#VirtualVines Featuring Old York Cellars What Exit White, Red, & Blush (Rosé)

Last week Old York Cellars featured their What Exit Wines brand through another #VirtualVines Twitter tasting. One aspect about this brand is that a percentage of sales go to various charities and once again this tasting focused on Hometown Heroes - a very worthy recipient. For the #VirtualVines tasting, I received three wines as samples, a White, Red, & Blush (Rosé) and Old York donated $1 per tweet to the charity.

We started with the Down the Shore Exit Only White ($16); a blend of Chenin Blanc and Cayuga. An old world-new world wine. This creates a soft wine, with loads of apple flavors (thanks to the Cayuga), and finishes with decent acids. The Hometown Heroes Rosé ($22) is a blend of  Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon and weighs in at only 1% residual sugar. The wine starts with a subtle strawberry raspberry aroma; with plenty of red fruit. It finishes with prevalent acids although not as high as the white. Winemaker Scott Gares tried a dozen different blends to get the color and flavor profile he preferred. The Cabernet was the winner in this endeavor with the grapes lightly pressed - no saignee. And remember, for every Honetown Heroe wine purchased, $5 is donated to that charity.  The final wine was the Greetings from New Jersy Red ($18), an interesting blend of 40% Barbera, 40% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is a summer red, so serve slightly chilled. There's sour cherries throughout and with the acidity, it's quite refreshing. Cheers to New Jersey wine and Old York Cellars. theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App can help you plan a visit.

Old York Cellars #VirtualVines - Dry Riesling & Malbec

Last week Old York Cellars hosted another Virtual Wines video tasting with wine maker Scott Gares and Sommelier Laurin Dorman. While a wine dinner was being served at the winery, Gares and Dorman gave an overview of two of the wineries latest releases, the 2013 Dry Riesling ($17, 1% RS, 13.0% ABV) and 2013 Malbec ($17, 13.8% ABV). I was fortunate enough to receive a sample so that I could participate as well. We started with the riesling where the tasting notes suggest: a dry, crisp white with hints of stonefruit and red delicious apple. Pair with your favorite sushi roll. Gares used R2 yeast to provide more apple and cream characters and I definitely noticed a tart, creamy honeycrisp flavor. Gares also talked about how the wine was harvested and fermented to retain acids, but that was one aspect my specific bottle lacked. The wine fell flat at the finish. I need to try another. And as with the case with all Old York Cellars wines, Dorman suggests a chocolate pairing, for the Riesling milk chocolate with 30% cocoa.

Turning to the Malbec, the tasting notes read "this medium bodied red has luscious red fruit flavors and silky, smooth finish. Pair with your favorite burger". Gares said the grapes were harvested at 24 brix which equates to a higher ph and lower acids. He spent two weeks pumping over and pushing down the fermenting juice and skins until the wine acquired the color and flavor he targeted. The wine was then aged in American oak. The result? There's a lot to love about this wine starting with the character, fruit forward, approachable, soft tannins, and a hint of spices. I also detect some cedar leather in both the aroma and palette. Finally, you have to like the low alcohol (13.8%) and the suggested chocolate pairing is smooth dark at 50-60% cocoa. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the beauty. Cheers.

#VirtualVines with Old York Cellars & Hometown Heroes

This past week Old York Cellars hosted another #VirtualVines online tasting featuring their What Exit Wine brand: a Jersey-centric line of wines that raised $5.000 for the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund. The winery has now turned their philanthropy support to Hometown Heroes, where $1 from each $18 What Exit White, Red, & Blush Wine where be donated to the charity. During the  #VirtualVines, Old York winemaker Scott Gares and Sommelier Laurin Dorman were joined by Hometown Heroes President & Founder, Mike Schwartz, to discuss wine and the charity's goals. The embedded video below describes the organization.

Photo courtesy of Old York Cellars

During the session Gares also answered questions on the current harvest and the affect of Sandy at the winery. During the hurricane, most of the grapes had already been harvested, but blocks of Malbec were sitting in the press when the winery lost power. The juice sat on it's skins for eight days - fortunately it was Malbec. Gares also had to use generators to operate punch downs for juice in fermenting tanks. As for this year, the cool, but dry summer will lead to an early harvest; the grapes are accumulating high concentrations of sugar already.

