Vertical of Riesling from Tango Oaks Vineyard.  2018, 2019, 2020

Two bottles from each vintage: One for now, one for later :-0

Tango Oaks Vineyard is located less than one half mile downslope from the Red Newt Cellars Winery and Bistro, on Seneca Lake’s Southeast side.   A truly unique vineyard site, Tango Oaks represents how seamlessly ‘old’ and ‘new’ terroir can come together in the Finger Lakes.  Historically, the site where Tango Oaks sits has been known as ‘Peach Orchard Point” since the 1600s; first to the native Iroquois who maintained it, later to the Wickham family, who took over the site in the 1790s after receiving it for their service in the Revolutionary War.  With centuries of history for growing fantastic fruit, the Wickham family planted their first grapes on the site in the 1830s.  On the ‘new’ terroir side, the newness extends beyond the relative youth of the five acres of Riesling vines Red Newt had planted there in 2007.  The plantings were done with an Alsatian clone of Riesling which is rarely found in the Finger Lakes. The grape clusters are a bit more loose than some of their German clone counterparts, tend to ripen a week later, and turn a beautiful golden color. The vines were planted and trained using the traditional VSP trellising, with ¼ of the vineyard using pallisage and the other ¾ using traditional hedging methods. At Tango Oaks, the soil itself is ‘new’, as the twenty-foot deep layer of gravel was deposited there by the epic flood of 1935.  With Riesling vines erupting out of these stones, and not much topsoil to speak of, Tango Oaks always results in the most elegant, mineral, and filigreed style of Riesling from Red Newt.  The fruit also lends itself to a full range of expressions that are now being explored, from method champenoise sparkling ‘Sekt” to dessert styles to ice wine.

2018

RS: 0.4% ALC: 12.5%

2019

RS: 0.1% ALC: 12.8%

2020