2017 Riesling Late Harvest - Tango Oaks

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 As a Riesling House, the one major piece missing from our portfolio at Red Newt was a Late Harvest style Riesling.  Extremely finicky to make, both in the vineyard and the winery, they are a complete labor of love.  We joke that no one ever makes money on a late harvest, you hope to break even, but mostly make them for the love of Riesling and to demonstrate what you are able to do with your vineyards and winery.

Regardless of that, after years of talking about a potential Late Harvest, 2015 presented the weather conditions to really make it possible.  With a great deal of hands-on vineyard work by the Red Newt Winemaking Team from September-November in the vineyard itself, we were happy to discover that our hunch about Tango Oaks being suitable for late harvest Riesling was correct.  With fantastic starting fruit, we put all of our energy into making a wine that would do justice to the fruit we had worked to bring from the vineyard.

Now that we can taste the finished result, we are even more resolved to make this a regular offering from Red Newt.  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! 

RS: 8%  TA: 7.35g/L pH: 2.95  ALC: 8.0%

2017 Riesling Noble Dry - Late Harvest - Tango Oaks

Proceed with caution - this Riesling is a marked departure from any late harvest styles you have had before. While the honeyed aromas may lead one to think of classic, dessert Rieslings, this wine spins those aromatics into a dry and rich mouthfeel. With a delicate balance between the interplay of acid and alcohol that is difficult to achieve, the result is a remarkably rich and rewarding Riesling. With a nod to German Auslese Trockens, this Riesling creates its own unique personality and expresses a full bodied, high alcohol, and driven style that is unlike any other produced at Red Newt.

RS: 0.2% TA: 6.6 g/L pH: 3.28 ALC: 14.8%

2017 Riesling Ice Wine - Tango Oaks

The Riesling fruit was hand picked into lugs by a small team from Red Newt starting at 7 am and ending at 11 am. The weather was favorable and did not warm up despite the sun shining during picking. The lugs were loaded into a bin and then trucked back to Red Newt for processing. A vineyard that, despite its gorgeous view of Seneca Lake, tends to look quite austere as vegetation has a difficult time surviving between vines. Vines well-tended with a great deal of sun exposure on the fruiting zone to maximize ripening of the late ripening Alsatian clones of Riesling. The rows that were designated for the ice harvest pick were netted to assist in deterring birds and catching any clusters that were ready to drop.

95 Wine Enthusiast - Cellar Selection May 2021

96 James Suckling

93 2024 New York Wine Classic

RS: 36.4% TA: 9.3 g/L pH: 3.49 ALC: 7% (48.9% sugar at harvest)

2015 Sparkling Riesling - Tango Oaks

Crisp, fruit driven, quenching.  The very first Sparkling Riesling released by Red Newt Cellars!

Production of this wine was extremely limited!

Harvested in 2015 and aged extensively en tirage for EIGHT years before disgorgement, this is a project the Red Newt team has been waiting (not so patiently) to come to fruition.  

2016 Riesling

Tango Oaks Riesling has established the vine age and maturity to support a dry and mineral driven Riesling. With the vineyard’s Alsatian clone Riesling and extremely gravelly soil, our goal is to continue pursuing the elegance that Tango Oaks Riesling is capable of both young and with appropriate bottle age. A vineyard that, despite its gorgeous view of Seneca Lake, tends to look quite austere as vegetation has a difficult time surviving between vines. Vines tended with an early harvest for Sekt and leaf pulling to reduce crop yield and increase sun exposure through the concluding month of harvest, both of which seem to be key to maximize ripening of the late ripening Alsatian clones of Riesling.

90 Wine Advocate ( Robert Parker )

91 Vinous

93 James Suckling

RS: 0.6% TA: 7.1 g/l pH: 3.10 ALC: 12.9%

2018 Riesling - Lees Reserve

Tango Oaks Vineyard delivers a uniquely spice-driven Riesling year after year, underlaid by beautiful minerality from the site’s gravel soils and Alsatian clone vines. This bottling aims to push that another step further, inspired by the ‘Reserve’ series Urziger Würzgarten Rieslings from Dr. Loosen, where the wines are aged on the full fermentation lees for multiple years in homage to winemaking of the early 20th century. This connection is all the more apt, given that the spiciness of Tango Oaks Rieslings have led to the joke that the site is our own “Hectorwürzgarten.” True to our hopes, this handling does indeed amplify the spiciness and weight of Tango Oaks. Somewhat counterintuitively, despite the extra time on lees (and in puncheon) this bottling retains a brighter and more tense core than its earlier-bottled, stainless steel counterpart. Call it the surprising regenerative power of lees, the wisdom of prior generations of German winemakers, or simply delicious; but this is an experiment we’re happy to make every year.

RS: 0.2% TA: 7.65 g/L pH: 3.24 ALC: 13%