Posts Written ByLenn Thompson

From the Archives: Some Finger Lakes Wineries Favor Synthetic Corks for Their Best Wines. Should They?

Editor’s Note: Every Thursday — call it Throwback Thursday if you’d like — we’ll pull a story from the more than a decade of NYCR stories and republish it. This week, I pulled a story that managing editor Evan Dawson and science editor Tom Mansell teamed up for about synthetic closures in the Finger Lakes.    Serious wine consumers are not, generally speaking, fans of synthetic cork. Most recoil at the sight of a plastic cork being pulled from a bottle they had otherwise been excited to open. Is this bias unfair? Maybe. Companies are working to improve the quality of synthetic…

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Shinn Estate Vineyards 2014 “Mojo” Cabernet Franc

I don’t want to jinx it, but it seems like Long Island winemakers have largely moved beyond the days of treating cabernet franc like cabernet sauvignon. Most winemakers really scaled back the amount of new oak they are using and are allowing cabernet franc be cabernet franc. They aren’t trying to beat all of the “green” out of the variety as often and as a result very few wood-and-chocolate-and-vanilla-dominated cabernet francs have crossed my tasting table over the past year. A handful of wineries put out unoaked versions now, and Shinn Estate Vineyards — long growers and makers of some of the best local…

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Get the Best New York Wine Delivered to Your Door — The New York Cork Club

If you read this blog, you’re obviously interested in New York wine. But, depending on where you live, you may not have ready access to very much of it. If that’s you, we’ve got the solution. We’ve partnered with The Cellar d’Or — a great wine and cider shop in Ithaca, NY — for the New York Cork Club. Every month, I pick two great New York wines and they are delivered to your door. The wine itself never exceeds $50 for those two bottles (shipping costs vary) and by joining, you’ll get everything from classic wines from the top wineries in…

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Lieb Cellars 2013 Reserve Sparkling Rose

When a winery adds a new wine to its portfolio, I’m always curious how that happens. What’s the thought process? Is it to meet a real or perceived customer demand? Is it because there is some extra fruit that isn’t accounted for? So I asked Lieb Cellars general manager Ami Opisso how Lieb Cellars 2013 Reserve Sparkling Rose ($35) made its way into the winery’s portfolio. She told me “The simple answer is that we’ve been making what we like to drink.” It’s hard to argue with that thought process. Each summer, the Lieb management team gets together — before…

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Uncork the Forks: Making the Case for Merlot

Long Island merlot has and always will have a place in my cellar and in my glass. I drink it a few times a week, usually with dinner. It’s dependable and consistently good — even in all but the most horrid of vintages. For many, that’s the point. That’s why so much of it is planted in the ground and why several producers have hung their hats on a grape that isn’t very sexy these days. One local writer has gone so far as to say, “Merlots are now considered the highest expression of the Long Island appellation.” I’m not…

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From the Archives: Fermentation Winespeak

Editor’s Note: Every Thursday — call it Throwback Thursday if you’d like — we’ll pull a story from the more than a decade of NYCR stories and republish it. This week, I chose one of science editor Tom Mansell‘s great references pieces “Fermentation Winespeak.” Have you ever smelled grape juice? Not Concord or Niagara juice but grape must that’s about to become wine? It doesn’t smell like much. It’s kind of like fresh mown grass. How does this relatively un-aromatic juice evolve into complex, aromatic wine? Most everybody’s grapes are in (except for the ice wine grapes) and it’s now time for…

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New York Cork Club: November 2015 Selections

The November 2015 wines for the New York Cork Club will be shipping out to our members soon — so it’s time to give you peek at the picks. Harvest 2015 has mostly wound down across the state with many winemakers pressing off the last of their reds over the next couple of weeks. I’m looking ahead — to Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday and it is that holiday that inspired this month’s wine picks. Both are great picks for a diverse, turkey-focused dinner and they will both be served at the dinner I’ll be hosting with my family. Paumanok Vineyard 2014…

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Billsboro Winery 2012 Cabernet Franc

Billsboro Winery 2012 Cabernet Franc ($25) is ripe and fruit-forward on the nose with cherry and plum aromas that stay this side of jammy and accents of tobacco, baking spice and dried herbs. The first sip is a bit disjointed and almost comes across as hot (an indicator of higher alcohol that isn’t balanced) but with some air that fades and this medium-bodied, ripe-but-not-too-ripe red settles in with red and black fruit notes that are tinged by toasty vanilla oak-born spice and a bit of brown sugar. Structure is provided by juicy acidity rather than the tannins, which are soft and rounded. On…

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Roanoke Vineyards 2014 “NoFi” Rose

  There have been a lot of rosé reviews on the site this week. That may seem odd if you treat rosé simply as a summer sipper. At NYCR global headquarters, rosé is a year-round libation. We just drink different examples this time of year. Now that the weather has cooled, I find myself using my oven more, and whether I’m roasting a chicken, roasting some winter squash or cooking a pork shoulder for 10 hours like I did last weekend, richer, fuller-bodied rosés really fit the bill. They have enough weight to stand up flavor-wise, but are still fresh, with that lively…

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Macari Vineyards 2014 Rose

Macari Vineyards 2014 Rose ($16), may be a bit of a kitchen sink of a wine, made with 49% merlot, 17% cabernet franc, 17% cabernet sauvignon, 10% chardonnay, 5% malbec and 2% viognier, but this dry, light pink wine is also fresh and delicious. On the paler side of local rose — not that it matters at all — it offers scents of citrus and citrus blossom, wild strawberry and watermelon with a little underlying earthiness as it warms. There’s more strawberry and citrus on the bright, balanced palate — but also a distinct peachy note. There’s good acidity but also a gently…

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