During our visit to Sheldrake Point over Columbus Day weekend, I fell in love with their Dry Riesling. It won a Double Gold Medal at the 2020 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, meaning all of the judges on the panel unanimously agreed that it was worthy of a gold medal. There are only a handful of wines, out of thousands of international entries, that receive this honor; but to be honest, I am not surprised that this outstanding, classic, Finger Lakes Dry Riesling brought a Double Gold home. It is truly a work of art!

A couple of weeks ago, we sipped on a glass of the Dry Riesling while sitting on my front deck, taking in all the beautiful fall foliage of Upstate New York. The wine smelled of lime citrus, honeysuckle blossom, green apple and lavender, with a faint scent of limestone. All of these aromas were very light and delicate in intensity. It was definitely dry on the palate with a high acid and a light body. While I was tasting it, the limestone aromas came alive on my tongue, complimented by tart green apple, lavender and lemon curd. As opposed to my review during my tasting at Sheldrake, this wine has a long, excellent finish. Award winning, delicious and affordable, try this amazing wine paired with creamy, pumpkin soup.

The technical sheet on Sheldrake Point’s website cites that the residual sugar in the 2018 vintage is 0.5%, which means that there is a very small amount of sugar left over from the fermentation of the wine. Sweetness in wine is a complex characteristic to evaluate because often sweet aromas (cherry, strawberry, etc.) are associated with sweet foods we have had before. So if you taste a ‘sweet’ note in wine, you may believe that the wine is sweet. However, the residual sugar in the wine defines the sweetness of the wine; wine can have sweet aromas/flavors and still be dry! I will dive deeper into this in the future, but if you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment below.

Vintage: 2018

Alcohol: 10.5%

Producer/Winery: Sheldrake Point Winery

Region: Cayuga Lake, Finger Lakes, NY

Grapes: 100% Riesling

Price: $14