Ottawa Citizen article on the Finger Lakes

A short article, but it's very pleasant to see the region finally getting noticed in Canada.

The LCBO no longer carries any wines from this region (although they appear in Vintages now and again), so you have to go to them. With plenty of wineries and other attractions (including the sheer peacefulness of the place), the Finger Lakes region is worth putting on your list for a fall getaway next year.

Herein lies one very bad rub: The LCBO hardly carries any wines at all from one of our closest wine producing regions, yet has such an international selection. I have long believed that unique regional specialties from the Finger Lakes have every right to appear at least a few times per year at Vintages as does any other wine from anywhere else in the word. Yet, outside the very occasional Riesling, there is nothing from Finger Lakes. Why not get more Rkatsiteli, Traminette (doubt there has even been one featured), some Noiret or Diamond? Same goes for Norton/Cynthiana, which Vintages remains wholly ignorant of!

Link to the article

Paul,
In Buffalo we get access to about 10 wineries from Ontario, a world class wine region on our doorstep. It works both ways. Perhaps since you guys are getting 2 Bills games a year in Toronto, we can trade for a little more wine.
Ed

You know, Ed, I really am curious why more New York juice doesn't make it to Vintages. You'd think that if they pride themselves on offering what is really a not too shabby selection of international wines, some from out-of-the-way places to boot, that it would be rather easy, really, to do an occasional in-depth feature on the Finger Lakes (or Virginia, or Missouri) and bring in a few wines from there that are regionally distinct. I don't buy the argument that the grape names must be pronouncable or recognizable by consumers; if that were the case I doubt we'd see any Austrian Blaufränkisch, Hungarian Kékfrankos (same thing really), Georgian Saperavi, or any other wine that isn't what the press lauds. Fact is, oddities do make it through at Vintages, and I love that; I just wish that they'd stop circumventing certain wine regions for who knows what reasons. And besides, what's easier to pronounce: Blaufränkisch, or Norton?

My wife and I regularly attend the annual fall Ottawa Wine and Food Show and NYS wines always have a large booth there, featuring wines not just from the Finger Lakes, but from Long Island as well. And, as Paul suggested, the wines there aren't all just Riesling and Pinot, there are also some "unusual" offerings as well.