The Latest Cristaldi Scores
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
Here’s a Cabernet Franc with a splash of Merlot, sourced from Long Island growers and aged 15 months in a mix of Burgundy and Bordeaux barrels. The nose opens with rich cherry and forest berries, layered with brown spices, leather, tobacco, and licorice. The medium-bodied palate features spiced plum and loamy earth, finishing with floral lift and mineral nuance
Unoaked and medium-bodied, this vivid blend of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Traminette, Seyval Blanc, and Chenin Blanc is zippy, bright, and red-fruited, with vibrant honeysuckle aromatics and luscious melon on the palate. Made using the saignée method (except for the white varieties), it’s layered and long, with red cherry and pomegranate emerging on the extended finish. Winemaker Ian Bearup took over from John Graciano in 2021 and continues to guide this expressive, energetic style.
Stylistically similar to the estate Vineyard Milea BDX Red Blend, this wine leans darker, with forest berry fruit, conifer, and cedarwood spice. Medium- to full-bodied, it delivers supple, juicy dark fruit layered with a touch of salty dark chocolate and lifted by blood orange acidity. The finish is long, expressive, and remarkably fresh.
Though there’s no carbonic maceration, this wine carries a Gamay-like charm, with mulberry and candied berry fruit layered over rich earthy aromatics and a subtle jalapeño note. Supple and full-bodied on the palate, it delivers ripe red fruit that shifts into cranberry, grapefruit zest, raspberry, and a touch of cocoa powder on the finish. Easygoing, joyful, refreshing, and downright delicious.
A blend of fruit from Long Island and the Hudson Valley, aged in 10% new French oak (confirm via tech sheet). This is a well-knit, expressive Cabernet Franc showing both red and black fruit, with cedarwood and graham cracker spice layered over sagebrush and tobacco leaf aromatics. The medium-bodied palate carries those same notes forward, supported by fine-grained, cohesive tannins and finishing with a lift of cocoa powder, blood orange, and raspberry fruit.
This wine comes from the original planting at Clinton Vineyards (from vines planted in the early 1970s), under the stewardship of Barry and Sang Milea since 2022. Fermented in stainless steel, the aromatics are utterly captivating—think white miso and Parmesan rind taking an unexpected turn toward kumquat and pineapple. The palate follows with an intense umami richness, evoking shaved white truffle and salty sea spray. It’s fascinating, confounding, and impossible to stop revisiting, both aromatically and on the finish. A brilliant pairing for Asian cuisine—or pepperoni pizza with hot honey.
Queen of the Meadow is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc (saignée), and Chambourcin, which contributes color through direct press. Fermented cool and entirely in stainless steel, the wine was bottled shortly after fermentation. It’s a vivid, crisp rosé fueled by blood orange brightness, with uniquely crunchy acidity and a hint of saline richness that’s characteristic of the estate. Nicely balanced with good length—soulful, joyful, and absolutely delicious.
Sourced from several vineyards within the Lake Erie AVA, this blend of hybrid varieties saw cool stainless steel fermentation to help preserve vibrant aromatics and acidity. Expressive notes of apple and pear lead the way, joined by white flowers and honeysuckle. A rich, creamy, and frothy mousse lifts the palate, resolving with a subtly sweet finish.
Loaded with just-ripe red berry fruit, this zesty, zippy rosé delivers a lingering impression of candied watermelon and ultra-ripe strawberry, finishing bone dry with a refreshing wet river stone minerality. Sourced from several vineyards in the Lake Erie AVA, select blocks of Chambourcin were monitored throughout the growing season specificaly for this rosé production (which utilized cool stainless steel fermentation with a co-inoculation of multiple yeast strains).
A blend of Bordelaise varieties crafted to reflect the estate’s top-performing vineyard blocks in exceptional vintages. Aged 15 to 22 months in French oak, 28% new. Brighter than the Bergen Road bottling, this shows vivid blackberry and black cherry fruit, with fine-grained yet robust cocoa powder tannins that build toward a powerful, expressive finish. Aromatic spice and soaring personality underscore the wine’s purity and polish. Clean, dark-fruited, and beautifully structured—this is among the finest red blends I’ve tasted from New York State.
A blend of Bordelaise varieties aged 15 to 22 months in 30% new French oak. This is another polished, expressive wine from this producer, with a core of red and black fruit, cassis-driven and laced with elegant cedarwood spice, coriander, and a dusty mineral edge. Medium- to full-bodied with plump, juicy fruit on the mid-palate and spiced plum tones, it finishes with pressed florals and a sinewy, dusty tannic backbone that builds and lingers
Made entirely from Pinot Noir, this spent 42 months en tirage and was disgorged on September 4, 2024. Whole clusters were gently pressed and fermented slowly and coolly over five weeks, then aged in tank for nine months before bottling. The result is a sparkling wine with a gorgeously frothy, creamy mousse and elegant red berry fruit. Medium-bodied, bright, and expressive, it finishes with a fantastic rush of saline minerality that adds precision and lift to all that supple texture and energy.
100% Cabernet Franc, destemmed with a 15-day maceration on the skins, then aged 15 months in neutral French oak. This is a powerful, black-fruited expression layered with red berry brightness, black olive, and a dusting of cocoa powder. Firm, taut, mineral-laced tannins provide structure, while the finish lingers with wild herbs and dusty, grippy nuances that underscore the wine’s depth and seriousness.
Sourced from a property acquired in 2009, this Cabernet Franc was fermented with 25% whole clusters using native yeasts, with a 21-day maceration. Twenty percent of the lot underwent carbonic maceration in a separate tank before pressing and blending. Aged six months in stainless steel, the wine is spicy, grippy, and tightly wound, with a perfumed mid-palate of red cherry and rose petal. It finishes with savoury wild herb notes and impressive length.
The fruit for this wine was destemmed and left on skins for six hours before a gentle press and long, cool fermentation finished in bottle. Bottled undisgorged on December 11, 2023. Wildly juicy and fruit-forward, this pét-nat bursts with red berries and grapefruit zest. The mousse is crisp and zippy, giving way to a bone-dry finish that delivers mouthwatering freshness and all the bright, vibrant fruit you could hope for.
