Lakeland Winery - Make Your Own Wine - Personalized & Custom Winemaking
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It finally feels like Spring and what better way to celebrate than with sweet, fresh blueberries?
The May Wine of the Month is our Fresh Blueberry wine, made with blueberries picked locally in CNY. It’s an off dry, semi-sweet wine absolutely perfect for brunches instead of the usual mimosa, or as an after dinner sweet to cleanse the palette.
This wine is delicious mixed with lemonade too.
All this month, buy one, get one half-off.
Founding father George Washington helped create a brand new country, but he wasn’t as successful at making his own wine.*In fact, Washington tried to make a go of his own vineyard at Mt. Vernon for 11 years before giving up. You, on the otherhand, will succeed with Wine Expert’s International Juice Kits for sale all this week in honor of Presidents’ Day.
Choose from these selected International varieties:
Australian Cabernet Shiraz
Australian Shiraz
Chilean Pinor Noir
Chilean Merlot
French Cabernet Sauvignon
French Merlot
New Zealand Pinot Noir
$98.99 this week only
Kits only. Expires Saturday, February 23, 2013.
*Source: Virgina Wine: Virginia Wine History
I might have a sweet tooth, but when it comes to wine preferences, I’m a dry aficionado all the way. I like my wines less sweet and arid like the desert. This is why I’m so excited for our February special.
All this month we’re honoring dry white wines: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cayuga White, Pinot Grigio — they’re all on sale this month, buy one, get one-half off. So if you can’t decide which white will go best with that romantic Valentines dinner you’re planning, get them both!
Serious wine drinkers keep their vintages in designated, temperature-controlled places and so should you. Once you have more wine than just the few you bought for a dinner party, and especially when you make your very own, it’s time to make those wines last and age to perfection with your own wine cellar.
But don’t worry — a wine cellar doesn’t have to be subterranean. There’s no need to clean out the cobwebs in your basement if you don’t want to. You don’t need to install an expensive, temperature-controlled vault. And, you don’t even need a large amount of space. All you need is a designated place in your home that gets no direct sunlight, and stays at a constant and relatively cool temperature. You can even use the back of a closet for a wine rack.
Here are some tips on creating your own wine storage space:
1. Wine doesn’t rot, but if not stored carefully, the taste will, um, not be so great.
2. Store wine in a space not subject to extreme temperatures. So you know, keep wine out of the bathroom, the sun room in July or an igloo in Antarctica. Experts say the best temperature for wine is between 50 F and 65 F.
3. So what’s the deal with humidity? Some humidity is good because it keeps the corks from drying out. You also want to protect labels from peeling or drying out so 30 years from now that vintage will look as lovely as ever. If possible, a place where humidity is between 50 and 80 percent works best.
4. Wine racks are good as long as you keep wines on their sides to keep the corks wet and to prevent too much oxygen from getting into the bottle.
5. How you organize your bottles and where you end up keeping them really depends on your favorite wines. Personally, I’m a bit of a Riesling snob. Rieslings need to be kept at cooler temperatures, so you might want to keep those on hand in a wine cooler stored in your kitchen — or by the couch. It’s wherever you need your wine.
6. If you’re looking for wine racks, we have some great deals right now at Lakeland Winery. Hint hint: A wine rack makes for an excellent holiday gift. Contact Christina at [email protected] for more details or just come to the winery.
Okay, so it’s not even Halloween yet, but you can get all of your holiday shopping done early this year by making your holiday wine now at Lakeland Winery.
It takes seven weeks for the wine to ferment, so if you make your wine by November 3, you can have wine gifts for friends, family and coworkers done in time for the holidays. No last minute shopping!
Read up on our custom winemaking process here.
Book your winemaking appointment here.
Are you getting the most out of your wine? Snooth details seven ways that people drink wine incorrectly. Drinking wine requires a little patience and finesse, and doing it right ensures you’re getting the best tasting wine possible. Here are a few of my favorite wine sins you shouldn’t commit:
1. Serving red wines too warm. Don’t drink a red wine if it’s over 70 F — anything more stimulates alcohol evaporation and ruins the flavor.
2. Drinking the wine as soon as you open the bottle. You may be thirsty, but wine needs time to breathe. Letting a wine sit for a few minutes after opening softens tannins and activates aromas.
3. Over-chilling wines dull the flavors and aromas.
4. Not giving wine a second chance. Many things affect the wine drinking experience, so that wine you tried and didn’t like the first time could taste completely different if you pair it with a different food, let it breathe longer, or serve it at a cooler temperature.
I just learned that I’m an “older millennial;” and to think I’ve been living my life as a “young Gen Xer” all this time.
My fellow older-millennials and I — those of us who are between the ages of 25 and 34 — are a big deal because we’re the second largest age group of wine drinkers next to our parents in the 55 to 64 age group, who are doing the most wine drinking.
According to the 2012 Wine Consumption Report by Napa-based firm Invictus Marketing, more millennials than ever before are drinking wine. Interestingly, the top two age groups are almost in a dead heat in their monthly wine consumption. Thirty five percent of older millenials drink wine at least once a month and 35.2 percent of 55 to 64 year olds drink wine once a month. I concur with these results based solely on anecdotal evidence. At least once a month I drink the wine my parents bought. Wine unites generations.
