Fox Run

Seneca Lake (West - Penn Yan)
670 Rt 14
Penn Yan, NY 14527

800-636-9786
foxrunvineyards.com
info@foxrunvineyards.com

Hours: 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 11-6 Sun
Tasting Fee: $2, Tours: hourly until 4pm, Reservations: not required









On paper, Fox Run's tasting room looks like an ideal stop for the western shore of Seneca Lake. Wine & Spirits gave it a "Top 100 2008 Winery of the Year" and the cafe food smells great. The Dutch Colonial-style building has good views of the lake and a rear patio with vineyard views. (We took advantage of the patio with a quick snack of cheese, cured meats and bread after our tasting.) The tasting menu offers lots of selection and even includes a Ruby Port. All these things weren't enough to score it a spot on our list to revisit.

The winery was very busy. (Remember, this is a Sunday afternoon in late October.) A large busload of tourists had just unloaded - talk about crummy timing! Fortunately, they were milling about without much direction and hadn't found the tasting bar. Although busy, we didn't have to wait long for a spot at the bar. Our wine ambassadors were working hard at pouring for the crowd three deep in some spots, so efficiency was king. Fox Run's best-selling wine is a sweet, local white varietal. We were pleased when our host was flexible with the tasting menu and allowed us to pick alternatives from the drier side.

Wines were hit or miss. A few were good but not for the price. I think that if we were there during a slower day, the winery staff would have been able to make more accurate recommendations.









Selections from tasting menu (purchases in bold):
Reserve Chardonnay 2006 - $14.99. A traditional Chardonnay with strong peach fruit and vanilla. Odd cheese flavor at finish. "Barrel maturation," 0.5% RS.
Dry Riesling 2008 - $15.99. Focus is on citrus fruit for this wine. Heavy on the lemon and acidity. Not balanced. 0.9% RS
Arctic Fox - $8.99. The Best-Seller! Very light, sweet white wine blend. Did not have strong flavors. Citrus and apples. 2.1% RS
Cabernet Franc 2006 - $14.99. Smoky with violets. Tart, interesting; not my favorite version of the varietal. No residual sugar.
Merlot 2006 - $14.99. More tannic than the Cab Franc. Tight, needed more time to open than the tasting allowed. "Velvety plum and wild blueberry flavors."
Lemberger 2007 - $14.99. Really smooth and soft; light tannins in balance. Doesn't have the green pepper spice of Anthony Road's Lemberger blend. "Intense berries, plums and dried sage... full-bodied, moderately tannic." No residual sugar.
Reserve Riesling 2008 - $30.00. The same issues I had with the regular Riesling are present here: too much acid, not balanced and lots of lemon. From the description of "intense aromas of kiwi, jasmine, red raspberries, lemon, mango and nectarine," I was very interested. Felt like I wasted a higher-end pick on this wine. 1% RS
Reserve Cabernet Franc 2005 - $40.00. Pleasant nose, herbal flavors with vanilla finish. No residual sugar. A good wine, but not $40 good. Best of the tasting. Here's to finishing on a strong note!









Other wines from the tasting menu:
Ruby Vixen
Gewurztraminer 2008
Semi-Dry Riesling 2008
Reserve & regular Pinot Noir 2007
Sable
Fox Trot Red
Ruby Port
Meritage 2007

Anthony Road

Seneca Lake (West - Penn Yan)
1020 Anthony Road
Penn Yan, NY 14527

800-559-2182
anthonyroadwine.com
info@anthonyroadwine.com

Hours: 10am-5pm Mon-Sat, 12-5 Sun
Tasting Fee: $1, Reservations: not required, but recommended during peak hours/season









At the time of our visit in October 2009, Anthony Road had been producing wines for 20 years. It is still family-owned and operated with on-site control over the many aspects of winery operations (winemaking, bottling, labeling, storage). The final product is a roster of excellent wines in a full range of styles priced at a great value. The winery was only second in number of bottles purchased (just behind Ravines). To say we were pleased with the accuracy of the Wine Spectator recommendations is not enough. You really ought to visit yourself.

The tasting room is in an impressive building of with hints of Classical (Greek/Roman architecture with a soaring ceiling, airy atmosphere, and lots of marble and fresco-styled decorative painting. Our host was alert, able to answer specific questions abou the winery and wines as well as guiding our selections.

Anthony Road definitely deserves a return visit, possibly paired with a picnic under the deep porch overlooking the vineyards.









