Winemaker Close-Up: Gary Barletta of Long Point Winery

Gary Barletta of Long Point Winery has eight acres of vines in Aurora NY but sources most of his grapes from California (Mendocino and Lodi). That’s raised a few hackles in the Finger Lakes’ wine community. Isn’t that sacrilegious? Isn’t that cheating? You can almost hear them huffing, “Sure, we could make phenomenal Zinfandel too if we imported our grapes.”

Well, if you’re a purist, you can log off now. But for those of you looking for special wines at a value price and don’t care where the damned grapes come from, read on for our reviews. We were fortunate to spend an hour with Gary during our recent Finger Lakes sojourn and got a private tasting, including some knock-out wines still in the barrel.


       


Located on 72 acres on the east side of Cayuga Lake, Long Point Winery crafts 16 wines from grapes grown both on-property and on the west coast. Home-grown varietals include Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, and some Pinot Grigio.The rest are trucked in. 
Deal with it.

What We Tasted

2006 Chardonnay/2007 Chardonnay
A blend of juice that spent 12 months in both French and American oak.  The wine is a true work of art with brown sugar, vanilla and butterscotch overtones and a slightly creamy lemon finish.  The ‘07 Chardonnay is even better (100% French Oak,) with overtones of butterscotch cream, orange peel and some light minerality that makes this a Chardonnay to love. 

Barrel Tastings
Gary Barletta's favorite wine to make and drink is his Zinfandel. We shared our 2004 Long Point Zin discovery in Cohoes and he graciously opened up his barrels to give us a sneak peek of the vintages to come, along with a spectacular Syrah.

2007 Zinfandel (100% American Oak)
Mocha nose, just getting juicy and spicy. Very good!

2007 Zinfandel Reserve (100% Hungarian Oak)
More mocha, but, WOW! This is a very well crafted wine with refined tannin/fruit/spice balance.  We found it to be quite amazing and can’t wait to taste it out of a bottle instead of a syringe.

2007 Syrah (100% American Oak)
Nice toasted cocoa nose with deep, spicy blackberry fruit on the palate and a long, complex finish. This is a big winner.

Tasting Room Offerings

2006 Cabernet Sauvignon (100% American Oak)
Nice caramel and fruit on the palate; fruit is from Mendocino.  We thought it needed additional time to age.

2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
Thick and juicy with a fruit-forward style.  Nice mid-palate and long finish.

2006 Zinfandel
Port-like nose with nice tannin structure for a smooth, sleek finish.  The alcohol content was noted at 14.7 %

2006 Zinfandel Reserve
Smoky nose with cigar and chocolate notes.  Nicely balanced fruit, spice, tannin and further notes of chocolate.  This wine receives an “Excellent” from VinoDuo.

2006 Syrah
Smooth with tame fruit, nice meaty tannins, light mocha nose.  Gary may like to make Zinfandel, but he also makes one heck of a great Syrah. 

Despite what  the New York wine purists say, we’re big fans of the Long Point winery and its master craftsman Gary Barletta. Since his wine isn't yet sold in Massachusetts, we'll need to sneak across the border soon to stock up for the long Boston winter.