It’s Been Way too Long – Let’s Catch Up!

Wow it’s been so long since I have updated my blog, it must be June!

I thought I would do a bit of catching up with this blog. First, our season is off to a great start! It’s great to see people coming back from last summer – since we only opened in April 2008, we didn’t have a lot of repeat business until late last year, so it’s very nice to have people in that haven’t been in since last year, and this year, they’re buying more of our wine to stock up on, which we love

One thing that has been a big problem this year is the darn weather! If it’s not raining, it’s cold, if it’s not cold, it’s raining. The one thing I can tell all of you is that weather is the main driver of our store traffic! If it’s nice out, people are out and about enjoying the weather, but if it’s not nice out, it’s tough to get people in the store. Lets keep our fingers crossed for a nice summer and fall – it would really help out a lot of businesses here in Lake George!

Memorial Day weekend was great for us! The rain held off for most of the weekend and although not really warm, it wasn’t cold either! Memorial day weekend is our first big weekend of the summer and our first real taste of how tired out we can get! Just to give you an idea, we get here at 9:00 a.m. (sometimes 9:30 ) ) and we usually don’t get out of here till 11:00 or later. It sure makes for some tired legs and voice!

As I am sitting here typing, Americade is going on outside, so far it’s been about the same as last year for us – a pretty steady flow of customers. Although we do appreciate having Americaders in town, I am also looking forward to getting back to some sense of normalcy! This is probably the most hectic week we have around here.

Well it’s time to get back to work, sorry for the absence and the short post. I promise to try and do a much better job now that all our spring work is done. Until next time have a great week!

– Mike

Vote for the “Best of Lake George” 2009

Votes are now being accepted for LakeGeorge.com’s annual “Best of Lake George” survey. Support your favorite Lake George businesses by voting for them.

YOU decide on the best Lake George hotels, attractions, restaurants and events!Give your opinion on which venues are the Best Of Lake George NY when you take this 2009 survey! (Note: a minimum of 3 categories must be completed)Vote now through June 26th and check back to see the results for the 2009 BEST OF Lake George on June 30th.

ADIRONDACK WINERY’S CHARDONNAY WINS MEDAL AT THE FINGER LAKES INTERNATIONAL WINE COMPETITION

LAKE GEORGE, NY (JUNE 2, 2009): Adirondack Winery, Warren County’s first winery, is proud to announce that it’s Chardonnay won a Bronze Medal at the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, which was held recently in Rochester, NY. This wine competition was the first that Adirondack Winery ever entered; therefore, it was very pleased to win a medal, considering it only entered a few wines.

Adirondack Winery opened its doors on April 17, 2008 as the region’s first micro-winery. Winemaker and co-owner, Michael Pardy, sources grape must from various vineyards to create the more than 30 wine varietals on Adirondack Winery’s wine list.

Adirondack Winery's Award-Winning Chardonnay

Adirondack Winery’s award-winning Chardonnay is made from grape must sourced from the Woodbridge, California area. Mr. Pardy lightly oaks this white wine and ages in stainless steel drums, which brings out the natural flavors of the Chardonnay grape (similar to a ripe pear); creating a wine that is unique in its class.

The wine label on Adirondack Winery’s Chardonnay features a photograph of Lake George Blais Park, which is located on Beach Road in Lake George. All of Adirondack Winery’s wine labels feature photographs of landscapes and landmarks in the local region.

Spring in Lake George = So Darn Busy!

Hey Everyone, I have been slacking a bit when it comes to my blog but I have a really good excuse! It’s Spring and we are just so busy! It’s back to the season of work, work and more work, the nice weather we have been having hasn’t helped much either!

Spring in Lake George is an interesting time, the weather goes from cold to warm, sunny to rainy and the back to sunny so quickly. All the flowers and leaves come out of nowhere, and we here at the winery realize all the things that haven’t gotten done over the winter!

But with any seasonal business it’s nice to see things going the other way, nice weather and more people out walking the strip enjoying being outside again.

Well I am going to be quick with this post as it’s time to get back to work. Next week I hope to put up a topic about winemaking, I haven’t posted much about what we do in the winemaking arena so I am sure I can come up with something interesting. Till next time have a great week!

