Posts Written ByPaul Zorovich

At Stever Hill Vineyards, New Ownership Tries to Rebuild the Brand

How do you change a longstanding reputation? Don Tones is trying to answer that question. The name Stever Hill Vineyards may be unfamiliar to readers of this site. Located on the western side of Keuka Lake, the winery has a reputation for sweet, lower-quality wines. In 2012, though, the Tones family bought Stever Hill Vineyards with an eye toward turning things around. The Tones family has been growing grapes in the region for generations, and multiple generations of the family are currently involved in winery operations — owners Don, Harold, and Jim, Don’s daughter Liz Sprague and son Mike, and nephew…

Some Highlights from NY Drinks NY

If you have a cold, it’s basically impossible to taste wine, or anything else for that matter. I got a message from Lenn that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the NY Drinks NY event at the Astor Center in New York City on March 17 because he’d developed a nasty cough and sore throat. He’d planned to attend the afternoon sessions — seminars on single-vineyard rieslings, cabernet franc across the state (no surprise that he wanted to go to that one, if you know him), and Long Island sustainability — and then we were going to meet…