Tasting the Winter Claddagh Club Wines

13 Feb Tasting the Winter Claddagh Club Wines

Each quarter, we send out a selection of wines to the members of our Claddagh Club.  These wines are sometimes of such small production that they are only released to our club members, and they are sometimes pre-releases of wines that will eventually make their way into our online store and tasting room.  When planning the year’s Claddagh Club releases, I usually make a first draft which considers when wines will be bottled and labeled, their appeal during different seasons, and when the wines will become approachable.  As the club release date approaches, Tom and I open up the candidates for the upcoming release to confirm the selections, revise the tasting notes, and make adjustments to the schedule if we feel that a wine needs a bit more time, or we just can’t resist pulling something forward to an earlier release date.  

This quarter’s selections include the 2019 Paul’s Legacy Reserve Pinot Noir, The 2019 Pinot Noir, the 2019 Polarity and the 2018 Brut Rosé with different quantities and wines included in our different Claddagh Club membership types and tiers.   This was a fun and delicious lineup to taste through!  Here is a summary of our winemaking, tasting and pairing notes for this quarter’s selections:

2019 Pinot Noir: 

• Winemaking Notes: This is our “classic” Pinot Noir made from grapes grown on several different Finger Lakes Vineyards. This year, 40 percent of the fruit was grown on our Estate Vineyard on Cayuga Lake, with the balance coming from Nutt Road and Elaine’s Vineyard on Seneca Lake, and Hobbit Hollow on Skaneateles Lake. The grapes were hand-picked then gently de-stemmed and optically sorted using cameras to evaluate the color and texture of each berry, and select only those which met our standards for the best possible fruit. We hand-sorted the stems and selected ~50% for inclusion in the 14 day fermentation. We gently gravity-flow transferred the wine into barrels for 12 months of aging in Francois Frêres French oak barrels.  
• Tasting Notes and Suggested Pairings:  Notes of fresh raspberries on the nose.  Cherries, currants and savory umami notes emerge on the palate. The finish shows  medium-firm tannins and a beautiful, elegant, long finish. We immediately thought of salmon as a pairing for this wine – briefly dredged in soy sauce, ginger and lemon juice, then coated in sesame seeds and pan seared.

• Production: 484 cases

2019 Paul’s Legacy Reserve Pinot Noir:

• Vineyard Notes & Winemaking:  The fruit in this wine hails from Hobbit Hollow on the West side of Skaneateles Lake. This vineyard is further north and higher in elevation than the other vineyard sites in our portfolio. The winemaking on the Paul’s Legacy is the same as the 2019 Pinot Noir, making a side-by-side tasting really interesting.  We really enjoyed comparing and contrasting the differences in the fruit grown at Hobbit Hollow with the Finger Lakes blend. We are pouring these back-to-back on our club flight at the winery this spring. 
• Tasting Notes and Suggested Pairings: Notes of dark cherries , blueberries, and cloves on the nose. The cherries continue on the palate along with plums, currants and a hint of salinity, followed by medium-firm tannins which linger beautifully on the palate. We thought that pan-seared duck breast would work well with this wine, along with and roasted root vegetables in the cooler days, and as things warm up this spring, a wood fired pizza topped with pancetta, arugula, walnuts pears and a blend of parmesan and fontina cheese. 
• Production: 97 cases

2018 Brut Rosé

• Winemaking:  We hand pick the fruit for our sparkling wines earlier than for our still wines to ensure that the fruit has plenty of acidity to give the wine good structure and balance. After de-stemming, we optically sorted the fruit, and Tom made adjustments to allow for the inclusion of fruit that was a bit less ripe. We allowed the fruit to rest for 7 hours at 48° to allow color and flavor extraction from the skins. Then we basket pressed the grapes and transferred the juice to stainless steel tanks for a 25 day primary fermentation. We made this wine in the traditional method. In early 2019, we bottled the wine and added yeast as part of the tirage to induce a secondary fermentation. The wine rested en tirage for around two years to create fine bubbles. We added a final dosage at disgorgement to finish the wine in a brut, or dry style.  
• Tasting Notes and Suggested Pairings:  This vintage is a beautiful, vibrant example of a Brut Rosé with aromas of fresh strawberries on the nose and a burst of fresh cranberries and plums on the palate.  The bubbles are very delicate and the finish is very dry and refreshing.  This wine can work well as an aperitif, but it is also a wine of real substance and can definitely be enjoyed with main courses.  Suggested pairings include pan-seared crab cakes with béarnaise sauce, or Cornish hens (or roasted chicken) with a pear and sage stuffing.
• Production: 63 cases

2019 Polarity

• Winemaking: Polarity is our “white Pinot Noir” and we have been producing this wine since 2009. We hand picked the grapes into small, thirty pound baskets to prevent bruising. On the crush pad, we gently de-stemmed the grapes, then optically sorted the grape berries. As with the Brut Rosé, Tom tailored the optical sorting settings to include grapes of the right ripeness for Polarity. Next, we immediately pressed the grapes after optical sorting to minimize skin contact, creating a pale colored juice. We barrel fermented the juice, and then shepherded the wine through a secondary malolactic fermentation. Finally, we sur-lie aged (aging on yeast) the wine for just over ten months, and stirred about every three days to enhance the mouthfeel and add richness.  
• Tasting Notes and Suggested Pairings: Each year this wine is a slightly different color ranging from pale white to a copper hue.  This year’s version is a beautiful pale golden-pink hue.  The wine shows fresh apricots and citrus blossoms on the nose, and Meyer lemons and white cherries on the palate. The wine carries some nice weight on the mid-palate and ends with a dry and refreshing finish. Seafood has been our go-to pairing for this wine since the beginning.  This year we’ve had a shrimp dish on heavy rotation in our house – a pan-seared version of shrimp and asparagus in a lemon-caper brown butter sauce – topped with fresh avocado just before serving.  This also works well with roasted or grilled white meats such as a whole roasted chicken with celery root puree – the richness of the wine stands up to the food, while the crispness provides freshness and balance.   
• Production: 120 cases

If you’re a wine club member, please join us for our virtual tasting of these wines at 6 p.m. EST on April 1st! Susan will lead everyone through a live tasting of these wines on a member’s only zoom event and answer questions about the wine and offer suggestions for food pairings and drinking windows. 

If you’re not a wine club member, then why not join, while there’s still a chance to get the current allocation? 

We offer 3 membership tiers, Platinum, Gold and Silver. Within each tier, you choose between “Exclusively Red” – reds only, or “Eclectic” – a mix of reds, whites, rosé, and sparkling. Our Claddagh Club Schedule Page has the details on the wines included each club tier for the current quarter, and the details on how to join.