The picturesque Finger Lakes area in New York is now recognized as an important wine region in the United States. “In Europe, winemakers have spent centuries identifying the characteristics of world- class wine, learning what grapes grow best in what soils, under what conditions and honing their skills needed to produce the finest vintages. While winemaking in the Finger Lakes is still in its infancy, at just over 160 years-old, in recent years the region has garnered deserved acclaim as one of the “greatest Riesling regions” of the world and “America’s premier cool-climate wine region.””
“Much of the success of winemaking in Finger Lakes has been shaped by a handful of European Winemakers who have blended the best of old-world traditions, training, and experience with new-world innovation, a willingness to experiment and to share ideas and the flexibility to adjust to any given situation.”
Prominent in the development of Finger Lakes as a wine region of note are the carefully documented agricultural research of Dr. Konstantin Frank and the sale of the Taylor Wine Co. to the Coca-Cola Co. in 1977.
Wine journalist David Nershi, CSW (well-traveled in the region) is our guest continuing to uncork all that is the Finger Lakes. David serves as the 1st Vice President of the International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association (IFWTWA) and was the Co-Chair of IFWTWA’s recently concluded Annual Membership Conference in Corning, Finger Lakes, Steuben County, NY. David coordinated and moderated both the Finger Lakes Winemakers Panel as well as the “Surprising Finger Lakes Style” Wine Workshop at the Conference.
This is Anne-Marie Panerinkin, Culture OC's food columnist. You can follow me online at cultureoc.org. When I want the best in food and dining news outside of Orange County, of course, I tune in to the SoCal Restaurant Show on AM830KLAA. And welcome back. It is the SoCal Restaurant Show, and we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 AM until 12 noon, right here on AM830KLAA, the home of Angels Baseball 2024. And you can also catch us on the AM830 Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. And we're proudly presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce and West Coast Prime Meats. We're journeying back to an important emerging wine area in the United States, that being the Finger Lakes area of New York. And we're talking with Dave Nershey, who is a certified specialist of wine, and also the first vice president of the International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association. Dave, welcome back. When we talk about the Finger Lakes over a year and a half ago, when Iftua made the decision that they were going to be going to the Finger Lakes for the annual conference this year, you mentioned to me that I really needed to get familiar with a pioneer of the Finger Lakes wine business, that being Dr. Constantine Frank. And what's really amazing, Dave, is this company, his winery, is now in the third and fourth generation of his family, female winemaker, and interestingly enough, the company is more successful today than it was in the final years of Dr. Constantine Frank, yet he left more than his footprint on the Finger Lakes. Can you share that unbelievable story with us? Yes, indeed. So the Finger Lakes have a long history dating back to the 1800s. But in the 1950s, they were sort of in a place of happy mediocrity. They were producing sweet red wines, some sparkling wines, and they were using hybrid grapes across between local varieties and a different, you know, a Venus venephoric grape as well. And they were quite happy with that, and they felt that they couldn't produce venephoric grapes. Venephoric grapes. That's the species that produce almost all of the world's wines today, 99%. This includes grapes like sardine, cabernet, sovignon, merlot, pino, salignon, block, et cetera. But they felt that the prevailing thought was that they couldn't be grown in the Finger Lakes because it was too cold. That changed with Constantine Frank, a Ukrainian immigrant who arrived in the 1950s. And he had experience growing venephoric grapes in Ukraine and Russia. And he started working at a test agricultural center in Geneva and dabbling with finding grapes, the different grapes, and breeding grapes that would grow successfully in the Finger Lakes area. He had a big struggle because the wineries there didn't want to change. They felt they were being successful with these sweet wines made out of the native grapes like Kataba in Niagara and Delaware and Concord. Eventually, he perfected some grapes that worked very well, and he left the winery. He worked with a gentleman called Charles Foreignier at Gold Seal Winery. Eventually, he broke off and started venephora wine sellers and really changed the trajectory of Finger Lakes wine, and he started developing a claimed reaseline that iconic grape for which the region is so well known today. And Dave, what is really amazing about the legacy of Dr. Frank is he was an agricultural scientist. That's what really interested him. And he was much more interested in the research than profit, which this is sort of not a modern way of doing things. And he always had to fight the good fight because the locals kept saying you can't do this, you're wrong. And they really kept fighting him and he had very strong beliefs for good reason. And he persevered against, which I think you'll agree, pretty incredible odds to make his point and it finally was made. He certainly did persevere. And one thing that he discovered is that past attempts to grow venephora in the Finger Lakes sailed because they were using the wrong wine varieties. And