Posts Written ByLenn Thompson

Moving to The Cork Report

When I launched this site, it was because there was very little being written about the Long Island (and eventually New York) wines I was discovering and falling in love with. If there had been something like the NYCR already out there, it’s doubtful that I would have started the blog at all. But, other than Howard Goldberg’s weekly column in the Long Island section of the New York Times, virtually nobody was writing about Long Island wine — at least not in a compelling, authoritative way. When I started writing about wines from the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley and…

Gone Fishing: Stepping Away From the Blog for the Summer

The New York Cork Report is taking a summer sabbatical. A hiatus. Just some time away. I created this site more than 12 years ago, publishing stories at least a couple times a week and other than a week off here and there — for family vacations — I haven’t stopped. The blogging and publishing world has changed a lot since I began. My life has too. So, it’s time to enjoy my summer with my family and figure out what comes next. This doesn’t mean I won’t be writing and discovering new deliciousness in New York and beyond. I’m still…

Corks of the Forks: There’s (Good) Wine in the Mountains of Vermont

I just got back from three days immersed in the Vermont craft beverage world as part of my annual TasteCamp conference.  I started it in 2009 right here on Long Island and we’ve visited wine regions like Northern Virginia, Niagara (both sides of the border), the Finger Lakes, Quebec and the Hudson Valley since. Typically, I’m joined by 30-40 fellow writers and members of the wine trade. The idea is to taste as much as we can and meet as many brewers, winemakers, growers and other fermentation-ists as possible. It’s not a junket, either. We all pay our own way.…

SPONSORED: 2016 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival | June 25 & 26

The 2016 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival is coming up in just a couple of weeks — and it’s looking to be a great event that features wine and other products from across the state. “This festival celebrates the bounty of amazing craft beverages and locally made foods that New York has to offer and we’re not short on vendors for this year’s event,” said Owner Sasha Pardy. The vendor list for the 2016 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival includes 21 wineries, 4 breweries, 4 distilleries, 2 cideries, 19 artisan food vendors, 6 food / beverage trucks, 1 local restaurant…

New York Cork Club: June 2016 Selections

  A couple months ago I was able to squeeze a four-day visit to the Finger Lakes into my chaotic work and family schedule. My family and I visit the region often, but it had been several years since I was able to get there by myself to focus solely on tasting — both barrel and tank samples as well as finished wines. This month’s picks are a direct result of those tastings. So many wines stood out (including the Red Tail Ridge riesling from last month’s shipment) that I’m battling the urge to just send you Finger Lakes wines for…

TasteCamp 2016: Vermont Sponsors

TasteCamp 2016: Vermont kicks off on Friday with a visit to la garagista in Barnard, Vermont. We’ll have nearly 40 writers and wine trade members who will be descending upon Vermont for the long weekend and I personally can’t remember being more excited for an edition of the immersive experience that I created back in 2009. This isn’t a junket. Our attendees pay their own way, but local sponsorships do enable us to keep costs down and cover transportation costs. I know I can speak for the rest of the planning committee when I say that TasteCamp 2016: Vermont wouldn’t b…

Coming in June: The Cork Report’s 2015 Eastern Rosé Tasting

New York wine remains the core of this website, but — as you’ve probably noticed — I’ve started to stretch my legs a bit. I’ve been learning about and tasting wines from other eastern states, which I’m arbitrarily defining as any state that isn’t California, Oregon or Washington, more. My time organizing TasteCamp up and down the east coast, as well as my time on the Drink Local Wine board, taught me something: there are some seriously delicious wines made in places even a local wine advocate might not expect — places like New Jersey, Connecticut, Colorado, Michigan, Virginia, Vermont,…

From the Archives: Finger Lakes Flooding Leaves Devastation but Minimal Impact on Wine Industry

Photo Courtesy of Miles Wine Cellars Facebook Page Editor’s Note: On most Thursdays — call them Throwback Thursday if you’d like — we’ll pull a story from the more than a decade of NYCR and republish it. This week’s “From the Archives” was written by Evan Dawson and Paul Zorovich, and covers flooding in the Finger Lakes two years ago. On Tuesday night, May 13, northern Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes was hit with the most severe storms it’s had since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Reports say that between 4 and 9 inches of rain fell, coming largely in two waves…

Pearmund Cellars 2015 Petit Manseng

Petit Manseng isn’t a grape that I know a whole lot about. I know it’s mostly grown in southern France and that it can get very ripe while retaining a lot of acidity — and thus is often made in a sweeter, even dessert, style to balance that acidity. I also know that it’s gaining some traction in the Virginia wine industry. Retaining acidity is always a plus in a region where summers can get very warm. But its thick skins and loose clusters also help in a region that deals with humidity, heavy rain and hurricanes. With high brix levels (and…