Adirondack Winery’s 1st Anniversary in Review

This past weekend we celebrated our 1st Anniversary at Adirondack Winery, with a weekend of events, prizes, food and most importantly — wine!

Mike & Sasha Pardy, Co-Owners

First and foremost, Sasha and I would like to thank everyone who came out to see us this weekend, as well as everyone who has visited us over the last year. We had a very successful first year and we are looking forward to another great year with some new wines, new products, lots of fun and our eyes on the future.

On Saturday night, we had a closed door event for our Inner Circle members – it was a great night and we had over 50 members (the limit of our space capacity) attend for a night of free food, drinks and fun. It was really nice to see people come out and celebrate with us. Thanks goes out to all that attended this event and congratulations to all those people who won some great raffle prizes! (We wanted to have pictures to share, but were so busy attending the event, that we completely forgot to take them!)

On Friday we had free cheese and crackers as well as a free white wine tasting. The weather was great and we had a great turn out.

Saturday during the day we had free cheese, chocolates and red wine. The weather wasn’t as good as Friday but we still had a good turn out and we even had a few visits from some very familiar faces.

Melissa and Korrey, two of our great tasting bar employees

Sunday was our chocolate and dessert wine pairing day. This was one of my favorites from the weekend. We had a free dessert wine tasting, and lots of chocolate and sweets out to taste with them. I’ll admit I did “try” a few of the chocolates, including truffles we had made with our wine infused in them (cab sav, chardonnay, and ice wine), and they were very enjoyable!

Also, we treated our customers to free samples of a new product we’re carrying – Mercer’s Wine Ice Cream – We’ve got their “A La Port”, “Riesling”, “Raspberry Chardonnay”, and Peach White Zinfandel flavors. We’re going to have to try real hard not to consume all of the stock ourselves. These ice cream’s really taste like wine and have about 5% alcohol in them!

Bill and Deb Prime, two great customers!

Overall it was a fun weekend and it was great way to start our summer season. We both look forward to another gsuccessful season in Lake George. We can’t think of a better place to enjoy the summer and more importantly a better place to enjoy some great wine.

Until next time have a great week and enjoy the great weather this weekend!

–Mike

Our new wine Barbera has been released!

Hey everyone, this week I thought I would talk about our new wine – Barbera — which is now ready and available for sale.

Label: The Village's Night Lights Shine on Lake George Before the July 4th Fireworks

I am sure that many of our customers won’t be familiar with Barbera and for most, the first time they’ll ever taste it will be in our winery.

Barbera is an Italian-style grape that we source from the Woodbridge wine growing district of California, which is nestled between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada, which enjoys a classic Mediterranean climate, featuring warm days and cool, pleasant evenings.

This red wine has a really nice ruby color and forward blackberry character with just a hint of raspberry. It has a pretty solid tannin structure leading to a nice, smooth finish and its poignant fruitiness still shines through. We did add a bit of oak, which adds a touch of smokiness to the wine.

So far, we’ve had the Barbera out for just a few days and everyone who tried it bought a bottle, so that’s a really good sign! I think this wine will be very popular, maybe even giving some of our best selling reds a run for their money!

Looking to the future, we do hope to add two more wines this season – one I will keep a secret for now. We will also be introducing a sweeter version of our Blushing Trees White Zinfandel (the new wine has yet to be named). For some reason, everyone thinks White Zinfandel should be sweet ). Also, some more grape types have opened up to us and we are hoping to add a few more wines next year.

I hope everyone has a great week and next week will be our anniversary week and I will talk a bit about that.

– Mike

Adirondack Winery Anniversary Celebration, New Wine & Events

LAKE GEORGE, NY (March 31, 2009):  On April 17, 2008, Adirondack Winery & Tasting Room opened its doors to the public for the very first time. Now, one year later, the Lake George “micro-winery” is heading into its second season with more hand-crafted wines and a positive outlook for its business in 2009.

