The Latest Cristaldi Scores
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
Vintage
Wine
Color
Rating
The 1995 is a stunningly beautiful wine, offering layers of pressed violets, dried rose petals, loamy earth, currant, and cassis. Juicy acidity remains vibrant and fully in check, balanced by firm, mineral-rich tannins. With time in the glass, notes of leather, tar, black olive, liquorice, and charcuterie emerge, adding depth and savory complexity. Enjoy this wine with pizza at Fiocha Pizza in Mattituck, NY.
The 2010 shows some tension right out of the gate, but with air, it opens beautifully—offering cassis, currant, wet slate, and warm brown spices. The palate builds with integrated tannins that carry both grip and a velvety texture, framed by savory notes of sage and bay laurel. A firm saline-acid tension drives the finish.
Winemaker Kareem Massoud says this took six weeks to finish fermentation—and he was thrilled with the vintage. And no wonder: this is something else. Deep black in color with blue highlights, it opens with inky dark berry fruit, blue fruit, and violet aromatics. A bold, ripe expression of Long Island Cabernet Sauvignon, it delivers a full-bodied palate with soaring tannins and a finish that layers cedarwood spice, tar, black olive, and pressed rose petals. Powerful, structured, and built to age—this is a red wine with serious longevity.
Alluring aromatics of rich loamy earth wrap around dark currant fruit and warm tobacco spice. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate, with a plump core of cassis, blue fruit, blackberry, and black cherry. The tannins are velvety and mouthcoating, leading to a long, lingering finish layered with cedarwood, truffle, and earthy depth.
Sourced from a site originally planted with sparkling wine in mind, this bottling offers a beautifully frothy, creamy mousse layered with red berry fruit and delicate French pastry aromatics. A crisp, crunchy, acid-driven finish makes it especially food-friendly—owner Charles Massoud recommends pairing it with chicken or fish dishes.
This 2022 is a bold, robust Cabernet Franc with dark fruit intensity and firm, building tannins. Bright currant fruit weaves through layers of rich mahogany spice, black olive, and brown baking spices. The finish is long and structured, anchored by juicy, concentrated fruit and a compelling wet stone minerality.
Fermented in neutral oak with 50% whole berries, the result is savoury and red-fruited, with dusty mineral tones, subtle currant and fig notes on a lovely nose. Medium-bodied on the palate with juicy, spiced plum fruit, layered with brown spices, green olive, cherry wood, and mahogany. Supple yet robust tannins frame the wine, leading to a crunchy, acid-driven finish.
Native fermented on skins in stainless steel for two months with délestage before pressing, followed by malolactic fermentation and 12 months in puncheons, then filtered prior to bottling. The wine opens with pure red fruit, floral lift, and rose stem aromatics, leading to a creamy, medium-bodied palate with fine-grained tannins. Pretty notes of pressed flowers and wet slate minerality carry through the long, elegant finish, all framed by bright, juicy red-fruit acidity.
Sourced from the vines just behind the winery—easily visible from the patio—this dessert Sauvignon Blanc was served at the 50th anniversary of the NATO alliance. It’s a wonderfully expressive, detail-driven wine, offering ripe apricot, orange oil, honeysuckle, and jasmine. Never cloying, it’s lush yet balanced, with incredible acid tension and remarkable length.
Fermented in stainless steel and barrique, then aged in neutral oak for up to 14 months. This full-bodied red shows dark red berry fruit layered with savory brown spices, walnut husk, dried rose petals, and a touch of dark chocolate. Cocoa powder tannins frame the juicy, dark berry finish, while a firm spine of acidity keeps it lifted and bright, in the vein of a great Morgon—try it with duck à l’orange.
This medium-bodied Cabernet Franc is a juicy, red-fruited wine driven by saline-laced acidity and supported by intense, grippy apple-skin tannins. There’s a dark muscularity here—deep tones layered with cured meat richness and a savory black olive edge, alongside dried rose petals and wild herbs. Sourced from Sawmill Creek Vineyard, a hillside site on the east side of Seneca Lake with slopes as steep as 20% and elevations ranging from 490 to 820 feet above sea level, and planted in the 1990s to Clone 214 (a Loire Valley selection). Just 250 cases were produced.
