New Arrivals from Eminence Road Farm Winery!
4/19/23 -
While having the opportunity to taste amazing wines from all over the world is certainly one of the allures of working in the wine business, perhaps the most fun and personally enriching part is meeting and forming relationships with the people making those wines - especially when they're working right under our noses in New York just a few hours northwest of the city at the edge of the Catskills! Andrew Scott is one such winemaker who is always a joy to talk to and happens to make some delightful wines, which he delivers himself in his Subaru straight from the winery.
Eminence Road Farm Winery began as a passion project, fueled by Andrew's love of wines from the Loire Valley. Soon his winemaking hobby grew into a legitimate business and by 2008 he was bottling wines as Eminence Road, using fruit from several vineyards in the Finger Lakes and making, as he puts it, "rustic, textured country wines that shine bright on the dinner table." The wines are left to ferment at their own pace, slowly and with minimal intervention in the cellar. No fining or filtration happens at any point and sulfur is used sparingly. The wines are made with care and, as the label indicates, "Bottled Alive!"
We've just received a fresh delivery straight from the back of Andrew's Subaru, including some new releases from the 2021 vintage. The year started off quite favorably upstate, with little winter damage to the vines and ample warmth, allowing grapes to ripen. Rains during harvest complicated things with mildew pressure and reduced sugar content, with the average alcohol potential maxing out around 10.7% abv. On the plus side yields were up so there was some extra juice, a portion of which went into the delicious and thirst-quenching skin contact blend "Basket" which is new for this year. The rest of the 2021s are vibrant and charming, light and easygoing while still retaining acidity and freshness. Making around 1,000 cases per year in total, it's still a fairly small production and the wines are seldom available outside of New York, so here's a chance to grab some locally made wines that are perfect for the summer but delicious year round! -Jeff DiLorenzo
