A few New York wine news items from the last several days: Shinn Estate Vineyards 2005 Estate Merlot was mentioned over on Eric Asimov's wine blog, The Pour, last week. Eric has long been a proponent for Long Island merlot and I think this wine, year in and year out, is one of his favorites. (Read my review) Shinn Estate also received an 89-point score from the Wine Spectator for their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that I've not tasted. Juan Eduardo Micieli-Martinez, winemaker at Martha Clara Vineyards, also let me know that Premium Wine Group, the custom-crush facility where…
Posts Written OnDecember 2008
Pompous Ass Winery Revisited
By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent At a recent wine event in the Finger Lakes, a few individuals approached me to express disapproval over my previous post about the upcoming opening of Pompous Ass Winery on Seneca Lake. Their chief complaint? Some felt that I came down too hard on Pompouss Ass before it had a chance to prove itself. I was told that the owners seemed like nice people. I'm sure they are nice people, but that's not really the point. Now that the winery has a liquor license and is open for business, I re-visited the website to see…
Bedell Cellars Library Tasting on December 19
On Friday, December 19 at 6:30 p.m., Bedell Cellars and founding winemaker Kip Bedell will library tasting featuring reds from the mid-1990s. The tasting will include nine red wines from the 1993, 1994 and 1995 vintages, including cabernet sauvignon, reserve merlot and Cupola (red blends) bottlings. The evening will open with sparkling wine, feature commentary by Kip Bedell, and continue for approximately 90 minutes. Tickets are by reservation only, and will be limited to 30 seats. Wine club members (and their spouses) are admitted free of charge. The public is welcome for $25 each. The wines tasted will be available…
Finger Lakes Winemakers Announce the Release of TIERCE 2006 Riesling
Anthony Road Wine Company, Fox Run Vineyards and Red Newt Wine Cellars have announced the release of the third vintage of their co-produced riesling TIERCE, a 2006 Dry Riesling. I thought it had been released over the summer, but apparently not. Peter Bell, winemaker at Fox Run also let me know this morning that there will not be a 2007 edition because 2007 rieslings from the region "just aren't all that racy." I don't think that is true across the board, maybe the group learned a lesson with their 2005 TIERCE, which I thought lacked acidity the last time I…
The Lenz Winery: Great Values and Splurges Too
My dad, sister, mom and Nena inside the Lenz Winery tasting room. As I mentioned on Sunday, Nena, Jackson and I took my parents and sister to visit a couple wineries on Saturday, including The Lenz Winery. Lenz is one of the North Fork’s most respected producers and employs one of the regions most gifted and charismatic winemakers – Eric Fry. If you ever find yourself in the Lenz tasting room and see a guy in overalls with a long ponytail and beard, that’s Eric. Say hello and he just might stop what he's doing to taste with you. One…
Miceli Vineyards 2001 Merlot
Even if you're a big Long Island wine fan, you may not know Miceli Vineyards. And you probably won't either. I hadn't heard of them either until I ran into Chris Miceli at a wine shop where he was pouring some wines a couple years ago. For years, he grew merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc in his vineyard in Mattituck and sold the fruit to local wineries, including Pellegrini Vineyards. In 2001, presumably because it was such a good year, he decided to make some wine of his own. He has since sold the vineyard, but there are a…
A Taste of the Old(er) Finger Lakes
Morgen McLaughlin and Leign Triner. Photo Courtsey of Morgen McClaughlin Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Shannon Brock, wine coordinator at the New York Wine & Culinary Center. Those in the know are well aware that Finger Lakes wines, particularly rieslings, are capable of ageing ten years or more. A couple weeks ago, a group of Finger Lakes wine community members gathered at Red Newt Cellars prove it. Their mission: to select about 40 library wines to send to James Molesworth of Wine Spectator. The hope is that if Molesworth finds the wines to be holding up…
Welcome VisitFingerLakes.com to LENNDEVOURS
Please join me in welcoming VisitFingerLakes.com as LENNDEVOURS' newest sponsor. It's a great resource for anyone looking to visit the Finger Lakes for the first time, be it to tour wineries or to enjoy the area's natural beauty (which I fell in love with last spring). The site is filled with information on where you can stay and eat in the Finger Lakes and also lists attractions and "things to do." I'm happy to have them sign on as a new site sponsor for 2009. Check them out.
Long Island Wine in the New York Post
Photo courtesy of Wolffer Estate In case you missed it, there was a nice piece in this weekend's Page 6 section of the New York Post about Long Island wine country. Written by Cynthia Sin-Yi Cheng, someone I've emailed with a bit over the years, it provides a solid "Long Island Wine 101" overview of the region, even if the three wine picks are a bit under-inspiring. The fact that Sparkling Pointe is focused on a bit in the story isn't surprising — Cynthia's loves sparkling wine. I'm not sure how you can write this story and not pick a…
Sips and Slurps (December 1)
Here are a couple news items from the past week or so: There's an interesting guest editorial in the Troy Record about the New York State Liquor Authority and how long delays in licensing approvals are hurting new businesses. I know several people who are playing this waiting game right now, and it's beyond frustrating. Some of them have lost a lot of money as they wait and wait. Apparently, it's much easier to get through the Federal licensing process. Arrowhead Spring Vineyards, up in the Niagara Escarpment, just received an 86-point score from the Wine Spectator (actually James Molesworth)…