2024 Riesling Beautiful Little Fool

The 2024 vintage was ideal for late‑ripening fruit: warm temperatures through September and October with almost no rain, creating perfect conditions for noble rot. Fruit stayed relatively clean, with fewer than 5% of berries affected.

Grapes were harvested October 16, 2024, from an established vineyard on the east side of Seneca Lake. After a long, slow press with no sulfur added to the juice, fermentation began naturally. After a sluggish start we attempted an inoculation later in October, but the yeast did not take off before cellar temperatures dipped. The wine remained unsulfured through the winter; fermentation finished in April 2025, when spontaneous malolactic fermentation also began. We arrested fermentation with a touch of residual sugar to preserve balance. The wine was bottled in August, 2025.

The 2024 Beautiful Little Fool exemplifies the ripeness and balance possible in warm Finger Lakes vintages, showing honeyed concentration with bright counterpoint.

Alcohol 10.7%, RS 13.4 g/L, pH 3.32, TA 6.0 g/L