Adirondack Winery is one of a handful of businesses that have beaten the odds in this recession. “When we opened last season, we did our best to estimate customer demand, but quickly found out we had not made enough wine. It was always our intention to only sell the wines we make at our store, but early in the season, we faced the fact that we would have none of our wines on the shelf if we stuck with that plan, so we also carried some wines from other New York State wineries through the end of the season.” said wine-maker and CEO, Michael Pardy.

 

Adirondack Winery has been furiously making wine all winter to stock up for the 2009 Lake George tourist season. “If you came into the winery today, you’d see 31 different types of wine on the shelves, all made by us – this time, I think we’ve made enough to keep our shelves well-stocked,” added Mr. Pardy.

 

Adirondack Winery’s Tasting Room concept caught on quick. “The feedback we get from visitors is that they’re delighted to have a new business in Lake George that represents a departure from the typical tourist gift shops,” said Sasha Pardy, co-owner and president of the winery. “The typical new customer enjoys the wine tasting experience, is pleasantly surprised to see our on-premises wine-making facility, comments on our modern look, remarks about our local-themed photographic wine labels, and always finds wines he or she likes,” she added.

 

Is Adirondack Winery simply experiencing a “honeymoon period” like some small business start-ups do?

“Definitely not,” said Mr. Pardy. “Throughout the off-season, many of our summer customers have taken special trips to Lake George with the specific purpose of buying our wines. Plus, we’ve found that much of our increased business is attributed to ‘Word-of-Mouth’ – existing customers recommending us to new customers,” he said. In addition, Adirondack Winery gets consistent orders through its Internet wine store, http://store.adirondackwinery.com.

 

Adirondack Winery Barbera

Along with this first Anniversary, Adirondack Winery debuts its 31^st wine – a red wine, “Barbera.” The label features a gorgeous photograph of the

glowing night lights of July 4th reflecting on Lake George. The tasting notes read, “This red wine’s acidity brings out its enjoyable cherry, raspberry and blueberry notes, while firm tannins envelope the wine, creating a fine toasted finish.”

 

If you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, Adirondack Winery is always conducting wine tastings when it’s open – currently, that’s Thursdays through Sundays (Daily hours start in May).

 

Or, make it a point to attend one (or all) of Adirondack Winery’s Anniversary Celebration FREE wine tasting events:

·         Friday April 17th 12p-6p: FREE Red Wine Tastings featuring Grafton Village Cheddar Cheeses and Stonewall Kitchen Gourmet Crackers

·         Saturday April 18th 11am – 4pm: FREE “Your Choice” Wine Tasting(s) featuring Cheese, Chocolates, and Gourmet Foods

·         Sunday, April 19th 12pm – 5pm: FREE Dessert Wine Tasting(s) – Paired with Scrumptious Chocolates.

Where: 285 Canada Street, Lake George, NY. Located directly across from Shepard Park, near the corner of Amherst Street.

 

 

 

Explanation of White Wine “Snow Flakes”, “Crystals”, “Wine Diamonds”

Wine Diamonds or Crystals in a Bottle

Hello Everyone! This week I thought I would answer a question that comes up a lot in the winery, “What is that stuff in my wine?”. What people are really asking is, what are the white crystals (sometimes called snow flakes or “wine diamonds”) in my wine? Well here is the explanation.

Wine is made up of many different compounds and one of these compounds is acid. This acid comes primarily in two different forms: tartaric and malic. Malic is found in many different fruits while tartaric is mostly found in grapes.

Some of the tartaric acid can further be broken down into another form, called potassium bitartrate, which is also know as “cream of tartar”. Because this acid is only partially soluble (meaning it doesn’t completely dissolve in wine even though initially it may appear to), it eventually crystallizes and begins falling out of the wine over time. This process can be sped up by low temperatures, which is what you see in the bottom of some of our white wine bottles.

Tartrate crystals can sometimes accumulate in the bottom of bottles or on the underside of corks. These are naturally occurring and are not a fault.

Sometimes I will hear the follow up statement of “I have never seen it in any other wine except yours” which probably, for most of us, is true.

