1 vineyard, 1 vintage, 1 grape: 3 stunning expressions.

The vineyard? Tango Oaks. Our Riesling gem, this site is a marvel. 5 acres on the southeast slope of Seneca Lake, it was the washout point for an epic flood in 1935 that dropped 18" of rain in 24 hours... and 20 FEET of pure gravel. Pair that with a rare planting of Alsatian clone Riesling that loves the extra warmth radiating off the rocks below, and you're onto something special.

The vintage? 2017. A rarity these days, an even-keeled vintage with no crazy ups or downs. Great ripeness, classic acidity, we knew these wines would age from the moment we made them. And now, some great bottle age for all of you to try them with 😉

The grape? Riesling. 

The grape is so beautiful in so many expressions, you can't help but make multiple versions of the darn thing. So here you get a fascinating cross section of what we can do with stylistically with everything else held constant in a vintage:

• 2017 Tango Oaks Vineyard Riesling "Noble Dry" - What the heck is this? A Riesling that is dry, but was made from late harvested grapes? Yes! Perfectly clean grapes, sans botrytis, were picked in late November, whole cluster pressed, and then allowed to spontaneously ferment in a single puncheon for 18 months until it finally reached full dryness (and nearly 15% ABV - watch out!). This is a wild ride of a wine, and a specialty of ours. All the aromas and weight of a dessert wine, but rich and dry on the palate. Extremely limited production.
  95 points James Suckling
  
  
• 2017 Tango Oaks Vineyard Riesling Late Harvest - 

  A beautiful dessert wine to finish a meal with, or to cellar for years to come.  Tango Oaks and its loose, Alsatian Riesling clusters are an ideal starting point almost regardless of year, although we are happy to respond to vintage and make anything from an “Auslese” style to Trockenbeeren.  

  The most exciting revelation, however, is in the nature of the wine itself: it is clearly from Tango Oaks Vineyard.  Despite the high amount of clean botrytis on the grapes, this wine is not a heavy and rich late harvest Riesling that we would otherwise expect.  It is still spicy and herbal, light on its feet, even a bit ethereal; the same way we would describe the Tango Oaks Riesling for table wine.  It is rewarding to see that the vineyard character is able to come through so strongly - keep an eye open for future vintages as well! 

• 2017 Tango Oaks Vineyard Riesling Ice Wine - Nature's liquid gold, ice wine is equal parts joy and pain to produce. We had the right conditions to pick the fruit the day after Christmas 2017 and decided to go for it. Perfectly clean fruit once again, as botrytis takes away from the purity of this expression, this took 72 hours to press off 80 precious gallons (and we had to put a space heater in the control box of the press because the electronics kept freezing). We went all out to make this wine beautiful and layered, not just saccharine, and decided to do something that should have been impossible given its starting sugar: spontaneous fermentation. It took 43 months to finally get to its finish point of 7% ABV, but it was worth it. The ferment alone took 3 times as long as most wines even exist from grape to being consumed!
  96 points James Suckling