While Riesling has rightly become one of the signature wines of the Finger Lakes Region, the owners and staff of Casa Larga Vineyards also have reason to be particularly proud of their Chardonnays. All five Casa Larga Chardonnays received high ratings at Tastings.com, run by the Beverage Testing Institute: 2016 Vineyard Hill Chardonnay, 2014 French Oak Chardonnay, 2014 American Oak Chardonnay, 2014 Hungarian Oak Chardonnay and CLV Chardonnay.
Chardonnay is the favorite varietal of the Colaruotolo family, owners of the winery. The wine loves to be paired with a wide variety of cuisine and is perfect on its own for relaxing after work and while cooking.
It was one of the first grape varieties planted to establish the vineyard, along with Riesling, in 1974. Like Riesling, the varietal grows happily in upstate New York because of similarities in climate with the European wine regions. "Our growing region here in New York is very close to the latitude of France's Burgundy region," explains Matt Cassavaugh, winemaker at Casa Larga Vineyards. "Because Burgundy is well-known for their Chardonnays and we have similar growing seasons, I use Burgundian-based techniques to produce all of our five Chardonnay wines."
The un-oaked 2016 Vineyard Hill Chardonnay was awarded 91 Points, a gold medal an "Exceptional" designation and a coveted Best Buy ratings. This wine retails at $9.99 per bottle.
Casa Larga's series of oak-aged Chardonnays from 2014 is designed to show off the unique aspects of each of the 3 woods used: French, American and Hungarian Oak. Of the three, American Oak imparts the most oak flavor because it has larger pores. Tastings.com awarded the three wines as follows:
- 2014 French Oak Chardonnay, 90 Points, gold medal, "Exceptional." $19.99
- 2014 American Oak Chardonnay, 89 Points, "Highly Recommended." $17.99
- 2014 Hungarian Oak Chardonnay, 89 Points, "Highly Recommended." $18.99
Lastly, the oak-aged CLV Chardonnay received 88 Points, "Highly Recommended" and a Best Buy rating at $13.99.
These and other award-winning wines are available for purchase at the Casa Larga wine shop, online at www.CasaLarga.com and at select Rochester liquor stores.