Invictus Marketing contends that despite these strong numbers of young wine drinkers, traditional wineries aren’t catering to this demographic and missing out on a great opportunity. Even if this is the case, I’ve seen a number of wine companies that are trying to make inroads with the millennial generation, and frankly, they seem a little out of touch to me.
Be. wines is marketing to young women with four wines to fit the four “moods” young women presumably ever have: Flirty (Pink Moscato), Radiant (Riesling), Fresh (Chardonnay) and Bright (Pinot Grigio). What about other moods such as Annoyed Cabernet Sauvignon and I’m-Being-Condescended-To Pinot Noir?
TXT Cellars is hip with the lingo with LOL!!!Riesling, OMG!!!Chardonnay, LMAO!!!Pinot Grigio and WTF!!! Pinot Noir. WTF is right.
The Washington Post reported in March 2012 on a Wine Market Council survey showing that millennials closely resemble high-end wine buyers who are more likely to try new wines, read reviews and visit wine bars — this description doesn’t seem to fit someone who might flirtily imbibe Moscato. I would think that a high-end, wine-drinking millennial is just as likely to tour wineries and try new wines at wineries as their older-generation, wine-drinking compatriots are.
Those of us who live in the Finger Lakes region know that we have some pretty amazing wineries, and the beauty of the eleven-finger lakes surrounded by rolling hills rivals anything that can be seen in Europe or Napa Valley. Now the rest of the world is catching on.
The Atlantic recently published a piece on how the Finger Lakes is the next up-and-coming region, especially because of its Rieslings.
Caroline Helper, writing for the Atlantic, describes a wine region that’s been playing a game of catch-up with the well-established regions in California, Oregon and Washington. Helper credits the local food movement with people turning to their own communities for products and the region’s stellar Rieslings for the growing interest in Finger Lakes wineries.
The Riesling, first introduced to the region in 1962 by Ukrainian immigrant Dr. Konstantin Frank, is the most planted grape in the region, according to the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance. Finger Lakes Rieslings are noted for their dryness and pairing perfectly with meals.
The region also earned some buzz in 2011 when famous winemaker, Paul Hobbs, an Upstate New York native, announced that he’d like to make wines in the Finger Lakes.
So why has it taken so long for the Finger Lakes region to start earning national recognition? Helper writes that many of the local producers blame legislation for the Finger Lakes’ slow ascent into winemaking stardom. Prohibition, which was overturned in 1933, and the Farm Winery Act of 1976, which allowed numerous small and medium-size wineries to flourish, gave the region its slow start. Bob Madill of the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance told Helper:
“In general terms, prohibition slowed everything down and we’re still working our way out of it. For example, New York is one of the few large producing and consuming states that doesn’t allow the sale of wine in grocery stores and that is a historical vestige of the idea that sales of alcohol needs to be controlled.”
The Atlantic article also describes how Finger Lakes winemakers take a collaborative approach to producing wine. The region’s winemakers get together throughout the year and compare notes — they tell each other how they made their wines in the spirit of bettering the entire region. Many of the area’s winemakers are self-taught or trained in the local wineries. Many started out as growers. As Will Ouweleen of Eagle Crest Vineyards said:
”If you work in a vineyard you know that you can always do better. It builds character, integrity, and honesty and that expresses itself in the wine.”
I’m not really one for beauty pageants, but I think Germany’s Wine Queen pageant is one I can get behind.
The Vinography blog met up with the 2012 German Wine Queen, Annika Strebel, at ProWein, Europe’s largest wine exhibition. Becoming the German Wine Queen is no joke.
Vinography notes:
”The wine queen program is a remarkably savvy idea that celebrates many of the best things about wine and culture without falling prey to the trashier aspects of many beauty pageants. By celebrating beautiful, intelligent young women that are passionate about wine, the program both serves to attract younger people to the culture of wine, while at the same time demystifying and glamorizing it.”
Wine queens not only have to be lovely and enchanting in evening gowns, but these women must also be serious wine connoisseurs. Wine Queen contenders must pass a series of tests to win the crown. Vinography reports that the hopeful Wine Queen must give an impromptu speech on a randomly chosen German wine region; she must be able to answer questions about the differences between wine regions and grape varieties; perform a blind sensory analysis of a sample of wines; describe winemaking techniques for any type of wine; and make a speech about German wine in English using key words provided by the jury. Phew. I’d stumble over that like a certain 2007 Miss Teen USA contender from South Carolina every single time.
The Wine Queen devotes an entire year to her reign, and according to Vinography, it’s a huge time commitment. Past queen Mandy Grossgarten told Vinography that being wine queen ”pretty much turns your world upside down.” Many wine queens are students who must take a year off from their studies to participate in hundreds of publicity engagements. Strebel recounted that she participated in an underwater wine tasting in SCUBA gear as part of her queenly duties.
Strebel, who is taking a year off from her studies at the prestigious viticulture and enology program at Geisenheim in Hessen, Germany, plans to eventually take over winemaking at her family’s Weingut Strebel winery.
French wine from the Bordeaux producer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The French are trying to conquer America, and that doesn’t mean they want to buy Louisiana back. Americans are purchasing French wine in record amounts, helping propel the Gallic wine industry to new highs. French wine and spirits exports hit $13 billion in 2011, and America was the dominant trading partner, providing 18 percent of that figure. Despite the intense focus on China in recent years, the United States is importing more French wines from almost every region. That’s spurring the French to invest more marketing and sales efforts in America.
via Americans Love French Wine | Wine Spectator
