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The western wine making appellations of New York State, that is Lake Erie and the Niagara Escarpment, are lagging the remainder of the state in the transformation towards a high quality wine making region. Their primary plantings are in Concord and Niagara grapes for the juice market and they are very good at it. Consequently there has been little impetus to move to higher value, but more difficult and risky, vinifera plantings. However, a number of new winemakers and some established wineries are moving in the direction of producing vinifera based wines and establishing the beginnings of a fine winemaking culture. This nascent effort has been indicated by planting or developing plans to plant European varietals in these regions. WinesNY.com will be monitoring the region to see how this trend develops over time.
Lake Erie and the Niagara Escarpment are similar to the Hudson, in that, although many wineries in the region sell a Chardonnay, most of the grapes are sourced from the Finger Lakes or Long Island. Given the situation in the region it was difficult to locate wines that met the criteria to be considered for this article. Luckily a sole standout winemaker, Eveningside Vineyards, produced a remarkable wine which demonstrates that the Chardonnay can certainly be a viable varietal for high quality wines from the region. It is hoped that Eveningside's neighbors will take note.
Eveningside Vineyards
Eveningside is a new, and currently tiny, vineyard in the Niagara Escarpment AVA. The winery was established by the Biehl family in 2000. The vineyard is one acre planted in Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Riesling. They released their first wine in 2004.
Randy Biehl learned his craft working at the famous Cave Spring Cellars in across the lake in Ontario Canada. While on a trip to Canada he looked across Lake Ontario and wondered "why a wine industry, let alone a winery, does not exist in Niagara County". Good question considering there are so many grapes grown in the region. After investigation he found that that the region's conditions were excellent for growing vinifera and producing high quality wines. He purchased a twenty-one acre orchard and Concord grape vineyard. The location takes advantage of the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario to moderate the continental climate making for particularly advantageous vinifera growing conditions.
Find all wines from Eveningside Vineyards
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