A Tasting at Forge and a Riesling Worth Remembering

Some wine experiences stay with you because of the wine. Others stay with you because of the ambiance. The afternoon we spent at Forge Cellars in the late spring of 2021 was both.

A few days earlier, we’d attended a formal tasting at Forge, and then later returned for a more causal tasting at the Salon, their intimate, beautifully appointed space overlooking the east side of Seneca Lake.The view from the Salon is the kind that makes you want to linger. Rolling vineyards dropping toward the water, the lake stretched out wide and silver in the afternoon light. It's one of those rooms that earns every bit of its reputation. We paired the wines we tasted that day with tinned fish, great local cheese, jamón on the bone, and a baguette.

Photo from the Salon - Spring 2021

The wine we tasted in the video was Forge's 2019 Navone Riesling, which was a precise wine with a lovely minerality that veered into white pepper territory.

In the video, you'll hear us puzzling over something: the Navone was noticeably more golden than the Rieslings we'd tasted elsewhere in the region. We noticed it, talked about it, and couldn't quite explain it because at that point, neither of us had studied wine seriously.

What we've since learned is that Forge often rests their Riesling on the lees and ages much of it in old oak, both of which aren’t typical for the variety or the region, and both of which contribute to that deeper color and added texture. It's a small thing, but it's a good example of how much more we were absorbing than we realized at the time, even when we didn't yet have the vocabulary to name what we were tasting.

What we captured on video that afternoon was a genuinely good day. The Finger Lakes in late spring, a great bottle, and a view from our deck that reminded us why love this region.

What we didn't know then was that just weeks later, everything would change. As we've shared before, Scott was diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2021 — and the easy, exploratory energy of that spring was a bright spot of light before darkness. His cancer diagnosis changed our trajectory, but the good news is that we couldn’t be happier about where we ended up.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy reading about this one recorded at Finger Lakes Cider House.

Thanks for joining us on this journey! Before you leave, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog and also check out our Facebook group, Finger Lakes Food and Wine Adventures.

Cheers from the lake!
—Niki and Scott