Posts Written OnOctober 2011

WineBar at The Portly Grape: Well Worth the Drive for Good Food and Local Wine

By Dave Seel, Long Island Food Correspondent My recent trip to WineBar was certainly a drive — it's out in Greenport after all — but checking out the new hybrid wine bar and tasting room inside the Portly Grape had been on my to-do list for a while. Managed by former Bedell Cellars tasting room manager, Andrew Mestler, the WineBar occupies a large backyard tent in the summer months and the bar and lounge of the Portly Grape in the winter. After working at Bedell and seeing the growth of the North Fork wine industry, he jumped at the chance…

Most Demanding Vintage Ever? Sounds Like Hyperbole, but in the Finger Lakes, 2011 Just Might Be

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Photos courtesy Lakewood Vineyards. Above: Vineyard Manager Dave Stamp rides the harvester on a gloomy harvest day. Below: Early October riesling grapes at Lakewood showed clean fruit with occasional affected berries Up and down Seneca Lake, no one was sleeping. No one was going home. After weeks of slowly building rot among the vines, the rains departed and the sun had gloriously returned. It was the 10th day of October, and this was the window, the chance, the opportunity to do the work and pull the 2011 vintage out of the fires of rot…

Horseheads Brewing Company Brings the Heat

By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Little Horseheads Brewing, located an hour from Ithaca in beautiful Horseheads, New York, might be the state's hottest brewery — literally. I made a visit for the first time last week after drooling for months over tales from my festival-going beer friends about an enigmatic “chili pepper beer” that was so balanced, so smooth, and yet so spicy it could please both session drinkers and spice fiends like myself. A sample at the charming brewery showed off Horseheads's brewing prowess, especially since it was just one of several oustanding beers on tap. The brewery’s low-key…

In Geneva, Opus Wine & Espresso Bar Gives Small-Town Dining New Meaning

By Rochelle Bilow, Finger Lakes Food Correspondent Photos by Stu Gallagher Passing through Geneva, one might be inclined to write off Opus Espresso and Wine Bar as just another eatery in a college town already saturated with pizza shops and fast-food spots. Local foodies know better. Nestled between buildings on the long stretch of downtown Geneva, just an espresso bean's throw from Main Moon Chinese Restaurant and a Philly cheesesteak takeout joint, Opus doesn’t seem like the type of place to be serving up fresh, inspired food with good coffee and great wine. It doesn’t seem like the type of…

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2008 Wild Boar Doe

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor The name of Shinn Estate Vineyards 2008 Wild Boar Doe ($30) serves two purposes. It is at once a playful homage to the Bordeaux-style blend and also a food pairing tip — because lean wild pork or venison would work beautifully with this wine. A blend of 40% merlot, 23% cabernet sauvignon, 17% malbec, 15% petit verdot, and 5% cabernet franc, this medium-weight red shows complex aromas of licorice, white pepper, leaf tobacco and exotic spice interwoven with ripe blueberries and black currants. Intense black-and-blue fruit highlights a somewhat rustic palate, along with an array…

Bloomer Creek Vineyards 2009 Auten Vineyard First Harvest Riesling

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor When my colleague Evan Dawson first introduced us to Bloomer Creek, I only knew Bloomer Creek Vineyard as the winery that shared a parking lot with one of my favorite places to eat in the Finger Lakes, Stonecat Cafe. But, after speaking with Evan further about them, I knew that I had to get my hands on some of Kim Engle's wines. Evan and I have similar-but-different palates and tastes when it comes to wine, but I think we agree on Bloomer Creek's rieslings — these are some of the most uniquely expressive, genuine rieslings…

Views from a Southern Finger Lakes Beer Adventure

By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Over the weekend I headed to the southern Finger Lakes area to visit friends; as always, the trip was essentially a beer pilgrimage. Though I came seeking the enigmatic Ithaca Beer Company Brute (it was back on the tasting room shelves for a short time only; stay tuned for a formal review), I also got a chance to visit with brewer Jeff O'Neil and check out the beginnings of Ithaca's expansion to a larger facility. Naturally, I also stocked up on Flower Power, and my friend's sister, a breastfeeding mom, appreciated Ithaca's scrumptious root beer.…