The reason you do not see this too often is that most wineries put their white wines through a process called “cold stabilization”, where the wine is chilled for about two weeks at temperatures close to freezing. This process speeds up the the crystalization process and after the wine is filtered, there will be no more wine crystals in the wine and most importantly, no customers asking “what are these crystals in my wine?” Most wineries would cold stabilize wines just to avoid that one question.

There is a couple of reasons why we choose not to cold stabilize our wines. First, if we cold stabilize, we could alter the taste and quality of our product. Secondly, we believe in minimal processing of our wine, which means limiting as much as possible anything that is not 100% neccesary to make our products. Finally, cold stabilizing is very energy intensive and we try, for the sake of the enviorment (and our wallets) to keep our energy impact low.

What we tell people is to decant the wine or use a filtered pourer (we sell Haley’s Corkers) before drinking if you are concerned about the crystals in the wine. BUT REST ASSURED, THERE IS NO REASON TO BE CONCERNED WITH INGESTING THOSE CRYSTALS.

I hope that answers some of your questions about the snowflakes and until next week have a great week!

–Mike

Lake George and Adirondack Winery Upcoming Events

Hey everyone! This week I thought I would write about some of the events here at Adirondack Winery and around Lake George.

For all of our inner circle members this maybe a repeat but on April 17th, 18th, and 19th we will be having a number of events including free wine tastings, specialty food and cheese, all weekend long. This event marks our 1 yr anniversary and we thought we would try to do something a little special. Also we will have raffels, bigger then normal discounts and on Saturday night we will be hosting an Inner Circle members only event. For more information on these events please visit our website at www.adirondackwinery.com.

One other thing, for anyone wishing to get away for a weekend we have partnered with the Hampton Inne and Suites, and Dunham’s Bay Resort for some great discounts. April is a great time to get away it’s not really busy here yet but the weather is great and spring will be in the air!

Here are a few other events that we really enjoyed last year.

May 1-3 52nd Annual White Water Derby in North Creek.
May 28-31 Lake George Elvis Festival
June 1-6 Americade
June 13 Mammoth Tractor Trailer Parade (this one is
new this year and I think it should be pretty
interesting)
June 26-28 21st Annual Summerfest
September 11-13 Adirondack Nationals Car Show
September 19-20 Lake George Jazz Festival
September 24-27 Adirondack Hot Air Balloon Festival
October 3-4 Lake George Blues Blast (Keep your eye on this one, I heard a rumor that they would be having some well know bands this year and they were planning on having one of the biggest shows in there history)

I will try to also mention some of the smaller events as they start getting a little closer. Until next time have a great week!

Mike

What a Winter Carnival!

Hey everyone!

What a great winter carnival we had this year. The weather was great, there was ice and snow and plenty of people came out this year to have a great time! Again we are very happy with the number of familiar faces who visited us for the first time since the fall.

Even in a town where the majority of the people who walk through our doors have never been into our store before, we have started to develop a family of customers who not only purchase our products but provide us with a little bit of the “Cheers” feeling. You know, “Cheers, where everybody knows your name!” I can hear the tune now…. (For anyone who knows me, they know I can’t remember a name to save my life but I can usually remember what they bought, where you stood and sometimes what you were wearing the last time you were in, even if it was months ago. So please don’t hold me to the everyone knows your name quote!)

Here’s some updates on our winery happenings.

- We finally have all 31 of our wine varietals in stock and in most cases have a substantial inventory of each wine.

- We have hired a part-time sales rep to start selling our wine to local restraunts. We hope to have a pretty good list of locations by Summer, so check out our website for details.

- We will be having a free wine tasting on March 14th, with free samples of Grafton Village Cheddar cheese and Chocolate Gecko chocolate and Stonewall Kitchen goodies as well.

- Keep an eye out for our anniversary promotion in the late part of March and April. It’s been a great year for us and we intend to celebrate a bit more than usual! We hope to continue our success into the next year, bucking the economic trend. We know that our succsess is based on two very important things: Great wine and Great customers that like to drink it!

Last but not least, I started to notice that spring is around the corner! I heard birds today that I believe to be Robins, but I didn’t see them. Also some of the trees have buds on them! Yes it’s a bit early for buds on the trees but at least it’s a good sign!

– Mike

Thanks for reading and please drink responsibly