I have a confession to make.
When I first met Ravines' Dry Riesling 2006 at a tasting of Finger Lakes Rieslings I paid no heed to the quiet but deep Riesling in front of me. Reading my tasting note from February 2008, I see - with relief - that at least I did mention the crisp acidity and the strong minerality in this Riesling. But I made the mistake of not listening carefully enough to a voice that is soft-spoken, the voice that has the most interesting story to tell.
Ravines Wines Cellars' Riesling is different from the fruitier and often floral Riesling style one is used to from the Finger Lakes. It is necessary to recalibrate one's palate in order to fully appreciate the wines of winemaker Morten Hallgren - particularly if one is used to sweeter Riesling from Germany or to the more full-bodied version coming from Alsace. Is it more Austrian then? Perhaps. But maybe it is simply pointless to try and compare Ravines' Rieslings to those from other regions. They should be appreciated on their own terms.
"I only have an interest in true dry Riesling"
After having tasted the 2004, 2006 and 2007 vintages there are a few aspects that stand clearly out to me: Morten Hallgren's goal with Riesling is not to make cheerful easy-drinking wines, but rather to let the grape express the earthy aspects that have accumulated in the berries over time. All of the Rieslings (and even the Gewurztraminer!) show a great deal of minerality on both the nose and the palate (Ravines is one of the few wineries in the Finger Lakes to offer a single-vineyard Riesling from their gravel and limestone Argetsinger vineyard). This magnificent mineral austerity is the backbone upon which Morten Hallgren creates wines of a delicate beauty. It is a quiet Riesling that you will find in your glass. A wee bit shy at first, perhaps. It needs time to warm up and reveal more of its complexity. But once you allow the Riesling time in the glass (or decanter) to unfold it will prove to be much less transitory as it may seem initially.
In an email Morten told me that "I only have an interest in true dry Riesling. It starts in the vineyard, where we look for an absence of botrytis and more hangtime than is commonly done. Our goal is to produce a Riesling with more structure ending up with about 12.5% alcohol and aromas and body to match. In order to produce a medium body dry Riesling all grapes are hand picked, whole cluster pressed and fermented at low temperature. The wine is then kept on its fine lees to add smoothness to the finish." Aside from Riesling Ravines makes a range of different wines, amongst them a full-bodied, aromatic Chardonnay (made from partially de-hydrated grapes), a Pinot Noir & Lemberger blend and a very mineral Gewurztraminer, which is moderately spicy and has refreshing acidity. Morten also makes a dry rosé from Pinot Noir, a tribute to his family's history, who owned a vineyard in Provence for over sixteen years.
The Ravines vineyards
Hallgren got his enology and viticulture degree from Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie in Montpellier, France, before he started working at Cos d'Estournel in Bordeaux. He was then hired by Willy Frank to become the chief winemaker at Dr. Konstantin Frank in the Finger Lakes. He left Frank after six years and in 2000 founded Ravines Wine Cellars together with his wife Lisa. Their first vintage was 2002. The Hallgrens own 17 acres of land, of which 6 acres are currently planted with grapes. The winery is located on the west side of Keuka Lake, but the fruit comes from two vineyards on the east side of Seneca Lake and a third vineyard from the western shore of Skaneateles Lake (for pronunciation reasons alone the latter is very unlikely to ever become its own AVA). Since these three vineyards are different in regard to mesoclimate, soil and trellising systems, they are briefly outlined here.
Hobbit Hollow: on the west side of Skaneateles Lake, located directly on the lake with loamy soil and clay/shalestone subsoil.
16 Falls: on the East side of Seneca Lake. Lyre trellised vineyard on similar loamy/shalestone soil.
Argetsinger: also located on the east side of Seneca Lake. Morten: "Not only must the Argetsinger vineyard be one of the oldest Riesling
vineyards in the Finger Lakes, it is unique in that it is an
extremely well drained vineyard with gravelly soil on top of a limestone
bedrock. These characteristics result in a clearly different aroma profile.
The Argetsinger vineyard reaches a ripeness level unequaled in the Finger
Lakes. It commonly reaches the stage of translucent berries, which to me is
the best indicator of ripeness in Riesling."
Because the Argetsinger has a unique mesoclimate and excellent soil, Hallgren makes a second Riesling just from this vineyard, besides the regular Dry Riesling bottling. It has a particular earthy character and great ageing potential. Just like the other Ravines Rieslings, it needs about 15 minutes in the glass to open up and quietly show its elegant complexity. It is the kind of subtle elegance that is a lost cause at wine competitions, but all-the-more exciting at a dinner table.
Tasting notes
All wines at Ravines are dry-fermented (at low temperatures of 14-16°C (57 -50° F) to retain variety's aromatic intensity) and aged in stainless steel tanks.