Niagara Cool
Yes, Virginia, there is a Western New York Wine Fete. And yes, Virginia did quite well.
A couple dozen intrepid wine lovers gathered near Tonawanda Creek this summer for the annual NiagaraCool Picnic and wine tasting. Organized by local grilleur and home winemaker extraordinaire Howie Hart, wine lovers from all over the Eastern U.S. and Canada sample Howe’s wonderful cuisine and compare bottles. This year’s tasting, organized by Ed Draves of Prestige Wine and Spirits, featured Cabernet Franc.
Normally accorded second billing to its more beautiful sister, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc can—in the right hands and the right place—produce wonderful bottles. Outside of Bordeaux, where it rarely has a featured role, Cab Franc flourishes in the Loire Valley communes of Bourgeuil and Chinon. Not surprisingly, the stars of NiagaraCool were the 1996 La Croix Boissée and the astonishingly youthful 1986 Joguet Clos de la Diotiere both from Chinon. Chinon also strutted its stuff with the 2005 Baudry “Les Granges,” and J. M. Raffault 2005 “Les Galuches,” and neighboring Bourgueil was happily represented by the 2002 Breton “Les Galichets.”
The surprise wine of the night, though, was the 2004 Barboursville Vineyards Cabernet Franc Reserve from Virginia, a lean, but dense, delicious wine for food. New York and Ontario’s entries were decidedly back in the pack.....
Along with some other interesting wine talk, the rest of the article can be found in the following link (scroll down to the bottom):
Forty years of Spree wine journalism
