Posts Written OnOctober 2015

Uncork the Forks: A Wine Lover’s Guide to Pumpkin Season

Editor’s Note: This is the lastest ediction of my biweekly column for The Suffolk Times and Riverhead News-Review. They’re coming! They’re coming! Hide in your homes. Actually, they are already here and they aren’t nearly as bad as I’m probably making them sound. Who am I complaining about — while simultaneously mocking them just a bit? The pumpkin-pickers. The day-trippers from points west looking for a good old-fashioned day in the “country” with their families. I like to joke about them and, yes, I do complain about them now and again, but I have a decidedly love-hate relationship with them. On…

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Weekly New York Wine News — October 6, 2015

Cider continues to surge, a couple of sad passings, new and mature wine trails and news of New York wines in the other 49 states… NEWS WHAM – 9/16/2015 Casa Larga co-founder Ann Colaruotolo recently passed away after an extended illness. Napa Valley Register – 9/17/2015 Dan Berger and Tom Wark talk hard cider, and upstate New York juice is found to be fascinating. Facebook – 9/28/2015 The Finger Lakes lose another long-time fixture at Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery, with the death of winemaker Stephen Whitlock. Crain’s New York Business – 9/30/2015 Opinion: New York Farm Winery legislation was a progressive boon to…

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Michael and Yancey Migliore Break Ground Again

“In constant motion” is the best phrase I can use to describe the dynamic team of Michael Migliore and Yancey Stanforth-Migliore, founders and owners of Whitecliff Vineyard and Winery. I was lucky enough to catch them in the same room long enough to snap this picture. It has been more than three decades since they broke ground on their vineyard in Gardiner, NY and now they have something new and exciting on the horizon.

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New York Cork Club: October 2015 Selections

The October 2015 wines for the New York Cork Club will be on there way soon, so it’s time to give you peek at the picks. (If you missed our announcement about the rebirth of New York Cork Club, check it out here.) The 2015 grape harvest season continues. Just about all of the white wine grapes are in across the state and now growers are deciding what they should do with their red wine grapes — pick before the heavy rains that could come with Hurricane Joaquin, or wait it out and hope for the best? I’m glad they have make those…

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Roanoke Vineyards 2012 Gabby’s Cabernet Franc

Roanoke Vineyards 2012 Gabby’s Cabernet Franc ($43) shows the ripeness of the vintage, but is a standout for its elegant intensity and early complexity. A blend of cab franc grown in a part of Roanoke’s estate vineyard known as “Gabby’s rows” because Pisacano family patriarch Gabby Pisacano manages them along with 17% merlot and 1% petit verdot, it offers a spicy and slightly herbal – in a good way – nose with layers of sweet black cherry and blackberry with subtle but distinct minty-licorice notes and high-toned floral aromas. Pretty and fresh on the medium-bodied palate, mixed berries lead the way…

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