By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor The Finger Lakes wine industry lost a major and beloved figure when Elaine Hazlitt passed away last Friday at the age of 70. Hazlitt and her husband Jerry founded Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards in 1985. She is credited with infusing the tasting room with her positive energy. And beyond the creation of the winery, Hazlitt's neighbors say that Elaine Hazlitt deserves credit for helping sustain the operation. "After Jerry died, she was a very strong person to continue the family tradition of winemaking," says Ted Marks, owner of nearby Atwater Vineyards. "She held that family…
Posts Written OnNovember 09, 2010
Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 Wild Boar Doe
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor Over the next several weeks, our editors will be tasting and re-tasting a slew of wines released during the 2010 calendar year for potential inclusion in our 2010 Wines of the Year tasting scheduled for mid-January. (We'll be announcing our revamped categories and process later this week, by the way.) As I scoured Long Island winery websites recently to identify wines that I hadn' tasted or wines that I hadn't formally reviewed, I realized that I never gave the Shinn Estate Vineyards 2007 Wild Boar Doe ($30) an official tasting, even if I'd had it…
What We Drank (November 9, 2010)
Here's what our editors and contributors were drinking last week… Evan Dawson: Ravines Wine Cellars 2007 Meritage I have now opened this wine on three separate occasions, and it has been three distinctly different wines. What a beguiling lesson for those of us who seek to power taste and ascribe a permanent score or note. In March 2009, shortly after bottling, this wine was precocious and juicy, dark and rich. Coming from the fabulous-for-reds 2007 Finger Lakes vintage, and in the hands of perhaps the most skilled red wine maker in the region, hopes were high. I found it explosive,…