By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor


LogoYesterday, I received a press release about an upcoming "Farm to Table" dinner at City Winery, one of a handful of New York City-based urban wineries.

It goes without saying that I'm an advocate of eating and drinking locally, so when I saw that they'd be creating "an outdoor dining experience highlighted by local food and wines" I thought it might be an event worth mentioning here on the site.I receive way too many event announcements to publish them all, so I'm selective.

Farm_to_Table_bannerThe menu for this event looks great though and features ingredients from local farms, so I was going to mention it.

Unfortunately, the "local wines" referenced at the beginning of the press release are anything but.

The menu lists City Winery-made syrah, chardonnay and rose of pinot noir and a quick look at their vineyard source list tells the decidedly un-local tale that these wines are West Cost and most likely California in origin.

It's long frustrated me that City Winery is using so little New York-grown fruit in their wines (one Finger Lakes riesling vineyard is listed) There are vineyards throughout New York that would no-doubt sell them grapes if City Winery cared to purchase them. I've never written about this until now becuase I've never seen City Winery tout their wines as local — until now.

The event page for this dinner mentions "100-mile" numerous times, but I'm certain that California and Oregon are outside of that 100-mile range. And it looks like some of the food incredients are outside of this 100-mile range as well, even if they are from New York.

California wines at a "Farm to Table, 100-Mile" dinner is a huge disconnect, however and makes me wonder if City Winery is just looking to cash in on the trendiness of the concept without really following through on it.

Is a "local" dinner really local if takes place in New York but the wines are from California? I don't think so and City Winery should be questioned about how they are marketing this event.

This absolutely is not a 100-mile dinner and should not be promoted as one. And the press release definitely should not include the phrase "local foo and wines" when only half of the meal is local.