The Finger Lakes AVA lies five hours north of New York city, to the south of Lake Ontario & the Canadian border. The region sits on the extremity of many a wine convention:- this is seriously cool climate production made possible only by the tempering effect of the lakes and Vinifera only arrived here in the 1950s and still has to prove its worth to many farmers more used to selling hybrids to the tourist markets. Amongst the wineries and winemakers pushing to advance the region and craft wines of quality and distinction to match the best sites' potential is local Ben Riccardi.
Ben brings the sensibilities of a young gun who has worked in Sonoma, New Zealand and France along with Big Apple attitude from time honing his skills at Manhattan's City Winery. Using fruit from both Seneca and Cayuga Lakes - there are 11 Lakes in total with four considered the best for winemaking and these two with their own AVAs - Ben makes low-intervention, wild-yeast wines that revel in feshness and lower alcohol. We love the lightness of touch he brings to his Chardonnays (both unoaked and with some large barrel influence), Riesling and Cab Franc. The hybrids that can often lead the region astray- along with being freezing in the winter there can be considerable pressure on vines during hot and humid summers - are focussed and original.
Osmote Leon Millot This is Red Pet Nat 2020
12.5% abv
The first red pet nat from Osmote. A blend of 62% Leon Millot 26% Marquette & 12% Cabernet Franc. In looking at older generation hybrids like Leon Millot to understand what the Finger Lakes was as a wine region, and then reconceptualizing their use, they redefine what the region can become.
Ebullient, dark red sparkling wine with aromas of blue fruit, milk chocolate, and a woodsy top note. Rich flavor with clove and blue violet notes before chalky tannins assert the finish. A cold bottle slowly releases bubbles just threatening to overflow before you pour that first glass of opaque, dark purple wine. Hybrid grapes from Seneca and Cayuga Lake vineyard sites. Grown with high umbrella trellising anda minimum of vineyard sprays thanks to their natural pest resistances.
And the label….. Mullets are back, or did they ever go out of style? Osmote feels the same about hybrid grapes, using them to make some of the most fun wines in the FLX. Art by Jacob Hanson, HANSONSTUDIO.COM, is designed perfectly to represent rebellious wines made in an old trucking garage by the lake.
- Reference #:
- 14481
- Strength
- 12.5 ABV
- Bottles per Case
- 6 bottles
- Organic
- No
- Biodynamic
- No
- Vegan
- Yes
- Vegetarian
- Yes
- Sparkling
- Yes
