About This Product :
The Grape:
100% Riesling
The Appellation:
Finger Lakes, New York
The Vineyard:
The grapes for our sparkling wines are located on separate plots on our Keuka Estate
vineyards. These vineyards were planted by Willy Frank in the early 1980s with the sole
purpose of producing sparkling wines.
The Winemaking:
The grapes were hand-picked into small 40kg crates with careful bunch selection in the
vineyard. The Riesling whole cluster grapes were immediately pressed. From harvest to
pressing, extreme care is used in handling the grapes to avoid any excessive crushing or
bruising. Only the first most delicate pressing, called the Cuvée, is used. The base wine
was bottled the following Spring after harvest.
Secondary fermentation took place in bottle as per the traditional Méthode
Champenoise. The wine was left in bottle with the lees for a minimum of 24 months
in the underground cellar at Chateau Frank. Each bottle is individually disgorged,
corked, crowned, and labeled by hand. The month of disgorgement is listed on the
back of each bottle.
The Wine:
This delicious, fruity Cremant style sparkling wine is a very inviting, easy-to-drink
sparkling wine. Apple, honey and spicy aromas on a solid acidic backbone gives this
wine a great balance and fruit forwardness.
RS: 20 g/L – Semi-Dry
ABV: 12%
Acidity: 9.4 g/L TA
pH: 2.86
Food Paring:
Perfect for celebrations and special occasions. Pair with oysters, lobster, smoked salmon, fried foods, egg dishes, sushi, popcorn, or seafood-based Chinese dishes.
The Winery:
Riesling was first brought to the Finger Lakes by our founder, Dr Konstantin Frank. Those original vines dating back to 1958 are still in production. Riesling blocks on our Keuka vineyard were planted in 1958, 1962, 1968, 1976, 1999, 2006, and 2012 with various clones (88, 90, 11, 318, 239, 49, 110, 38). Soils here are shallow, shale-based which add minerality, acidity,
and elegance. Riesling was planted in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012 on our Seneca estate vineyard with 90 and 356 clones. Temperatures here are a few degrees warmer than Keuka thus providing riper fruit notes. Soils on Seneca are characterized by deep honeoye silt loam. A small portion of the grapes come from Eric Volz Vineyard, just north across the road from Dr. Konstantin Frank’s plantings on Keuka Lake.
