This month’s New York Cork Club features summer wines and also our first wine from the Niagara Escarpment. These wines are only available to Cork Club members, though extra bottles can sometimes be found in the Brooklyn wine store.

Lenn’s notes from this month’s selections:

First is a cabernet franc from Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York: Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars’ 2007 T23 Cabernet Franc ($15), a cab franc made without a splinter of oak. The nose is bright with tart cherries and blackberries up front and layers of violets, lavender, thyme and subtle earthy spice. On the palate, it’s fresh and light-to-medium bodied with black cherry and blackberry fruit that is slightly juicy. The herb notes carry over, with light skin tannins and food-friendly acidity giving the wine just enough structure. The finish is medium-short, but features a nice spice note.

You can even chill it slightly on a warm day. Make sure that you save yourself a glass in the bottle for the next day though, it really opens up and changes. It’s just a cool wine for a good price.

Our second wine is the first NYCC selection from the Niagara Escarpment region in western New York — Freedom Run Winery 2008 Estate Riesling ($17). The Escarpment is one of New York’s youngest wine regions and this is the first riesling Freedom Run has made with it’s own grapes (usually they buy from the Finger Lakes or Chautauqua). I tasted this when a friend of mine brought a bottle down. The second I tasted it I knew I had found the first Niagara wine to join the club!