Posts Written OnJune 2012

This Friday: “Drink Local Dinner” with Anthony Road Wine Company at Amarelle

There are still some seats left for our next New York Cork Report “Drink Local Dinner,” this Friday, June 15 at Amarelle in Wading River, featuring five wines from Anthony Road Wine Company, located on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. It’s rare that a Finger Lakes winemaker comes down to Long Island for a dinner like this one, so we’re excited that German-born winemaker Johannes Reinhardt will be with us to talk not only about the wines, but the stories and work behind them. Johannes will also be at Empire State Cellars the following evening pouring many of the same wines for customers.…

Continue Reading

Las Vegas Wine

When thinking about areas known for their wine, Nevada is not exactly the first thought that comes to your mind. The harsh climate of the state is not exactly conducive to wine making. However, one winery on the outskirts of Las Vegas has not only found a way around the climate, but is now a winery providing fine wine to clients worldwide. The Pahrump Valley Winery has a history that would almost sound like an urban legend but is entirely true. When the winery first opened in 1990, the area around Las Vegas had not been as fully developed as it is now and the…

Continue Reading

Empire State Cellars Wine Club: July 2012 Selections

The July shipment of the Empire State Cellars Wine Club, won’t ship for another 3 or 4 weeks, but I want to tell you about them today so, if you’re not already a member but want the wines, you’ll have time to join. If you’re not familiar with the club, you can learn more here. “Hello New York” Wines Ravines Wine Cellars 2011 Dry Riesling: Winemaker Morten Hallgren favors dry wines as the best way to express Finger Lakes terroir. This riesling is precise and pure, with crunchy acidity and pretty floral, pear and lime peel flavors and a minerally vein throughout.  Suhru…

Continue Reading

Review: Community Beer Works “The Whale”

By the time Community Beer Works opened for business this spring, hype surrounding Buffalo’s new nanobrewery had been building for months –– after all, not only would this be Buffalo’s first new brewery since 2000, but the CBW founders, particularly head brewer Rudy Watkins, are well known for their formidable skills and knowledge in the malt, yeast, and hop realm. Like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the mysterious brick building on Lafayette Avenue practically begged onlookers to speculate about what wild and wonderful libations might flow forth once its doors opened. Belgian quadrupels? Extra-extra-double-double-India-to-the-Max IPAs? Sours to make you cry for…

Continue Reading

Arrowhead Spring Vineyards 2008 Meritage Reserve

The Niagara region of New York continually forces me to rethink what I know about recent vintages in New York. Often the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley and Long Island have quite similar seasons. Hurricanes or frost events aside, if a year is warm and dry in the Finger Lakes, it tends to be in the Hudson Valley and here too.  It’s similar for cooler years. Take 2008 for example. It was a cool, somewhat cloudy summer for much of the state and the wines, particularly the reds, reflect that.  That’s not a value judgement. That’s East Coast, cool-climate winemaking. Vintage…

Continue Reading

Fork Finds: Suki Zuki, Water Mill, NY

Editor’s Note: This is the first piece in our new “Fork Finds” series by roving correspondent Tracy Weiss. In her weekly columns, she’ll share her latest finds on the North Fork or South Fork, including food, farmers, wine, beer and pretty much anything else interesting.   June on the North and South Forks are for fatties. It’s almost mandatory to exchange your business casual attire for elastic pants, flip-flops and a thermos of sugar-laden margaritas worn around your neck on a nylon strap. Those lucky enough to spend summers “Out East” will tell you it’s traditional to gorge yourself on…

Continue Reading

Martha Clara Vineyards Introduces “Into the Bunghole” a New Educational Video Series

You may remember Juan Micieli-Martinez, winemaker at Martha Clara Vineyards, as the JuanMaker — a somewhat silly, penguin-loving winemaker who starred in a series of videos the winery produced a few years ago.  While those videos were meant to educate viewers about some basic and sometimes not-so-basic parts of the wine production process, they were awfully goofy at times. With “Into the Bunghole” Juan is back, but with a bit more serious — though still approachable — tone.  Sure, the name of the series itself keeps it from being too serious, but this first video offers great 101-type information on…

Continue Reading

Roanoke Vineyards 2009 Marco Tulio

I’ve said it before, but it is worthy of a reminder — in your excitement to taste Long Island’s 2010 reds, don’t skip over or dismiss the 2009s.  A dry, warm autumn rewarded those growers patient enough to let their fruit hang and soak up those last bits of sun. Roanoke Vineyards 2009 Marco Tulio ($24) is a blend of 66% cabernet franc and 34% cabernet sauvignon. Anyone who knows Long Island wine knows that Roanoke Vineyards makes some of the best cabernet franc in these parts, and that this wine is two-thirds franc is obvious from the first sniff.…

Continue Reading

Rosé Means Dry? In the Finger Lakes, a New Idea Gains Momentum

Finger Lakes winemaker Vinny Aliperti is taking on Shakespeare, whether he knows it or not. It was The Bard who famously wrote, in Romeo & Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” It was his typically poetic way of saying that what we call something doesn’t matter; the content of that thing is what matters. Maybe not. Maybe a name matters enough to affect public perception. Aliperti finds that to be true with rosé. Some Finger Lakes wineries have seen steady growth in sales and production of rosé, while others have stagnated. Some of that stagnation…

Continue Reading

Spider Bite Brewing wins Tap NYs ‘Best New Brewery 2012’

On the way to his next-door neighbor’s house, Larry Goldstein felt a pinch . On his arm he saw a raised welt with two red marks characteristic of a spider’s fangs. Unfortunately, the bite didn’t endow him with super powers, but it did give him a name for his brewery, which is getting a lot of attention from across New York State. That’s what winning “Best New Brewery” at the annual TapNY beer festival will do. “I thought some of our beers had a chance to win an award in a style category,” says the former chiropractor turned brewer, “But I never…

Continue Reading