Sometimes when it rains it pours–wine that is!

Following Friday’s phenomenal Franciacorta tasting of six sparkling Italian wines, today it’s time to switch gears and open up five newly released Riesling from the Finger Lakes in NY, followed by Tuesday’s Touraine tasting of five different examples of Sauvignon Blanc form the Loire Valley.

Tonight’s tasting will be streamed live on USTREAM (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/finger-lakes-wine-virtual-tasting-series) where wine makers and winery reps will share their expertise and answer our previously submitted questions as well as respond to questions and comments on twitter using the hashtag #FLXWineVT.

Watching the USTREAM at 5pm Pacific (8pm Eastern) and following the hashtag #FLXWineVT is a great way to learn about this wine growing region, one that many Californians don’t know much about.

Located east of Buffalo, south of Rochester and Syracuse, the Finger Lakes AVA has over 100 wineries, 9200 acres of grapes with nearly 900 of them Riesling to produce 220,000 cases of various styles from dry to dessert. The AVA is scored with a series of very deep glacial lakes which run north-south and which have quite an effect on the grapes growing there: in the winter, cold air flows down to the lake while in spring the lake air protects the growing vines and in fall, the warmth from the lakes extend the growing season.

Learn more about the 2012 Riesling Launch and the wines’ I’m excited to be tasting:

Knapp Winery & Vineyard Restaurant–Knapp, Dry Riesling, KV Estate 2012

Lakewood Vineyards–2012 Dry Riesling

Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars–2012 Red Oak Vineyard Riesling

Lucas Vineyards–2012 Semi Dry Riesling

Glenora Wine Cellars–2012 Riesling

Here’s a chart with ideas on how to pair cheese with Riesling.

Here’s an article about why Riesling rocks.

With any luck, my team and I will get some good notes as well as tweets and put up a follow up post soon.

Related articles

• Finger Lakes 2012 Vintage Stands Tall In Riesling Challenge (toledowinesandvines.blogspot.com)
• Area Wineries Launch Virtual Tasting Tour (rochester.ynn.com)

Please note that these wines were provided for my consideration to review.