The Latest Cristaldi Scores
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
Diamond is a historic American hybrid white grape, once prized over a century ago for sparkling wine production. This bottling channels that legacy with a vinous, green apple character layered with hints of honeydew melon and wildflower honey. The palate bursts with a full squeeze of lime juice—bright, grippy, and crunchy—with a tactile, super-expressive finish. Fascinating and distinctive. Just 168 cases made.
Typically a blend of varieties from the estate’s three vineyards, this Charmat-method sparkling wine is composed of 40% Cayuga White, 22% Melody, 19% Pinot Noir, and 19% Chardonnay. It opens with bright notes of apple, lime blossom, and a hint of white plum and golden cherry. A rich, frothy mousse carries through to a lemon-bright, refreshing finish.
This Cabernet Franc comes from the rain-soaked 2021 vintage—a challenging year when July rains arrived early and lingered. As is typical of the vintage, the wine is on the lighter side, with owner David Pittard noting it reflects the Finger Lakes’ acid-driven, leaner style. Red cherry and plum fruit lead the nose, accented by coriander, cumin, and cedarwood spice. On the palate, ripe, firm tannins support notes of crunchy pomegranate seed and a fresh, elegant frame. Fermented in stainless steel and open-top one-ton bins (inoculated), then aged in mostly neutral French oak barrels.
The 2024 Cabernet Franc was fermented in a mix of stainless steel and open-top fermenters, then aged in neutral barrique before finishing its maturation in a large 900-gallon oak cask for approximately 30 months. From a warm vintage, the wine shows deep mulberry and dark cherry fruit, laced with delicate rose petal and violet florals. Fine, velvety tannins frame the palate, leading to a long, spice-laden finish.
The Farm White is a blend of 70% Cayuga White, 16% Melody, and 14% Grüner Veltliner. Each variety is fermented separately in stainless steel from direct press juice, then blended in early February or March before bottling. The nose is citrus-driven with orchard fruit and a hint of jasmine, while the palate delivers a rowdy, mouth-puckering acidity and vinous energy that fuels the wine’s length.
From the oldest known planting of Cayuga White, this 2024 bottling marks the winery’s first single-varietal release of the grape. With ripping acidity balanced by 4–5 g/L of residual sugar, it’s a delicately floral, orchard-fruited white with loads of lime-bright energy and stony mineral tension on the finish.
A blend of mostly Cayuga White—a variety bred at Cornell in the 1940s—with 20% Riesling, sourced in part from the original Cayuga planting at Plane’s Block, just a mile and a half up the road. Made in a lightly off-dry style, the wine is carbonated in tank and bottled under pressure. This gently effervescent white offers notes of pear, apple, and white flowers, with a touch of lychee. Medium-bodied with a soft sweetness balanced by refreshing acidity, it’s a bright, easygoing wine.
A full-bodied Cabernet Franc blend (87% Cabernet Franc, 13% Merlot) sourced from sustainably certified vineyards on the east side of Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes AVA, this opens with vivid red berry fruit layered with vanilla and cedarwood. But it’s the structure that takes center stage—soaring, firm tannins that initially grip the palate before gradually yielding to more delicate notes of dusty rose, earth, and spice. A wine with impressive mouthfeel and power, it clearly needs time in bottle to unwind and show its full potential. Aged for 10 months in natural French oak before bottling.
The Riesling Bubbly Dry #356 2023 from Boundary Breaks in the Finger Lakes AVA is a bright, focused sparkler made from sustainably certified, estate-grown Riesling clone #356. Fermented in stainless steel and finished with forced carbonation, it delivers a crisp, linear profile marked by vivid, mouthwatering acidity. Just-ripe orchard fruits—green apple and pear—are framed by a saline-mineral tension, with the faintest whisper of petrol and wet slate adding complexity to the dry, refreshing finish.
The Vignette Bubbly 2023 is a vibrant sparkling wine composed of 80% Traminette and 20% Vidal Blanc, sourced from New York State Sustainably Certified vines planted in 1998. Fermented in stainless steel and finished with forced carbonation, this hybrid blend opens with vivid aromatics of green apple, apricot, white peach, and a flourish of white flowers and honeysuckle. The medium-bodied palate carries a perfectly frothy, creamy mousse, balanced by bone-dry precision and a crisp, crunchy acid tension on a refreshing finish.
94% Syrah, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon from Sawmill Creek Vineyards. Red-fruited and delicately spiced, this light- to medium-bodied wine offers lifted aromatics of cinnamon, violets, and rose petals. On the palate, cherry and cherry pit notes are framed by firm apple skin tannins and a zesty, lingering finish. Aged for 9 months in neutral French and Hungarian oak with full malolactic fermentation.
100% Cabernet Franc from Sawmill Creek Vineyards in Hector, NY. Aged for nine months in 4–5-year-old French oak barrels. This is an elegant, red-fruited expression of Cabernet Franc, layered with notes of espresso bean, brown spice, and a zesty infusion of tangerine and grapefruit. A stony minerality anchors the palate.
100% Sauvignon Blanc, sourced from 53% Nutt Road Vineyards (Penn Yan, NY) and 47% Sawmill Creek Vineyards (Hector, NY). Ten percent of the juice was barrel fermented in puncheon, with all lots blended after six weeks, then tank aged and cold stabilized. This is a bright, zesty Sauvignon Blanc with fragrant sweetgrass aromatics—like fresh-cut lawn after a summer rain—lifted by a hint of sea spray. Pear and crunchy apple drive the light-bodied palate, which crackles with zingy, quaffable acidity.
95% Vidal Blanc and 5% Pinot Blanc, sourced 48% from Sawmill Creek Vineyards (Hector, NY), 47% from Wagner Vineyards (Lodi, NY), and 5% Nutt Road Vineyards (Penn Yan, NY). A bright, easygoing white that blends citrus, orchard, and tropical fruit tones from the Vidal Blanc—more commonly used for ice wine but here shows its fresh, fruit-forward side. The finish is crisp and vivid with a steely mineral edge, perfect for humid East Coast summers.
Tank fermented with twice-daily pumpovers and oxygen exposure via gravity feed sump, this wine was aged for two years in stainless steel prior to bottling. The result is a crisp, clean, and vibrant expression of red berry fruit, accented by vivid cinnamon spice, cedarwood nuances, and firm, cedar-rich tannins. Zesty blood orange and grapefruit peel acidity adds lift and energy to the finish. Sourced from 100% estate-grown fruit in Sustainably Certified, herbicide-free vineyards in the Niagara Escarpment AVA.