Selections from tasting menu (purchases in bold):
Dry Riesling 2008 - $U. "Apple & lemon peel with hints of lime." 0.7% RS.
Pinot Gris 2007 - $12.99. Rose florals with crisp citrus flavors followed with a hint of toasted walnut. Really nice. 0.6% RS.
Gewurztraminer 2008 - $15.99. Balanced and beautiful. Lots of florals with easily detected ginger; tangerine and lychee in supporting roles. Nice weight with a long finish. 1.1% RS
Rose of Cab Franc 2008 - $U. Crisp; lighter and less personality than the most recent Rose (Peju in Napa Valley) we tasted, but still good. A great summer appetizer wine. 0.4% RS
Devonian Red - $9.99. Possibly the best value wine of the whole trip. An easy-drinking red blend with distinctive green pepper spice flavors.
Sweet Dream 2007 - $15.99. Simply delicious. This dessert wine is made with 75% raisined Vignoles grapes (via botrytis) at harvest. Decadent with just the right amount of acidity and weight. 8.6% RS












Other wines from the tasting menu:
Devonian White
Chardonnay 2007
Dry Riesling 2008
Cab Franc/Lemberger 2007
Tony's White
Tony's Blush
Tony's Red
Semi-Sweet Riesling 2008
Vignoles 2008

Prejean Winery

Seneca Lake (West - Penn Yan)
2634 Route 14
Penn Yan, NY 14527

315-536-7524
prejeanwinery.com
info@prejeanwinery.com

Hours: 10am-5:30pm Mon-Sat, 10-5:30 Sun
Reservations: not required

Prejean's tasting room is surrounded by vineyards just off the main road. This winery made my list because I'd heard the Late Harvest Vignoles and Riesling were worth checking out. The location of this winery between Heron Hill and some highly recommended wineries to the north made it an easy choice for a quick stop.

Our visit was on a late Sunday morning. We figured by this time most of the weekend wine drinkers would be long gone. Our host's weariness indicated they had in fact come and gone. The tasting room was fairly empty save for a small, but rowdy group of middle-aged folks who left in a small party bus. The room has lots of merchandise, heavy on the puns, dotted between the wine bins. The wines really deliver for this crowd. For us, the wines were (overall) not complex enough, thin or too similar to other wineries. I think having visited once, we can pass next time to try out a new winery.

The tasting menu covers five wines. Since there were two of us, we didn't duplicate selections to maximize our exposure to as many of Prejean's wines as possible. The tasting fee is refunded incrementally with purchases.








Selections from tasting menu (purchases in bold):
Dry Riesling 2007 - $11.99. The whites we sampled were all considered dry or medium dry, but there is a sweet/semi-sweet menu as well. My notes for this wine just read, "Don't like" without further elaboration. I was expecting a wine that more closely matched the description of a "crisp wine with aromas of lime and orange peel... flavors of tropical fruit." Pretty sure that is not what I found.
Pinot Gris 2007 - $14.99. This bottling leaned more toward the sweet side of the tasting menu. Pineapple flavors dominated.
Dry Gewurztraminer 2006 - $16.99. This pretty, yellow wine is actually crisp and lean although the description says it has a "floral, creamy nose... with a rich mouthfeel." Lots of pineapple aromas. I liked it better than the Pinot Gris, but felt it was thin/watery. Barrel-fermented.
Marechal Foch 2008 - $10.99. Our lone purchase. I felt this was a good example of the varietal. The wine was interesting, featured pleasant flavors and good tannins for the price. Marechal Foch is a cold-hardy varietal hailing from the Loire Valley (FR), so you can understand why it enjoys some degree of popularity in the Finger Lakes. The wine we sampled featured chocolate and cherry flavors and a dry, berry finish with a body reminiscent of Beaujolais.
Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 - $15.99. Another one with minimal notes. Found this one to be sour, not in a good way.
Cabernet Franc 2007 - $15.99. Cherry, plum and toasty oak. Not a winner. Still thin, but better than the Cab Sauv.
Merlot 2006 - $17.99. This was one of the few wines I didn't think was watery, thin or flat. This one was just "meh" with some fruit. I'm enjoying revisiting my tasting notes even if the wines weren't a hit.
Pinot Noir 2006 - $14.99. No scribbles on this wine. I'm sure it fit in with the rest of the bunch.
Late Harvest Vignoles 2008 - $12.99. Ah, the long-awaited and heralded dessert wine. High hopes were checked by the previous wines, but still keeping an open mind. The notes just keep getting more amusing - "Woah, sweet but checked by acidity. Prefer thicker style. Refreshing." Drinking companion, who is not a white or dessert wine devotee, found "sweet and sour sauce... no wait, more like orange sauce." *sigh*












Other wines from the tasting menu:
Riesling 2007
Gewurztraminer 2006
Cayuga 2007
Semi-Sweet Riesling 2008
Bird of Paradise (Chardonnay Port)
Cabernet Port 2006
Reserve & non-Reserve Chardonnay 2007
Proprietor's Red

Silence

I have to apologize for the extended period of no posts. Between the holiday season, getting engaged, a heavy workload and a dying Mac... it's been difficult finding time to write about wine - although I have been drinking it.

But the blog should be back to bi-monthly posts at least! The unusual amount of snow has created some much-appreciated snow days home from work and I've caught up on some posts.

See you soon!