “And that's what customers were demanding. The label said cabernet, so that's what they thought it was supposed to be. And everyone was trying to make them as extracted as possible, blasting them with new oak, and I think as a region, there was a realization, even separate of the market, that the best cab francs were this fresher style.”

As more producers have crafted cabernet franc in this style, the market in general has become more accepting of them. Certainly, standout cab francs like the vivacious and violet-flecked Red Tail Ridge Cabernet Franc Seneca Lake RTR Estate Vineyard 2024 and the savory, sappy and balanced Red Newt Cellars Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes Glacier Ridge 2023 help power that notion.

Wines produced from other varieties – and in other styles – are also taking advantage of the inherent freshness of this cool-climate region. Voleur Wines, a separate label under Montezuma Winery and part of the larger Martin Family Wineries, has been exploring not only more natural winemaking but also grape varieties that for a long time haven't been given serious consideration.

In addition to his resinous and brambly Voleur Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes  2024, winemaker Phil Plummers also made the fascinating Voleur Grüner Veltliner Finger Lakes Pet Nat 2023, which shows plentiful apple cider and mushroom notes, as well as the bracing, green-apple-skin and flower-tinged Voleur Catawba Finger Lakes  2023.

Finger Lakes’ indigenous varieties and hybrids are both gaining traction, especially when it comes to sales right at the wineries, where guests can be educated about them directly. It also helps that they’re being produced with an increasing focus on their sense of place, and not just as vehicles for sweetness.

“We’re seeing so many people that, back in the day, were drinking just chardonnay and merlot and riesling and pinot, and now are interested in rkatsiteli and gruner and gewurztraminer,” Meaghan Frank said.

One thing that has remained fairly consistent in the region, ironically, is the sense of wide potential vintage variation, Frank added.

2021, Frank recalled, was a huge harvest: “Our biggest on record,” she said. The quintessential Finger Lakes freshness of ‘21 stands in contrast to the bigger, more concentrated 2022.

“Just really challenging,” Frank said of 2022. “We had a really cold winter that year, and the cold winters are very much our Achilles’ heel.” The wines, however, are of very good quality, thanks to a hot, dry growing season with a bit of drought stress.

The spring frost of 2023 posed yet more challenges, cutting volume again. Fortunately, the wines are showing well, their acidity and vivacity already appealing. And 2024, she said, “Was sort of like a magical vintage; you had very high quality and also good yields. We had a mild winter, really solid growing season and low disease pressure coming through.”

The 2024 wines, from what we’ve tasted and from what Frank has experienced, tend to showcase balance and concentration in equal measure. The Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery Riesling Finger Lakes Margrit 2024 is an enticing expression of this great vintage in the Finger Lakes, and is just a hint of things to come for this growing and exciting region.

– Brian Freedman, Staff Writer & Taster

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated by the JamesSuckling.com tasting team. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. 

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