Posts Written OnMay 2007

Don’t Forget: Brooklyn Uncorked is Next Week

Next Wednesday Long Island wine country invades Brooklyn with Brooklyn Uncorked at BAMcafe. For any New Yorkers who just can’t make it out to Long Island’s East End, this is going to be an awesome opportunity to taste Long Island wines and I’d encourage anyone who is interested to sign up and come on down. Tickets are only $30. The organizers have gotten a nice roster of wineries together, including: Vineyard 48 Shinn Estate Vineyard Raphael Paumanok Vineyards Palmer Vineyards Old Field Vineyards Martha Clara Vineyards Macari Vineyards Long Island Meadery Lieb Family Cellars Lenz Winery Clovis Point Wines Channing…

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Thinking About Local Wines in Local Restaurants

Visit most any winemaking region the world over and you’ll find that restaurant wine lists are chock full of locally made wines. Go to a restaurant in Napa and you’ll find wine lists dominated by Napa wines rather than Spanish ones. In Tuscany, you’ll find Chianti and Super Tuscans, not Australian Shiraz. You get the idea. But sit down at most East End restaurants and Long Island wines are far from the focus—if there are any on the list at all. I know that it makes me crazy when I’m out there and I want to drink a wine from…

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WTN: Roanoke Vineyards 2006 Chardonnay (North Fork of Long Island)

Roanoke Vineyards is still relatively new on the North Fork scene, but its red wines are already among the best made on the East Coast. In time, I believe they will also prove to be among the most long lived wines as well (I’m talking 20 years here). The wine that first "hooked" me on Roanoke was their 2000 merlot. I have one bottle of that wine left and when I opened a previous bottle a year or so ago, it wasn’t even close to peaking. We’ll see how patient I’ll be. But, no matter how good any winery’s red…

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New York Wineries CAN Get Internet Marketing Help

If you’ve been reading this blog for very long there are a couple things that you know: My "day" job is in Internet marketing and it’s something I take pretty seriously I don’t think very much of how most New York wineries leverage the Internet to interact with their existing and potential customers. I’ve also mentioned before that the New York State government is offering small grants to help wineries defray the cost of Internet projects. But where to use that money? Frankly, most of the local agencies (those on the East End of Long Island) are mediocre at Web…

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Restaurant Reviews Aren’t Easy to Write

Several of you have asked (including Nena) where my review of North Fork Table is, so I wanted to just do a quick post saying IT’S COMING. I’ve written a rough draft, but it seems so long and rambling that I’m trying to pare it down a bit. Let’s just say that when you have a stellar dining experience, it’s easy to say "This place is great" but it’s a bit more challenging to explain every reason why it’s so great. I’m a little out of practice writing restaurant reviews, so give me a few more days 🙂 Don’t wait…

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Ellen Watson Joins LENNDEVOURS Team

This morning, I’m happy to introduce Ellen Watson, a photographer based on the East End of Long Island who will be contributing some of her work here on LENNDEVOURS. Ellen caters to local clients who need distinctive images for advertising and public relations purposes.  In addition to her photography work, Ms. Watson has spent time teaching photography to children. She is involved with the Peconic Plein Air project for the Peconic Land Trust, and her work has appeared in numerous local and regional publications. Ellen and I are still sorting out exactly how the partnership will work, but you can…

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Beer Podcasts: Sixpoint Craft Ales

By Contributing Columnist Donavan Hall Rich and I are back together in front of the microphone today to tell you about Sixpoint Craft Ales in Redhook, Brooklyn.  We went out to Sixpoint for the tour and came back with some wheat beer that we drink on the show.  Rich also brought along a bottle of Sixpoint’s Russian Imperial Stout; it’s called Bolshoi, but I’ll be damned if I can read the label. As always we have a complete update of what’s going on in the world of Long Island beer.  Lots of beer dinners in the month of May.  I’ll…

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WTN: Jamesport Vineyards 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (North Fork)

Most Long Island wineries focus on the red wine grapes of Bordeaux—particularly merlot—and the white wine grape of Burgundy—chardonnay. They are, by far, the two most planted varieties on the East End. Jamesport Vineyards is a little different. They make merlot and chardonnay of course—the market demands them. But, they also have a well established pinot noir program and consider the white wine of Bordeaux, sauvignon blanc, a speciality as well. Most local sauvignon is reared entirely in stainless steel tanks, which highlights the fruit character and results in fresh, lip-smacking wines that tend to be straight forward no matter…

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A Sustainability Study

By Contributing Columnist Richard Olsen-Harbich Most people understand the general concept of “organic,” especially as it applies to the food we eat. But lately in the Long Island wine community, the “buzz” is all about sustainability. The question on a lot of people’s minds is—what exactly does this mean? The concept of sustainable agriculture grew out of the early organic movement and became fine tuned during the late 1980s. In 1989, the American Agronomy Society adopted the following definition for sustainable agriculture: "A sustainable agriculture is one that, over the long term, enhances environmental quality and the resource base on…

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WTN: Domaine CC 2006 Rose (North Fork)

Like most any American wine region, there are almost as many styles of rose being made on Long Island as there are wineries. You have some that are almost full bodied, big, soft and round on the palate and as dark as some light reds. You also have much lighter wines that are fresh, crisp and definitely much more like white wines. Personally, I almost always prefer the latter style. I like my rose to have high, but balanced, acidity, fresh fruit flavors and maybe even a little floral character. Corey Creek Vineyards‘ latest rose, their 2006 Domaine CC Rose…

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