Rochester Winos

There's a great group of folks up in the Rochester, NY area called the Rochester Winos. They get together once a month at a local restaurant and invite a featured winery to lead them through a series of food and wine pairings. This month's tasting takes place tonight and I'll be heading up to Rochester representing McGregor Vineyard as the featured winery! I'm quite excited- the event is held at Grinnell's Restaurant which is purportedly one of the finest Italian cuisine restaurants in Rochester. It gets better...Renée Suzette’s CHOCOLATE truffles will be on hand and Corinna & Peter Kasandrinos owners of Kotinos The Olive King are sampling olives and olive oil! That's all the good news...unfortunately, tonight's gathering is sold out...I'd suggest joining the Rochester Winos for one of their future events. If you're not a member of the group you can still attend their events, it'll just cost a few extra dollars. Cheers!

randomness

Good morning...I did a quick search of blogs through google, trying to find mine, and found that our Black Russian Red has been discussed by some other folks out there...here are some links to follow. I'll include greater detail about this blog's namesake wine soon.
Dowd's Tasting notes evaluated some of our previous vintages. Our 2005 vintage was rated favorably by Wine Enthusiast, as is mentioned in this post by Finger Lakes Wine Country. I also sent the 2005 vintage to IntoWineTV. The reviewers enjoyed the wine even if rather confused as to what to expect. However, they didn't care for the price. I would have thought Broadbent would have some commentary on how it stacks up to other Saperavi and/or Sereksiya Charni wines he's had in the past...or was this a new experience for him? Here are a few more places to check out: notes from Mark's Journal summarizing one of my Red Wine Barrel Tastings he attended and here's the tasting notes on our 2003 vintage by Mike Sears, a member of our McGregor Clan Club who is very astute about wine. The Black Russian Red is truly intriguing and will be a topic of much more discussion here as time goes on!

Here we go!!!

Well folks,
I'm not really sure where I should begin...perhaps once I get a few people reading this, they'll help me with some direction. In the meantime, I've started this blog for a few reasons. First, my wife Stacey and I run my family's winery- McGregor Vineyard, located on the east side of stunningly beautiful Keuka Lake tucked away in the Finger Lakes region of western New York. I couldn't be prouder of it and I want to share this part of my life with others. Creating a blog helps me get the word out. Starting this blog is also a way for me to finally start organizing my thoughts about growing up in the wine industry- I've spent so many hours thinking about writing a book about my rather unique childhood yet I've never seriously put pen to paper...here's the ideal chance to start getting some of it organized! Even though I don't necessarily like this about myself, I tend to work best under pressure, when I know others are relying on me or at least are expecting something from me. The simple pressure of having a blog is hopefully going to be enough to keep me going...time will tell I guess.

Here's the beginning. John Matthew McGregor...inhales his first breath of fresh air on May 17, 1971. Named after his grandfathers. Taurus. Finnish mother (Marge), homemaker. Scottish father (Bob), physicist for Kodak. Three older sisters- Laura (ten years older), Anne (eight years older) and Sandy (seven years older). As with everyone, born into circumstances not of his choosing (not that I wouldn't choose them, I just didn't). Victor, NY. (Upper?) Middle Class.

more to follow...