Bellangelo Makes Wine and Spirits Top 100 Winery in the World!
A Finger Lakes, New York winery’s Riesling is on a magazine’s list of the best wines of the world for 2018.
Villa Bellangelo Winery of Starkey is on the west side of Seneca Lake and also has a tasting room in Geneva called Bellangelo North Seneca. Its 2015 Berry Select Riesling was named to Wine & Spirits Magazine’s Top 100 Wines of 2018, with a score of 94.
Noted wine writer Jamie Goode, author of Wine Science, has remarked on the wine’s “amazing harmony and depth.”
Other “best of” notations for Bellangelo in 2018 include its 2015 Gibson Vineyard Riesling (score of 91), 2015 Reserve Chardonnay (91), as well as a listing as one of America’s Best Sparkling Wines with a nod in the Best Buy category for its Sparkling Cuvée.
The Missick family is marking the seventh anniversary of its ownership of Villa Bellangelo after moving from California to the Finger Lakes. The family said it focused on creating Rieslings, Chardonnays and Cabernet Francs.
“The beauty of Riesling, is that it has an ability to express its terroir (natural environment) in a way few varietals can,” said winemaker Christopher Missick.
He noted that “In the Finger Lakes, we can tease out those expressions in a way no other region in the United States can. This is a cool climate that has a growing season of extended beautiful warmth, and I feel we are exploring what is viable on the frontier of American viticulture.”
Villa Bellangelo carries 12 different Rieslings in its tasting rooms.
“Riesling is the winemaker’s dream varietal,” said Missick.
He said he is particularly proud to see the Finger Lakes continually represented as one of the world’s great wine regions by wine periodicals such as Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, Food & Wine, The International Wine Review and online reviewers such as James Suckling, the wine-reviewer site Vinous and others.
Villa Bellangelo also is proud of its recognition for work in sparkling wines and Chardonnay. The winery began producing sparkling wine in 2014, including its Brut and Sparkling Merlot Rosé.
It is releasing a sparkling gewürztraminer — a highly aromatic grape — coming soon!