Books, Arts & Manners: The Rewards of Thrift

Like everybody who drinks wine with every meal (except breakfast, I hasten to add, lest you get the wrong idea about our way of living), I am forever on the lookout for wines that are good and inexpensive—in that order. However, constant thrift makes possible the occasional splurge; so today I shall write about wines that are good though not cheap. Among them is a dry Johannisberg Riesling the equal of any wine of its kind from the Moselle region in Germany, home of the very best Rieslings. The wine comes from the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, and it is made by Hermann Wiener, who also produces Chardonnay, champagne made in the traditional French way, and some late harvest Johannisberg Riesling that tastes very different and is sweeter than the first one I mentioned.

Hermann Wiener is a tall, handsome bachelor, who was born about forty years ago in the Moselle region of West Germany of a family that has been in the wine-making business for over three hundred years. He established his vineyard on Seneca Lake in the early 1970s, and quickly became the leading maker of white wines in New York State. How did he do it? By using only vinifera grapes, vinifera being the variety of grape grown in Europe—in short, the variety used in any wine worth drinking. (The best wines in the world, including those of California, Oregon, and Washington, are made from vinifera grapes.) Growing vinifera can be tricky when the climate is not all it should be. Most Upstate New York winemakers did not believe that vinifera could withstand the region’s cruel, long winters. But Wiener proved them wrong: thanks to his special care, his vinifera grapevines survived the cold. He then started a nursery of vinifera cuttings that became known for its excellence throughout the United States. Wiener ships out about half a million cuttings every year to vineyards all over the country.

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Nika Hazelton

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Like everybody who drinks wine with every meal (except breakfast, I hasten to add, lest you get the wrong idea about our way of living), I am forever on the lookout for wines that are good and inexpensive—in that order. However, constant thrift makes possible the occasional splurge; so today I shall write about wines that are good though not cheap. Among them is a dry Johannisberg Riesling the equal of any wine of its kind from the Moselle region in Germany, home of the very best Rieslings. The wine comes from the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, and it is made by Hermann Wiener, who also produces Chardonnay, champagne made in the traditional French way, and some late harvest Johannisberg Riesling that tastes very different and is sweeter than the first one I mentioned.

Hermann Wiener is a tall, handsome bachelor, who was born about forty years ago in the Moselle region of West Germany of a family that has been in the wine-making business for over three hundred years. He established his vineyard on Seneca Lake in the early 1970s, and quickly became the leading maker of white wines in New York State. How did he do it? By using only vinifera grapes, vinifera being the variety of grape grown in Europe—in short, the variety used in any wine worth drinking. (The best wines in the world, including those of California, Oregon, and Washington, are made from vinifera grapes.) Growing vinifera can be tricky when the climate is not all it should be. Most Upstate New York winemakers did not believe that vinifera could withstand the region’s cruel, long winters. But Wiener proved them wrong: thanks to his special care, his vinifera grapevines survived the cold. He then started a nursery of vinifera cuttings that became known for its excellence throughout the United States. Wiener ships out about half a million cuttings every year to vineyards all over the country.