Three Brothers Winery Part I

In truth, the trip to the dreaded Finger Lakes of New York proved very fortuitous.  You see, our plans were to travel with family to Bermuda.  The plans fell through, which was quite a lucky event given that a hurricane smashed Bermuda in the days just before we were to visit.  Anyway, we had time on our hands to spend on the East Coast, so a wine trip to the Finger Lakes was obviously the proper call – especially since we would be joined by our sweet wine expert, my sister, and first Empress of Rome, Livia  (ok, she’s not really the first Empress of Rome – we’re not that old!)  But she is an afficionado of sweet wines and the Finger Lakes are known for their sweet wines.  So off we went.
​The Finger Lakes are actually not dreaded (well, there is the sweet wine thing), but the trip there certainly is.  You see, the fastest and most direct route entails long hours driving the New York State Thruway.  Sort of like driving the 405 without the heavy traffic – and lots and lots of trucks.  DREADED!  Then, there is this:

​As you can see, there are a lot of wineries in the Dreaded Finger Lakes of New York because the climate in the Finger Lakes is relatively mild compared to the surrounding area, such as Buffalo to the west which gets a gazillion feet of snow every winter and they are all very, very thirsty all of the time... 
​The lakes look like they’ve been gouged into the land by long fingers, hence the name.  These lakes keep the temperature mild and, with a nice Indian summer, the fall as well.  Perfect climate for northern Europe grapes – Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Gruner Veltliner, Zweigelt and Blaufrankisch, noting that I have left off the umlauts which is to be expected since I also leave off accent marks.

The most important grape of this region is Riesling.  Riesling is a German grape which is used to make wines that range from dry to very, very sweet.  Indeed, the Germans have names for the wines made from Riesling with different sugar content at time of harvest.  I list them from lowest to highest:

• Kabinett
• Spatlese
• Auslese
• Beerenauslese
• Trockenbeerenauslese

The first three wines in the list above can be anywhere from perfectly dry to very sweet, whereas Beerenauslese  and Trockenbeerenauslese wines are always very sweet, and most often made from grapes that have been attacked by noble rot (bortrytis).  Noble rot dries out the grapes, increasing sugar levels, and adds unique flavors to the wine.  Not having ever tasted either of these wines, the first winery we visited in The Dreaded Finger Lakes of New York offered their version of a Trockenbeerenauslese.  But before telling of our experience there, I shall go off on a tangent about Riesling for no reason whatsoever.
Riesling is a German grape that has the important properties of growing well in cooler climates, i.e., it buds late and ripens early.  It makes for a very aromatic wine with wonderful fruit flavors.  Now for most grapes the acidity of the grape falls off as the grape ripens.  Not so with Riesling.  Hence Riesling wines can be both very fruity and highly acidic.  This is a very desired characteristic, and hence great care should be made in making wines from the Riesling grape to prevent oxidation of the wine and remove any chemicals that can add other flavors.  Post-fermentation processes such as oak aging, malolactic fermentation, and exposure to dead yeast (lees) are usually avoided.
​Now on to our first winery in the Dreaded Finger Lakes of New York, the makers of a Trockenbeerenauslese wine, Three Brothers Winery.  Their history is shown in the picture below.

​They have broken down their winery into three separate wineries, and also have a brewery, with all four tasting rooms at the same site.  We started out at the traditional winery, Stoney Lonesome Estate, where we could find the Trockenbeerenauslese.  As you can see in the tasting menu below, they make a range of Riesling wines with different sweetness levels, from dry to sweet to, of course, the very sweet Trockenbeerenauslese.  In addition, they make one wine in the German Kabinett style.  We tasted the zero degree, third degree, Kabinett-style, and, of course, the Trockenbeerenauslese, which cost an extra $10 per taste.  Our sweet wine expert hated the zero degree, liked the third degree, and fell in love with the Trockenbeerenauslese.

​I should add that their Trockenbeerenauslese is not quite the same as the German Trockenbeerenauslese.  You see, the Three Brothers Trockenbeerenauslese is made by picking the grapes that have turned into raisins on the vine.  In Germany they depend on Noble Rot to dry the grapes, which adds other flavors to the wine.  Hence Three Brothers Trockenbeerenauslese is not exactly the same as German Trockenbeerenauslese.  It is, however, a very good wine, by far the best of the Three Brothers offerings.  As noted above, Livia, who I repeat is not the first Empress of Rome, really loved the Trockenbeerenauslese though she did comment that it was not quite as good as the Falernian White from her favorite wine shop in Pompeii….

​I will end this blog here and leave my musings on the other parts of the Three Brothers Winery for my next blog.  Be sure not to miss it!