Apollo's Praise Picardie Cabernet Franc Finger Lakes New York 2025

Kelby James Russell and Julia Rose Hoyle are the closest thing Finger Lakes winemaking has to a supergroup: he spent over a decade making wine at Red Newt, she led winemaking at Hosmer, and in 2023 they bought Seneca Lake's Lahoma Vineyard and launched Apollo's Praise. Picardie, named for the stout glass tumblers found in French bistros everywhere, is their case for Cabernet Franc as the region's great red, a grape that ripens late here without surrendering acidity or tannin. The fruit comes from Nutt Road Vineyard on the Dresden bench above Seneca Lake, a gentle east-facing slope farmed by Peter Martini of Anthony Road Wine Company that Russell has worked since his first wines in 2013. Raised without oak to keep the fruit forward, the 2025 delivers brambly black raspberry, violet, and dried herbs over crunchy, fresh tannins. Take the name's hint: pour it into a tumbler, chill it slightly, and put food on the table.