Eminence Road Chardonnay Lamb’s Quarters Vineyard Seneca Lake 2021

“If you really want to learn about wine, why don’t you make some?” The somewhat-taunting, somewhat-encouraging words, scrawled on the card gifted to Andrew Scott in 1996 alongside his first home winemaking kit, would kick start an endeavor that today lends consistent credence to the overall rising quality of New York State viticulture. Moving from New Jersey to the mountain valley of Long Eddy, New York, on the western edge of the Catskills, in 2008, Andrew and wife Jennifer established Eminence Road Farm Winery with zero formal training or winery experience, developing a “self-taught methodology based on patience, low-intervention and faith in the natural processes of fermentation.” Using sustainably grown grapes from a few select sites across the Finger Lakes, the two make a handful of delicious naturally fermented micro-batch wines, all bottled by hand, unfined and unfiltered with the only addition being a minimal amount of sulfur. This chardonnay comes from the Lamb’s Quarters Vineyard, which sits on a gentle slope on the west facing side of Seneca Lake. A classic expression from 30 year old vines, it was vinified in stainless steel and delivers notes of pear, lemon, flinty gravel, and honeycomb. Crisp acidity and a lees-driven mouthfeel lead into a long, satisfying finish. Sustainably grown, low-intervention/natural wine.