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Some Personal Observations on Long Island Wine’s 40th Anniversary

  This year Long Island wine is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first vinifera grape plantings by Louisa and Alex Hargrave that kicked off the Long Island wine region.  As one who arrived very late to Long Island Wine some ten years ago, my perspective is somewhat different than that of the wine professionals and writers who have watched the evolution of wine making on Long Island over the past 40 years and the establishment of a solid wine region that today is acknowledged as producing both outstanding and unique wines. Although I was raised and educated in Northeastern Pennsylvania,…

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What Bottles are We Really Laying Down? A Brief Look at My Cellar

This is going to be a strange way to contact someone who owes you wine, but Kim Aliperti, Lenn and I would like to finally collect on our case. I was thinking about laying Finger Lakes wine down the other day and it occurred to me: Lenn and I went in together on a case of Billsboro Winery 2008 Riesling. That wine happened to be our first-ever Finger Lakes White Wine of the Year, and deservedly so. It’s wonderful. Lenn and I thought it was the right kind of wine to cellar. Here’s the odd part: I’m reasonably sure that we paid…

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New Series: Celebrating 40 Years of Long Island Wine

Long Island wine country turns 40 this year and some of the writers who write about the region most often — people like Howard Goldberg and Eileen Duffy — have already written pieces to mark the occasion. Mostly, they examine the region’s evolution and current state. That makes a lot of sense of course — we often look back on birthdays. But I’ve struggled for the past week or two to figure out how I’d mark the occasion here on the site. You see, I’ve felt a special connection to Long Island wine almost from the day I moved here more than…

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A Handful of Food, Wine and Spirits Resolutions for 2013

I’m not big on traditional New Years resolutions. Sure, I know that I could stand to lose a few — okay, 20 — pounds. I need to eat better. I need to exercise more. It’d be good if I watched less TV and read more books. Oh, and of course I’d like to find (make?) more time for writing as well. Those aren’t really resolutions though. That’d just setting myself up to fail. I will work to do all of those things though. Really. I will. I do like to have somewhat-more-formal goals when it comes to my food and…

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Will Lack of a United Front Make Fracking Likely in the Finger Lakes?

Don’t look now, but I think hydraulic fracturing — known as fracking — is coming to New York. For some background on fracking, I’d encourage you to read some of our previous coverage: DEC Defends Hydrofracking, but Opponents Worry About Impacts on Finger Lakes Wine Industry (December 2009) Op-Ed: “Fracking: The Most Urgent Issue in the Finger Lakes Wine Industry” Art Hunt, Owner, Hunt Country Vineyards (April 2011) Fracking: Big Questions Still Remain (July 2011) Opposition to Hydraulic Fracturing in the Finger Lakes (By John Ingle, Heron Hill Winery) (November 2011) Fracking Debate: Energy CEO Admits PR Mistakes, But Opponents…

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Thanksgiving: What the New York Wine Community is Drinking

If you’re new to this site, you may not know this, but we don’t really believe in “Thanksgiving Columns” around these parts — at least not in the traditional drink-this-because-it’s-perfect-with-Thanksgiving-dinner sense. I won’t bore you with my full argument against these popular (with writers, anyway) wine-writing crutches, but I’ll offer a brief, two-pronged reason why I personally dislike them and find them useless: Read 10 of these columns and you’ll get 10 sets of advice This fact kinda, sorta means that there is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ anything when it comes to Thanksgiving wines So, instead of telling…

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New York Wines in China: Final Thoughts… and Our First Orders

When a California winery opens its doors for business, they can sweep their arms over the map of the entire United States and know that they are welcome in any of the fifty states.  They aren’t the “local” wine, it’s a given that the wine will be competently made and meet the consumer’s expectations.  Indeed, the majority of consumer’s expectations are actually defined by the profile of California wines — and it’s when East Coast wineries try too hard to be like their California rivals is when they fail themselves and their customers. When a New York winery opens its doors for…

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Community Matters: What’s 5 Hours of Hand Sorting Between Friends?

Almost a week later, I still have purple stains under my finger nails and my back still spasms a bit if I stand just so. It’s simple math, really — take a 6’3″ out-of-shape guy, make him bend over a sorting table for five hours and you’re virtually guaranteed these sorts of short-term annoyances. But, standing at that table, hands cold and sticky with sweet cabernet franc juice and pulp, plucking green stems (and a little rot here and there) from the belt, talking about everything from the latest presidential debate to school lunches to harvesting chickens, with a group…

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What We Drank (October 23, 2012)

Here’s a look at what our contributors have been drinking… Katie Myers: Chateau Pradeaux 2006 Bandol Rosé I love fall. But with the weather still fairly warm and produce aplenty, I’m clinging to the last vestiges of summer. This 2006 Chateau Pradeaux rosé is a great transitional wine. I briefly visited Provence this summer and was reminded of the cardinal rule of Bandol wines: they must be aged. Usually big and bold, they need a bit of time to mellow before approaching (kind-of like some people, now that I think of it). This rule holds true for rosés as well – given a chance, the often assertive…

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New York Wines in China: Opportunities, Challenges and a Unique Education

Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Jim Silver, general manager of Peconic Bay Winery and Empire State Cellars, will fly to China as part of a delegation set to represent and eventually sell New York wines there. While he’s there, he will be publishing a travel diary here on the New York Cork Report. I asked him to introduce that diary before he left. Bloomberg reports that the Chinese Gross Domestic Product grew 7.6% in the third quarter of this year over last year. The same report considers that a “drag from inventory restocking…” One has to wonder what they would consider robust growth. Sparing…

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