By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor It is hot on Long Island this week — really hot — and has been for a few weeks not. Couple that with my wife Nena being pregnant and you get where I am today — more beer filling my glass, both at home and at restaurants. I'm an extremely seasonal drinker — whether we're talking beer or wine. In the winter, I drink far more red wines than white. The opposite is true in the summer. There are exceptions of course (these are personal guidelines rather than rules), including riesling and cabernet franc. I…
Posts Written OnJuly 2011
Taste of Two Forks Brings 23 Local Wineries and 39 Local Chefs Together
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor This Saturday evening, I'll be making the drive down to the Hamptons to attend the inaugural Dan's Taste of Two Forks event at Sayre Park in Bridgehampton. Organized by Dan's Papers (full disclosure: I'm their wine columnist) and hosted by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson, the event will bring together top chefs and wineries from both the North and South Forks under one 'roof.' The idea isn't a new one — it isn't that different from the HARVEST EAST END event that launched last fall — but this is sure to be a fun evening and…
Some Pictures from Our Heart & Hands Wine Company Dinner at Luce + Hawkins
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor By any measure, last night's NYCR Artisan Dinner at Luce + Hawkins — featuring the wines of Heart & Hands Wine Company — was a success. The packed house enjoyed an incredible meal prepared by chef Keith Luce and his kitchen team, and I'm pretty sure that everyone came away excited about what Tom and Susan Higgins are doing with pinot noir in the Finger Lakes. I'd like to thank everyone one for coming — especially Tom and Susan who made the trip to Long Island wine country just for this dinner and were on…
Lieb Family Cellars 2008 Right Coast Red
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor As a general rule, I don’t like double entendre on wine labels. It gimmicky and usually only clever in a too-obvious or not-all-that-funny sort of way. With the city skyline on the label, we are led to believe that the primary meaning of Lieb Family Cellars 2008 Right Coast Red ($30) relates to being made on the East Coast — right when looking at a map — versus on the West Coast, which would be Left Coast. Given my drive to drink locally, I tend to prefer the other meaning — the meaning that seems…
Mark Tichenor | Beer Correspondent, Rochester
Mark Tichenor is far too indulgent in his passion for beer. His love of brewing and its history has taken him across the United States and Europe, but he finds much brewing greatness in his hometown of Rochester, New York. He has been writing about beer, in print and online, for eight years. >> Read Mark’s posts | Follow Mark on Twitter | Visit Mark’s Site >> Read Tom’s posts | Follow Tom on Twitter | Visit Tom’s blog
Fracking: Big Questions Still Remain
By Evan Dawson, Managing Editor Last Thursday, a grassroots group went to Albany to ask state leaders to prevent hydrofracking from coming to New York state. Many of the marchers were professionals in the Finger Lakes wine industry, which tends to view fracking as a serious threat. Winemakers and winery owners tell me there will be many more similar demonstrations, but they're not yet satisfied with the response from the wine industry. Here are some big questions regarding fracking. How severe could the environmental problems be? There's no way to know, but the rhetoric can be strong. Long-time New York…
Mark Tichenor Joins NYCR Staff as Beer Correspondent
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor Today Mark Tichenor joins our masthead as a Beer Correspondent covering the beer scene in Rochester and beyond. I've been a reader of Mark both on Twitter and on his site, Beercraft, for a few years now and I've always been impressed with the depth of his knowledge and his willingness to share his opinions in an honest, but constructive way. Mark has been writing about beer, in print and online, for eight years and will cover the Rochester beer scene for NYCR and also offer commentary and insight into the greater New York…
Custom Brewcrafters Signature Series “Pierre” Saison Farmhouse Ale
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor The Signature Series is Custom Brewcrafters' higher-end line of beers, allowing the brewers to stretch their wings outside the regular CB flagships and contract brews. This saison pours a gorgeous three-finger head with perfect lacing, a beautiful pale gold haze glowing from the glass. The nose shows orange zest and meringue, pillowy yeast esters and a twinge of coriander, high-toned lemony minerality, and just a hint of earthy musk. There
Channing Daughters Winery 2009 Scuttlehole Chardonnay
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor Channing Daughters Winery‘s winemaker, Christopher Tracy, makes several chardonnay-based wines in a wide range of styles. For my money, his all-steel Scuttlehole Chardonnay is consistently the best and is the wine against which I judge other New York wines of its type. Channing Daughters 2009 Scuttlehole Chardonnay ($17) is proof that stainless steel chardonnay needn’t be one-dimensional and somewhat neutral. The fruit for this wine was all hand harvested and whole-cluster pressed — the norm at Channing Daughters, but not as common with most other steel-feremented chardonnays. Maybe that’s the key difference, particularly the whole-cluster…
Seats Still Available for Heart & Hands Dinner at Luce & Hawkins
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor We still have a few seats available for our next "New York Beverage Artisan Dinner" at Luce & Hawkins on Monday, July 11 at 7p.m. Tom Higgins, co-owner and winemaker at Heart & Hands Wine Company on Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes will present his 2009 Brut Rose, 2009 Pinot Noir, two 2008 single-vineyard pinot noirs and a 2008 Barrel Reserve Pinot Noir — with a four-course meal prepared by Chef Keith Luce, all for $75. Get all the details here. If you'd like to join us, send me an email. These are wines…