Posts Written OnApril 2008

Do you live in the greater New York City area and want to get your mouth around a wide array of local wines (and beers) without loading up the car and driving out to the North Fork of Long Island? If the answer is yes, Brooklyn Uncorked 2008 is for you. On Wednesday May 14, the Long Island Wine Council, Edible Brooklyn and Edible East End will welcome 30 Long Island wineries, and several local breweries, food purveyors and restaurants to BAMCafe (30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn) for this year’s edition of Brooklyn Uncorked. The event runs from 4-8…

I’ve mentioned it before, but I always find the diverse styles of local rose interesting. Last week, I reviewed Wolffer’s latest effort, and in many ways, it’s a pink-colored white wine (it’s 40% chardonnay after all). If that’s one of end of the spectrum — a white wine with color — then Shinn Estate Vineyards’ 2007 Rose ($15) is the opposite end. It’s truly a pale red wine. It’s a unique both for how it’s made and the way that it shows actual varietal character. Many roses are either the result of blending or of bleeding juice off juice to…

Work is going to be crazy next week. We’re re-launching large chunks of the website that I’m responsible for, so posting will be sparse at times as we make the final push to production. But, this project isn’t getting me down like it might. Why? Well, the morning after the site is launched, Nena, Jackson, Ben Roethlisbeagle and I are packing up the car and heading to Finger Lakes wine country — specifically to a lake-front cottage just outside Hammondsport on beautiful Keuka Lake. This will be our first time in the region, but you all know that I love…

By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent Last night, my parents-in-law graciously invited my wife and me to a Syracuse charity event that raises money for the Food Bank of Central New York. Savor Syracuse, as it is called, was held last night at the Hotel Syracuse, an early 20th-Century gem that is no longer functioning as a hotel but serves as a tremendous event venue with a fantastic decor. The event is simple: local restaurants and other institutions prepared and served food at various stations, and you go around and taste. We went to this event two years ago and…

The New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, has announced its 2008 schedule for Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) programs. WSET is one of, if not the single, most well-known wine certification programs in the world and it’s great that these courses are becoming increasingly more available to people outside of major cities. The Center became a WSET Approved Program Provider in February 2007 offers Foundation-, Intermediate- and Advanced-Level programs in their Education Theater. The 2008 schedule is below the click.

It’s been some time since I’ve written anything about the New York Cork Club here on LENNDEVOURS. I used to mention it once a month as we were sending out the wines, but I stopped because I wasn’t sure if non-members cared. Actually, I doubt they did. But you know what? I love this club and it’s something I’m really enjoying working on. And, it’s something that I’d like to see succeed, because there really isn’t another club like it. There are some other lesser New York wine clubs out there, but they seem to sell their members end-of-vintage wines…

I’ve been knocking around the idea of having a LENNDEVOURS party/get together/meet-up for a few years now, but it never seems to happen. Every time I think about it, life gets busy, venues back out, or something else happens to keep the stars from aligning properly. But 2008 is the year that it’s going to happen. Seriously. I’m still working out some details with the venue, so I’m not going to announce the ‘where’ just yet, but it’s a great spot on the North Fork, right in the middle of wine country.  Most likely, we’ll hold it in June sometime,…

It must be spring. The weather is getting just a little warmer. The East End sod farms are blanketed in that golf course green. And Wolffer Estate has released it’s new rose vintage. Both locally and around the world, rose comes in as many styles as there are ways to make it. Some winemakers use the saignee method, where they bleed off juice to concentrate their reds — with rose being the byproduct. Some, like Shinn Estate Vineyards, make rose for rose sake, even growing particular clones of merlot in a particular portion of their vineyard specifically for rose. Others…