Please join us Friday, April 16 from 5:30-8:30 as we release the 2008 Pinot  and 2008 Reserve Pinot Noir. No reservations necessary. More details to follow!

Title: Twitter Taste Live #TTL!
Location: All over, locally at The Cellar Bar in Corning
Link out: Click here
Description: Taste our newest wine as we release the 2008 Pinot Noir into the Twitterverse!

Twitter Taste Live takes place in bars and dining rooms everywhere. This event will include 6 different Finger Lakes pinot noir.
Start Time: 08:00
Date: 2010-03-31

Experience a growing season with DWC’s eclectic grower Phil Davis. Follow a vineyard from dormant vine pruning to harvest, with the possibility of spontaneous dancing happening in the damnedest of places. Small groups will be working with labrusca (concord and niagra) for a feel of the native, and Pinot Noir the classic vinifera vibe.

5 dates throughout the year starting in April with pruning and vine anatomy, and completing in September/October with harvest. Phil will work with a group of only 15, so please sign up early.

Session One: April 3. Vineyard tour and Pruning 101: Form and Function. Learn vine anatomy and pruning techniques for both Umbrella and Scott Henry training styles. Hands-on vine pruning (shears provided) and a little wine drinking.

Session Two: April 24. Trellis Work. Time to tie the pruned canes to the trellis, a further expression of the form we created during the pruning of session one. The purpose of form begins to emerge. Hands-on vine tying and a little wine drinking.

Session Three: June 26. Shoot thinning. Learn selection criteria and listen to explanations of why we are thinning at this stage and how it relates to fruit quality and disease control. Hands-on shoot thinning and a little wine drinking.

Session Four: TBA August. Fruit thinning. See a full-canopy vine nearing its vegetative maturity. Last chance to manually (or womanly)  influence fruit quality. Learn selection criteria with hands-on fruit thinning and a little wine drinking.

Session Five: TBA Sept-Oct. Discuss harvest dates and pick some of the fruits of your labor. Hands-on fruit harvest and stomping with a little wine drinking.

These classes are limited to 15 people and run approximately 1.5 hours . Each session costs $25 per person or $110 per person for the complete course. Dress according to the weather- inclement weather dates will be discussed. Looking forward to working with you!

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets

Keep your eye out for our recent coverage in the Wine Spectator Magazine (March 31, 2010 edition). We were honored to have James Molesworth visit us and a few of our other favorite Finger Lakes vineyards/wineries. If you can’t find a copy near you, click here to read a PDF of the article.

This week we launch our appropriately-named Wine Club. The Wine Club is our way of making sure that you never miss out on the wines that you love, or are wanting to try. We have three clubs to choose from, and all clubbers get special invites to parties, tours, events, and other Hector Splendors.

When you’re ready you can sign up in person, over the phone, via email, or by using the shopping page on our website. Details by clicking here.

Have questions? Contact Amy at Damiani Wine Cellars dot com. Happy clubbing!

Please join us to celebrate the release of three new wines on Friday, February 12, from 6-9pm.

Cabernet Franc, the Barrel Select Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, all from the 2008 vintage, will be poured and available for purchase at a 10% discount. Small (but by no means insignificant) foods will be making the rounds.*

• We’re also  thrilled to have the artwork of Helena Cooper installed in the tasting room for this event.
• It’s a party, so the more the merrier! Please bring a friend. No RSVP necessary, and the event is free to attend.
• Chocolate lovers, we’ll be revealing a new truffle to pair with our Cabernet Sauvignon, created for us by Hedonist Chocolates in Rochester, NY. You can even bring some Hedonist Chocolates home for your special Valentine’s Day sweetie.

Cheers everyone, and hope to see you on the 12th!

Please read more about our lastest wine releases here.

*Hors d’œuvres provided by the lovely Chef Lindsay Steinburg of Green Zebra catering.

please email amy at damianiwinecellars dot com to ask a question or say hello!

The Finger Lakes, Day 2: The Old Guard Learns New Tricks
Some of the Finger Lakes’ most seasoned veterans are also on the cutting edge
By James Molesworth
Posted to Wine Spectator: Nov 23, 2009 10:12am ET
(Full article available at http://www.winespectator.com/blogs/show/id/41280)

While the three places I visited today were all located near each other along the eastern side of Seneca Lake, I didn’t realize how interwoven they are, both to each other as well as to the fabric of the Finger Lakes wine industry itself. Phil Davis, 57, and Lou Damiani, 52, are lifelong friends, each with 30-plus years experience in Finger Lakes agriculture. Their respective family farms now supply the grapes for Damiani Wine Cellars.