On to the wine, we started with the What Exit White, a 90-10 blend of Chenin Blanc and Cayuga White. It is completely dry, with a floral-apple nose with some decent depth on the palette. The finish is clean and acidic. The What Exit Red is a 6-40 blend of Barbara and Merlot. This is a fruit forward wine, with a slightly spicy nose, followed by dark berry flavors and finishing softly with nice acids. Our tasting finished with the What Exit Blush, basically the White with some Cabernet Sauvignon added for color. Thus, it's dark than most rosés, but don't let that full you to think this is a sweet blush. There is only 1% r.s. and it is closer to a Provence-style as it drinks dry with strawberry characters and a refreshing acidic finish.

These are very nice examples of local NJ wine. Remember, $1 from each bottle sold is donated to Hometown heroes and if you use the coupon code HEROES up until August 8th, you receive 20% off of any What Exit Wine. During our #VirtualVines tasting Old York Cellars donated $1 more to the charity for every #VirtualVines tweet that night. $300 was raised; good for them. Cheers.



Hometown Heroes is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to foster an environment of goodwill, generosity, and encouragement by supporting local communities in times of crisis. We provide assistance with meeting unexpected needs in our communities, and do not discriminate based on ethnicity, gender, or age. The organization provides an opportunity for all of us to give back to our neighbors through professional services, financial help, and advocacy. Hometown Heroes assists those in need to find solutions to problems that appear overwhelming. Our non profit has supported our neighbors through the Restore the Shore campaign, as well as providing assistance for individuals facing homelessness, domestic abuse, drug addiction, disability, and more.

#VirtualVines with Old York Cellars & Laurie's Chocolates

Last night Old York Cellars hosted their quarterly #VirtualVines online tasting; this time featuring their Stagecoach Red & Blackberry wines along with everyone's favorite chocolate maker, Laurie Douglas from Laurie's Chocolates. Winemaker Scott Gares started the tasting by introducing the Stagecoach Red ($16), a part of their seconday Stagecoach label named to honor the transportation service which passed through the area on its route between Philadelphia and NYC. The  Stagecoach Red is a blend of Malbec 50%, Cabernet Sauvignon 25%, and Merlot 25%.  It took his team seven iterations of different wines and percentages to create this final blend and the result is a fruit forward, very approachable wine. Besides being fruity, it has smooth tannins with a touch of spice (black pepper) on the finish.  The suggested food pairing was tomato pizza and turkey burger and the chocolate pairing was dark chocolate with almonds. Laurie always recommends that the wine be sweeter than the chocolate and the little extra sea salt further mellowed the wine and reduced the bitterness in the chocolate and almonds. 

Moving to the Blackberry ($12), it's marketed as a dessert wine, but at 4% RS isn't as sweet as you would think. Gares stops the fermentation a little early in order to keep some of the natural sugars in the berries and the result is a wine that tastes exactly like a blackberry. The initial flavor is sweet blackberry fruit, but the finish is more tart which acts like acidity to balance the sugar. This is quite a tasty wine - and with chocolate - Laurie paired this with the Venezuela Single Origin 65% - one of here many single origin chocolates.  Once again, I find myself impressed with Old York Cellars - need to take a road trip soon with theCompass app and visit. Cheers.

A Vidal & Syrah #VirtualVines Tasting with Old York Cellars

Last night Old York Cellars hosted their January edition of the Virtual Wines online tasting where consumers can watch and/or participate in a tasting of two wines from one New Jersey's oldest wineries. The winery encourages consumers to participate at the winery, by hosting their own tasting party, or follow along via the Virtual Wines Livestream site, Facebook, or Twitter.  For me, I was fortunate to receive a complimentary sample.

The tasting was hosted by winemaker Scott Gares and sommelier Laurin Dorman and featured two wines: the 2012 Vidal Blanc ($15) and Syrah ($18). And quite frankly, these were the two tastiest wines I've tried from the winery. 

This webcast started with a discussion on the cold hardiness of Vidal  - particularly its use in ice wines or late harvest styles; I learned that it is even grown in Sweden as an ice wine.  But the Old York Cellars 2012 Vidal is bone dry - zero R.S.. On the nose and palette it displays a Sauvignon Blanc character of lemon citrus, followed by a nice refreshing acidic finish. Always enjoy sampling this French-American hybrid and this wine shows Vidal is enjoyable dry just as much as semi or sweet. Dorman suggests several food pairings with the Vidal which include goat cheese, triple creme, brie, feta, risotto, shellfish, pasta with cream, poultry, and Greek or Caesar salads.

The Syrah was made from 50% estate grown fruit, maturated on skins for 20 days and then treated in medium oak. The finished wine starts with a dark cherry almost black berry nose followed by a nice balance of dark cherry flavor and a tasty peppery spice that lingers in the finish. This finish is also soft - just enough tannins to maintain a chewy affect, but not enough to overshadow the delicious flavor. This is an old world styled wine; very impressed - nicely done. Dorman's food pairings include Gruyere and smoke cheddar, beef stew, brisket, grilled lamb, London broil, sausages, and salmon.

