Posts Written OnMay 2006

The Apprentice Invades Long Island Wine Country

Tune in to NBC’s The Apprentice tonight at 9 p.m. and get a taste of Long Island wine country right in your living room. Tonight’s episode features Raphael in Peconic and I’m guessing we might even get a peek at winemaker (and LENNDEVOURS contributor) Richard Olsen-Harbich. Raphael has been making plenty of news lately. First they’ll be bottling the first LENNDEVOURS-label wine and now this. I’m not typically a viewer of The Apprentice, but now I guess I’ll have to at least record it on the ole DVR. Tune in and get a glimpse of the wine country I love…

50 in 50 #1 — Massachusetts

Today marks the first stop on my tour of 50 wineries from all 50 states in 50 weeks. To kick off the journey over at Wine Sediments, I tasted some excellent sparkling wine from Westport Rivers in Westport, Massachusetts. I expect that I’ll taste a wide range of wines (grapes, styles and quality) throughout this virtual tour, but our first stop couldn’t have been better. Check it out, and keep an eye on Wine Sediments for more great writing. I’m just one of several popular bloggers who contribute. 

New York Wines in the Wine Spectator

Hey guess what? I’m not the only one talking up New York wine. I finally got my latest Wine Spectator in the mail (a hearty thank you to all the local winemakers, fellow bloggers and readers who apparently get theirs before me and alerted me to the New York-heavy content this month) and I think the New York coverage, spearheaded by Mitch Frank (who I happen to know reads LENNDEVOURS and who I’ve met in person recently) is nicely done. Mitch is a great guy and writer, and I for one am glad to have him covering the NY wine…

WTN: Raphael 2004 Cabernet Franc

I’ve written before about the wide range of cabernet franc styles one will find while touring Long Island. Some are light and fruity, some are spicier, some are hefty and brooding…but all are aromatic, which is one of the things I like most about this variety. If you’ve visited Long Island’s North Fork or been reading LENNDEVOURS very long, you’re already somewhat familiar with Raphael. Not only do I enjoy their sauvignon blanc, merlot and beautiful tasting room and grounds, winemaker and managing director Richard Olsen-Harbich contributes to this blog. Oh, and you could say that this Raphael 2004 Cabernet…

Where are the Long Island BYOB restaurants?

Where are the Long Island BYOB restaurants? I never really thought much about this until Nena and I visited our friends Paul and Sara in Philly, the land of BYO resturants. We had a great dinner at Azafran and what a joy it was to bring our own wine. I know of only two. Kitchen – A Bistro (St. James) Thai Gourmet (Port Jefferson Station) Both are awesome, by the way. Great food. And not corkage fee at all. Do any of my local readers know of any? Please share. I’m particularly interested because, as you all know, I love…

Back to Regular Scheduled Wine Blogging

As you may or may not have noticed, April was an extremely busy month here at LENNDEVOURS. Beyond the home rennovations and busy day job, I was also working on an exciting wine/writing project…one that I still can’t talk about. The combination led to far too few New York wines being tasted and reviewed and far too few posts about the happenings and trends in the local wine industry. But, the final deadline for the big project was yesterday, and I look forward to getting back to my usual at-least-once-a-day posting schedule. I’ve got a lot of wines to tell…

My Weber Bullet’s Maiden Voyage

Saturday, I fired up my smoker for the very first time. Her maiden voyage if you will. Around noon, with my spare ribs trimmed, slathered and rubbed, I fired up the chimney starter and got the charcoal and wood chunks (hickory) ready in the bottom of the Weber. I’ll tell you what, I obviously don’t have a lot of experience with different smokers, but this thing is almost fool-proof. Once I had everything set up (talk about mise en place…lots to do preparing for a smoking session), it was largely mindless. With the water pan (which holds a gallon of…