After finding out that the Amtrak would take us four days, we find a kind chap in a rusty Chevy Silverado who agrees to rush us across to the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York State. 

This is a region which is really producing some excellent quality wines, from a huge variety of different grapes, but which does so very much against the odds, with its incredibly cold winters – so cold, in fact, that the vines often are at risk of dying off completely. 

Yet Hosmer Winery, a small family-owned estate, makes some incredible quality Riesling and Cabernet Franc, plus a good few others, under the supervision of head winemaker Julia Hoyle. 

This Cabernet Franc is carefully managed in the vineyard to reduce the green underripe characteristics that can blight this variety, especially in cooler climates, and then is treated just as delicately in the winery to produce a Cabernet Franc very much unlike its riper cousins. But, wow, what a beauty it is!

Fogg and Smith now have another huge journey to get down to the wine grape growing regions of South America. They may need somebody with a bit of experience to do this... 

Portions of the video © Hosmer Winery and Brady Hommel

Spice, dark raspberry, sage, kalamata olive, cherry.

Producer: Hosmer Vineyards

Grape: Cabernet Franc

Vintage: 2021

Country: USA

Region: Cayuga Lake, Finger Lakes

ABV: 12.5%