From the Wagner Farms Cayuga White block on the east side of Seneca Lake, planted in 1978, this wine comes from a flat site with Lansing gravelly silt loam soils—formed from calcareous glacial till derived from sandstone, limestone, and shale. Cayuga White, a French-American hybrid developed by Cornell University in the 1940s, is grown almost exclusively in the Finger Lakes and here is planted on its own roots and trained to a high-wire cordon system. No sulfites were added at bottling. Bottles were disgorged in winter 2024, with just 450 cases produced. Fragrant pear and white peach aromas mingle with almond and white flower notes, blooming on the palate into tropical tones of pineapple and coconut cream. There’s something oddly evocative here—like a dry, acid-driven Pina Colada conjured by a bartender at Death & Co, served poolside at a Hawaiian resort. Why it takes you there, you won’t be able to explain. But it will—and that’s part of its charm.
From the George Ball Vineyard—planted in 2015 at higher elevation and further from Cayuga Lake—this site tests the cold-hardiness of Marquette each winter. Vines are trellised on north-south rows to a high wire cordon system and are farmed with heavy applications of composted wood chips. To enhance air exchange in the clay-rich soils, vine bases are mounded. Hand-harvested and aged on lees until July before being lightly filtered and bottled, production was tiny (188 cases). This is a savory, zippy red with brambly red berry fruit, charcuterie and violet aromas. The palate is vibrant and tangy, framed by crunchy acidity and finishing with earthy, truffle-like depth and lingering minerality.
The bulk of the fruit for this wine came from a special, protected site on the west shore of Cayuga Lake, planted in 1973 on Cazenovia silt loam soils. These own-rooted vines are hand-harvested and grapes were transferred whole cluster to red fermenters for carbonic maceration, then basket-pressed and moved to tank to complete fermentation. Just before bottling, a portion of Cabernet Franc juice from a separate whole cluster carbonic maceration was added. Bottled under crown cap and disgorged in February 2024, only 500 cases were produced. The result is meaty and black-fruited, laced with notes of black olive and black liquorice. Assertive and bright, the palate brims with zesty tension and an energetic mousse that brings structure and lift to the finish.
This Tocai Friulano was destemmed and macerated for five days, then pressed at the onset of fermentation and blended with Traminette juice for co-fermentation in stainless steel. A splash of Cayuga White was also added to brighten the acidity. There’s a wild, untamed quality to this crisp and expressive white wine, with strawgrass and grapefruit zest leaping from the glass. Zingy acidity fuels the palate, where notes of pickled fennel, candied melon, and a chilled chamomile tea character linger on the long, savoury finish. Pep in its step and plenty of personality, with just 187 cases produced.
Winemaker Phil Plummer explains that the Diamond variety can’t hang long enough on the vine to make a true dessert wine, so they pick it early, freeze the fruit, and barrel ferment it using a non-Saccharomyces yeast that naturally stalls around 10% alcohol. Half the wine went through malolactic fermentation, the other half did not. The result? Think Sauternes on an acid trip—mouth-puckering lime-bright acidity supports a luscious core of dried apricots and golden fruit, finishing long, tangy, and tart.
Tropically driven, this sparkling Diamond bursts with pineapple, nectarine, papaya, and mango, wrapped in a rich, creamy, frothy mousse that amplifies the ripe fruit. It finishes with a touch of wildflower honey and bright, bold acid tension that keeps it lifted and refreshing. Winemaker Phil Plummer recalls the legacy of Pleasant Valley Wine Company in Hammondsport, New York—the first bonded winery in the U.S.—which was built on hybrid sparkling wines. And here we are, full circle. This Diamond really is a diamond in the rough—but it’s not too rough out here. Think Neil Diamond singing Coming to America—there’s energy, there’s charm, and there’s joy in every sip.
A co-ferment of 40% Traminette, 29% Valvin Muscat, 26% Noiret, and 5% Aromella—all hybrid varieties developed by Bruce Reisch at Cornell—this is a uniquely expressive red wine. It opens with wild aromatics of dill, orange peel, and grapefruit zest, leading into tart cranberry fruit and pithy citrus. Grippy apple skin tannins add texture and structure, framing a long, floral-driven finish.
The wine is called Voleur—French for “thief”—a nod to the idea of respectfully borrowing inspiration from other places and people. Winemaker Phil Plummer modeled this wine after a Bedell Cellars bottling, creating something equal parts science experiment and homage. To build their native yeast culture, the team takes 10 gallons of juice on a “field trip” through the Finger Lakes—gathering wildflowers, fruit, even rocks from local beaches. All of it goes into the bucket, cultivating a wild ferment starter that functions like a sourdough culture, continuously fed and maintained for use in future fermentations. It spends one night on skins before fermenting with the wild culture, then ages 4–5 months in concrete amphora. Super floral on the nose with notes of honey, gardenia, and purple lilac, it carries a medium-bodied palate with grippy apple skin tannins, grapefruit acidity, and a long, captivating finish.