so he introduced varieties that were better suited to the colder climate, including reasling, Cabernet Franc is another one. And sort of, if you look at Germany, for example, they have a very cold climate as well. They knock it out of the park with reasling as well. So if you really, that was a game changer. And there was another big shock in the history of the region. And that was when Coca-Cola in 1977 purchased the Taylor Wine Company, which had been around since the 1880s. And that was the sixth largest winery in the nation. And hundreds of farmers in the region sold grapes to Taylor. And after it was sold to Coca-Cola, they started by cutting their orders in half. And they stopped purchasing grapes all together. And the industry almost collapsed. Well, and Dave, they, Taylor, moved to California. I mean, uh-oh. They did. Yes, they certainly did. And one thing that really precipitated the crisis was that the nation's taste had changed. They no longer went to the sweet red wine. They discovered the grape pulp chardonnay. And so the farmers in the Finger Lakes, you know, had quite a problem because they had, no one was buying their grapes first of all. And secondly, their fields were full of grapes that no one wanted. But some of them did tough it out. And they planted venephoric grapes and adapted and started wineries. And, you know, that really was the beginning of the wine industry that we know today in the Finger Lakes based on venephoric grapes. Very dramatic. Now, as part of the Taylor Wine Company story, you have to give us a little insight into Walter Taylor. Walter Taylor was a renegade. And I think he's a great person. He's no longer with us, but he started Bully Hill Wine. And now his grandfather started the Taylor Wine Company. The same spot where Billy Hill Wineery stands today. But when Taylor was sold to Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola came in and said he could no longer use the name Taylor or say that he was, you know, in any way related to the Taylor Wine Company. And they forced him to dispose of all of the labels that said Taylor. And he was obviously upset with this because he felt he didn't have a right to use his own name. And so in one of his very famous episodes, he took all of the labels and anything that said Taylor on it. And he put it into a manure spreader. And he gathered some friends together. And they took it down to the courthouse with plenty of promotion to turn this over. So he was certainly a fighter who fighted against a large corporation, which was lawyered up with plenty of attorneys. And, you know, you think that he probably won. Another story about him is that after he was pretty much devastated by this, some of the employees heard him in the barn laughing. And they went on the line on earth when he'd be laughing. He's lost so much. And then he was there with a goat. And he said, you know, we still have our goat. They didn't get that. You know, so that's it. And so he created a new catch phrase and a new label for a wine called goat white wine. And they still produce it today. So they sort of stole his heritage, but they didn't get his goat. Well, you know, and Dave, the final irony of all of this is, you know, for those of you that don't follow the machinations of these large food companies, Coca-Cola is no longer in the wine business. Hmm. Yes, exactly. They sold off at some point along the way in the 80s. And now if you look at it, there are 130 wineries in the Finger Lakes. And Taylor Wine is reduced to just a handful of really cheap fortified wine. Taylor Port, which you might see. So in the long game, Taylor and Coca-Cola were defeated and Finger Lakes succeeded. I also wanted to mention that Walter Taylor was an advocate for 100% finger lakes wines. At the time, some of the wineries actually shipped in juice from California and making their wine. So he really took a stand and was a promoter for Finger Lakes wines. Well, you know, as you're intimating, Dave, something very bad in terms of Taylor moving everything to California and leaving all of these, you know, family farmers that were dependent on selling their grapes to Taylor in the lurch, that really created the modern wine business in the Finger Lakes because many of these farmers then evolved, created their own labels and are now some of the premier producers in the region. So a horrible thing that ended up being something good. Before we run out of time, Dave, you were mentioning the region is now being come known for some really good Cabernet Franc. Can you tell us a little bit about that before we need to say goodbye? Yeah, Cabernet Franc is a wine that just thrives in the Finger Lakes. So they're deep, they're full-bodied, they're delicious. Finger Lakes isn't well suited for Cabernet Sauvignon, but Cab Franc does very well. And so it's a cool climate wine. So it's a little more refreshing. It has that acidity that develops in the Finger Lakes. And if you're looking for a great red in the Finger Lakes, Cabernet Franc all the way. Dave, I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, definitely an expert on the wines in the Finger Lakes. Dave, thanks for giving us a little bit of an overview. I hope we've intrigued our audience and we'll be talking about some of the wineries that you mentioned, talking with some of the principles in the coming weeks. You are listening to the Socal Restaurant Show. When we return, it's Tito's Fiesta Mexicana coming up on National Taco Day, which is Friday, October 4th. We're going to be visiting with Lynn Davidson of Tito's Tacos. It is the Socal Restaurant Show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. Give us a minute. We'll be back. [Music]