And it wouldn't be a Virtual Wines tasting without Laurie's Chocolates -Madagascar Single Origin 65% and Hawaii Single Origin Milk Chocolate with Macadamia & Sea Salt. The latter was paired with the Vidal so that the wine's acids mingle with the chocolate's milk fat. The darker Madagascar chocolate was paired with the Syrah, adding a litter bitterness to the fruit and pepper flavors. Like I wrote previously, these were the two tastiest wines I've tried from the winery.  I hope to be included in the May addition as they introduce their SF Competition Gold winning 2012 Merlot.  Cheers.

Virtual Wines with Old York Cellars: Malbec & Riesling

This past Thursday was another quarterly installment of Virtual Wines, hosted by Old York Cellars, an online video tasting of two wines with wine maker Scott Gares and Sommelier Laurin Dorman.This episode featured their newly released 2012 Malbec ($18) and 2012 Sweet Riesling ($17).

Being recently bottled, the Malbec needed some time to breathe and was quite tight when first opened.  It is a light Malbec, 12% alcohol, but exuded a dark cherry aroma. On the palette, the flavor was light and smooth - decent acidity - wouldn't recognize as that varietal wine - but a very drinkable wine.

The Sweet Riesling was more semi-sweet than sweet at 3% R.S. with plenty of acidity to bite through the sugar. This time the flavor profile was to spec; easily recognizable as a Riesling - this one with  pear aromas and green apple flavor.  I'm sure this will become a tasting room favorite.

Besides sending me the two wines to sample, the best part of the tasting is that Dorman and Gares suggest food pairings for each wine. For the Malbec, they suggested leaner red meats, pork, and light tomato based pasta; for the Riesling, spicy Thai chicken, chile, pumpkin ravioli, and even cheesecake. Fortunately we had just brought home pumpkin ravioli and indeed the Riesling was a suitable match. Thanks. The next Virtual Vines tasting is planned for January 30th and will feature their 2011 Vidal Blanc and 2012 Syrah. Cheers and plenty of live music at the winery to pair with these wines. 

A #VirtualVines Tasting with Old York Cellars

Last night Old York Cellars hosted their second Virtual Wines online tasting where consumers can watch and/or participate in a tasting of two wines from one New Jersey's oldest wineries - active since 1978. The winery encourages consumers to participate at the winery, by hosting their own tasting party, or follow along via the Virtual Wines Livestream site, Facebook, or Twitter.  For me, I was fortunate to receive a complimentary sample. On June 20th, I participated in Old York Cellars' in inaugural online tasting focusing on their new What Exit Wines brand - where consumers can actually customize the label of every purchased bottle. Pretty cool. Last night's tasting was hosted by winemaker Scott Gares and featured two vinifera wines: the 2011 Chardonnay ($17) and Cabernet Sauvignon ($21).

We started with the  2011 Old York Cellars Chardonnay and during the webcast, winemaker Scott Gares described the vineyard and winemaking practices for this wine. Because of New Jersey's hot and humid summers, they pull leaves off the vines in order to help the grapes dry from the moist humidity. The grapes are then fermented in stainless steel, undergo a secondary malolatic fermentation and then ed four months in medium oak.  The result is a wine that balances between the "naked" and buttery spectrum. The nose and initial flavors are a creamy pear-apricot whereas it finishes with green apple and nice acidity.  This is a decent wine, low in alcohol (12.2%) and right in the drink local priceline. The winery also recommends several pairings - basically anything with creamy butter - but also includes crab - old bay; risotto; Gruyere or creamier cheeses; Caesar salad; pork loin; apple, pecan, or key lime pie; and pound cake with strawberries. The final touch is that the sample pack we received included chocolates from Laurie's Chocolates - and the I really liked the pairing with the milk chocolate caramel.

Moving to the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine spent 16 days on skin and after fermentation, aged 6 months in medium oak. The result is a fruit forward, medium bodied wine with ripe cherry flavors. The finish is easy, with soft tannins.  This is not your California cab or even a Bordeaux, but a very tasty option.  As for food pairings, the winery suggests burgers, beef stew, pizza, Italian seasoning, short ribs, dark chocolate, aged cheddar, or colby. As for Laurie's Chocolates, the Cabernet truffle was spot on - a truffle made from the very wine.

I look forward to visiting Old York Cellars. You got to respect a winery that takes the time to create a virtual tasting. Plus they host live music.