Another in our continuing reports on Finger Lakes wineries.
I’d seen Bloomer Creek on the Seneca Wine Trail map for years, but had the mistaken impression that the focus was on sweet wines. The winery building itself is, well, very humble. We passed it several times as it is next door to one of our favorite Finger Lakes restaurants, the Stonecat Café.
When we heard a raving recommendation from another winemaker, we decided to check it out. I figured it would be a short visit, but when we walked inside the door to the barnlike tasting room, we were transported into a world of incredible premium wines.
We met winemaker Kim Engle and soon learned that Bloomer Creek has been featured in the New York Times, the Wine Enthusiast and is on the wine list at exclusive Manhattan restaurants. Like his tasting room, Kim is funky and fun and was soon pouring us some wine.Our first sip was a glass of his 2011 1st Harvest Morehouse Road Vineyard Dry Riesling. The vineyard is about 15 miles north in Ovid. Boom! We tasted a lot of Riesling and had visited more than 10 wineries before this stop – and this was the best Riesling of the trip! This wine was an orchestra of complexity, picking up subtle characteristics from the skin and stems. The balance between fruit and acidity was perfect. Luscious flavors of apples and melon were prancing.
We next moved to the red with the 2009 Vintner Select Pinot Noir. There’s some, but not much, Pinot Noir in the Finger Lakes. In general our expectations aren’t very high when tasting a Pinot from this area – but we were jazzed by this wine. It was a surprise that ended on our list of top wines. It has medium body with a tangle of cherry, earth and spice flavors.
Other selections included the 2008 White Horse Red, which is a blend of 2/3 Cabernet Franc and 1/3 Cabernet Sauvignon and the semi-dry Edelzwicker Blue Cap Trocken, a new-to-us blend of Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Cayuga White. We closed out with the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, which scored highly with our tasting team member, the Cabinator.
To add to the coolness of the wines, the Tanzen Dame labels feature the watercolor “Lost Women” by New York artist Jimmy Wright. The artistry is inside the bottle as well. This is one of our favorite Finger Lakes finds and a top recommendation to all Finger Lakes visitors.
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