Rob Thomas, 54, considers Davis his mentor, even though his own tenure in the area also dates back to the early 1980s, when he ran a farm for the Taylor Wine Company before moving on to Rolling Vineyards (the winery that pre-dated Atwater Estate) followed by Chateau Lafayette Reneau and then helping to start Lamoreaux Landing in the early 1990s. All the while, Thomas was squirreling away enough money to get his own place. He now owns and runs Shalestone, an all-red wine winery producing just 1,500 cases a year.

And then there’s Sam Argetsinger, 58, a part-Iroquois local, who spent 40 years in the woods as a logger before realizing he was destined to extend the grapegrowing tradition on his family farm, a property that has grown grapes since the late 19th century.

All are members of the generation that could be excused from joining the quality push, having come of age in the Finger Lakes when quantity reigned over quality. Yet all have seen the future that vinifera brings. And rather than shy away from vinifera’s related qualitative requirement of low yields, they’ve embraced it.

Davis, Damiani, Thomas and Argetsinger are a treasure trove of experience and information. A quartet of 50-plus-year-olds, this group has plenty of new tricks to teach others. Quietly, they’re helping to bridge the gap that has existed here between grower and winemaker, pushing winemakers to produce better wines while pulling growers to farm better grapes.

Atwater Estate has Vinny from Queens. Damiani Wine Cellars has Lou from Brooklyn. Lou Damiani moved to the area as a young child with his family in the early 1960s, and has been in the fruit and grapegrowing business since the 1970s. Winemaking was a natural extension.

“It’s pretty much developed into an obsessive passion,” said Damiani, whose first commercial vintage with his own label was 2003. Located in a small two-story white house right on Route 414, just south of Tichenor Road, Damiani and his lifelong friend and fellow grapegrower Phil Davis are focusing primarily on reds, a decision that puts them in the minority in the Finger Lakes, where Riesling has risen to prominence.

“Because that’s our palate and we’re two pretty stubborn guys,” said Lou, who talks in an almost perpetual half laugh. “We want to prove we can make reds up here. I like Riesling, but I think it’s been pushed too much, frankly, in terms of the other grapes that are grown here.”

“You’ve got to have an ideal spot for reds though,” said Davis, who mostly plays the straight man to Damiani’s constantly bubbling persona, though he has a quick, dry wit that flashes at times. “We’re so on the edge climate-wise for reds, it’s got to be the right spot,” he said.
Photograph of Davis fruit stand by James Molesworth

Grapegrower Phil Davis’ family has been growing fruit and grapes in the area for six generations.

Both talk fondly of the Finger Lakes’ pastoral history, when grapegrowing was easy as the big wine companies provided a pressure-free selling environment. But both have embraced the new challenge of growing and making wines themselves, with an emphasis on quality. Davis talks about nearby fields that were particularly good for sledding as a child, before they were eventually planted to orchards, grapes or other crops.

Today, Damiani’s 10 acres and Davis’ 6 acres of vines form the backbone for the winery’s 4,500-case production, which focuses on Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, along with Pinot Noir, a new Syrah as well as small amounts of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. But the duo still buy in grapes for about half the production, a fairly common practice in the area, which is still developing its vineyard base.

“The glacial till has left so many pockets of differing soils, so there are certain sites that produce stuff you just can’t get from your own estate,” said Davis, as we walk down the steep slopes of one of their parcels. (See the accompanying video.)

But to ensure quality, Davis and Damiani try to dictate as much of the viticulture as they can with their growers, sometimes buying by the acre rather than ton. It’s an approach that’s in the minority, but growing, as the amount of vinifera grapes has risen steadily, forcing growers to compete on quality as demand only inches up.

“Plus, we’re still young in terms of the business, so it’s taken a while for us to establish credibility with the growers,” said Davis. “But growers are definitely starting to understand it’s a way to establish a relationship with someone that will be there year in and year out.”

As with other small, vinifera-focused wineries in the region, Damiani is seeing a new customer base coming through the tasting room.

“Our customers are generally young people who seem to really care about what they’re eating and drinking and where it comes from,” said Damiani.
Photograph of Damiani grapes by James Molesworth

Though there’s the occasional hiccup, the lineup at Damiani is more consistent than not, with the reds showing nice dark fruit flavors and good tannic spines, without being overly leafy or crisp, as many Finger Lake reds are. The Riesling, sourced from Argetsinger fruit, is dry and nervy in style. A new Syrah (just 20 cases to start) is Damiani’s and Davis’ new pride and joy. It’s peppery and lively, though lacking the flesh and depth of the Bordeaux varietals produced here. But it’s part of the fun mix at Damiani, where experimentation is actually being fueled (rather than stifled) by experience.