WTN: Hot Honey

[David M. Bueker]

2024 Apollo’s Praise Noble Sweet Riesling The Knoll - Lahoma Vineyard (Finger Lakes)
This wine has to be tasted to be believed. 30% residual sugar with a live electrical cable in the bottle. It’s live wire honey!

"30% residual sugar?" Is that a poetic impression or an actual statistic? (The tech sheet says 4 g/l RS....)

(I'm curious not least because they're close enough to me that I could drive to the winery, pick up a bottle, and be home in time for dinner.)

Oh, never mind -- I was looking at the regular "Noble Riesling" tech sheet, but this must be the "Noble Select," made from botrytized bunches. I don't see a tech sheet for that but they do still have some 375s... hmmm...

Seems like a promising winery worth visiting. Last night, Jin (of noreetuh fame) gave us a bottle of the Apollo's Praise Lahoma Scheurebe to pass around. I forget the vintage but it was an interesting juxtaposition to what I know from Germany. Dry, 12.5% alcohol, not as exotic as the famous HGS scheurebe wines, and not as electric as David's riesling. But crisp and well-structured, with some interesting scheurebe character. Not bad at all.

[David M. Bueker]

Oh, never mind -- I was looking at the regular "Noble Riesling" tech sheet, but this must be the "Noble Select," made from botrytized bunches. I don't see a tech sheet for that but they do still have some 375s... hmmm...

From the back label of the bottle:
Sugar at harvest: 461 g/l
Residual Sugar: 304 g/l
Total Acidity: 13.5
PH: 3.30

Patchen - you might want to contact them before taking the drive. I was there this summer and the winery is a work in progress near the Lahoma vineyard. Actually an old barn that will eventually be a winery but was a makeshift tasting room when I visited. They were only able to taste a small subset of their lineup - you might find more in the shops around Ithaca. That said, it is a place worth watching, and I have been enjoying their regular dry riesling. I think the actual production may take place at Sheldrake Point and Hosmer, both on Cayuga Lake.