Forge Cellars
The east-shore partnership between Rick Rainey and French winemaker Louis Barroul, where single-vineyard Rieslings from 16 different Seneca sites make the argument for terroir one glass at a time.
Forge Cellars is a partnership between Louis Barruol, whose family has been making wine in the village of Gigondas in the Southern Rhône since 1570, and Rick Rainey, a former wine buyer and distributor who came to the Finger Lakes from the Philadelphia restaurant industry with the specific intention of owning a winery. Together they work an eight-mile stretch of southeast Seneca Lake, sourcing from more than a dozen individual vineyards across a diversity of soil types that they bottle separately as single-vineyard lieux-dits. Every grape is harvested, sorted, and loaded into the press by hand. Fermentations are spontaneous, proceed slowly, and are tracked lot by lot through hundreds of separate small French barriques. Winemaker Léana Godard, who trained under Barruol at Château de Saint Cosme and apprenticed at Jacques Prieur in Meursault, runs the cellar and co-manages the vineyard full-time. The Classique Riesling and Classique Pinot Noir blend fruit from all 16 vineyard partners each vintage. The Salon at the property is open for walk-in flights and glasses Wednesday through Sunday. Guided tastings in the Summer House run Thursday through Saturday by reservation.
Don't miss: the single-vineyard Riesling lineup, where tasting three or four side by side across the same eight-mile stretch is the most direct way to understand what soil variation actually tastes like.
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