Browsing CategoryFeatures

What Do YOU Want from NYCR? We Want to Hear From You.

To be a better writer, I’ve always thought that you need to be an avid reader. So, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time of late reading books written by some of my favorite wine writers — people like Terry Thiese, Jamie Goode, Hugh Johnson and Eric Asimov. I’ve also been obsessively listening to I’ll Drink to That! a podcast by Levi Dalton that is fantastic. He sits down with some of the best and brightest in the wine world and they talk about a wide array of topics — everything from living in Champagne to counterfeit wines to opening a…

Continue Reading

What We Drank (October 16, 2012)

This is a sampling of what our editors and contributors have been drinking. Amy Zavatto: Eve’s Cidery “Bittersweet” Call me trendy: Tried Eve’s Cider’s “Bittersweet” at Brooklyn Oenology and walked out of there with a bottle. If this is what cider can be, sign me up — zippy, snappy apple nose. On the palate, the dry, crisp mouthfeel fills out mid-palate into something juicier and fresh; truly the flavor of just-picked sweet-tart apple, but right before it could go over the top, the flavors reign themselves in, leaving you with a bone-dry finish. Roast pork loin, please. Mark Grimaldi: Brick House…

Continue Reading

Empire State Cellars Wine Club: November 2012 Selections

The November shipment of the Empire State Cellars Wine Club will ship in a couple weeks, but — as always — I’m excited to share the selections with you. If you’re not familiar with the club, you can learn more here. “Hello New York” Wines Lamoreaux Landing 2011 Gruner Veltliner: It’s exciting to include this relatively new grape to New York, and Lamoreaux Landing’s first commercial release of it. Dry and refreshing, it shows aloe, white pepper, lemon-lime citrus, and green herbs — with just a hint of salinity. Roanoke Vineyards 2010 BOND: Some complain about the lack of quality “table wines”…

Continue Reading

What We Drank (October 11, 2012)

This is what our editors and contributors have been drinking… David Flaherty: Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam Bière  Whenever I can get my hands on this stuff, I do, because Jolly Pumpkin is some beer out of left field — no, I take that back, this is some beer from under the bleachers in left field where the circus freaks hang out. And I do enjoy a good circus freak. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it: there is some wild s%&t coming out of Dexter, Michigan (population <3,000).  It must be the cold winters; the fact that creative…

Continue Reading

Judgement Day: Is There Mettle Behind the Medals?

This holiday weekend, when you belly up to the tasting bars of your favorite local wineries — or any given winery, really — inevitably you will see on display bottles draped in shiny heavy medallions of bronze, silver, and gold. Annual beribboned medals of merit, glinting under lights positioned just so to draw your eye to their shiny pomp and circumstance. Tasting notes on flight sheets further explain the sight — this one won a silver, this one a double gold. And every now and again, you find the goose with the golden egg: The coveted Governor’s Cup. But do you ever wonder who…

Continue Reading

A Real Winery’s Tasting Room is Not a Bar… And Other Advice to Get the Most From a Visit to Wine Country

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about this topic. 99% of you know everything I’m about to write. And agree. And act this way. But I still feel compelled to write about it. Why? Maybe it’s because pumpkin-picking season is upon us on Long Island and wine country roads are clogged with local agritourists. Maybe it’s all of the bar-masquerading-as-a-tasting-room stuff I’ve been reading. Or maybe it’s that I’m becoming more and more like my father every day in that I simply expect people to act the right way in every situation — including visiting wine country. Most of the time,…

Continue Reading

What We Drank: August 14, 2012

  Evan Dawson: Huber Winery Sweet Marcella (Indiana) This wine was introduced to me as “the Red Cat of Indiana”. I wasn’t aware that Indiana made much wine, but of course, we know that just about every state is making wine these days. This particular wine is 100% Concord, $9 a bottle, nearly 7% sugar. A glance at the Huber website indicates that it’s certainly not Red Cat in terms of production; Huber makes just over 7,000 cases, perhaps a tenth or less of what Red Cat checks in at annually. Here’s the key question: Is it any good? Not…

Continue Reading

What We Drank: July 24, 2012

Evan Dawson: Leoville Las Cases 1988 Bordeaux One of the more difficult questions for wine lovers is when to open special bottles, and with whom. Perhaps too often we stratify our collection in a way that precludes certain people in our lives from ever having a chance to be at the table when the best bottles are open. Can’t waste a drop, after all! I think this is perfectly fine and understandable, to a point. But maybe you’re like me: You get tired of sharing stories of the great bottles you’ve opened and eventually you just want to share something beautiful with…

Continue Reading

What We Drank: July 17, 2012

This week’s ‘What We Drank’ is short, but delicious. This is what some of our editors and contributors have been drinking…   Tracy Weiss:  Domaine Ricard Touraine 2011 Le P’tit Rosé There’s no other choice really when you throw your cousin a Bachelorette Party on Bastille Day. French, obviously. Something feminine and can hold up to an 87 F-degree day in Manhattan? Think Pink! Loire Valley’s Le P’tit Rosé made a beautiful toast to pending nuptials in more ways than one. The Gamay and Cab Franc blend is rich with a jewel-like tourmaline color and good legs. This biodynamic vineyard near the river Cher…

Continue Reading

What We Drank: July 10, 2012

What We Drank, the series within which we highlight interesting, often non-local libations that find themselves in our glasses, is back after a too-long hiatus. Lenn Thompson: Two Shepherds 2011 Saarloos Vineyards Grenache Blanc Tasting (and drinking) so much New York wine, it’s not every day that I get to taste grenache blanc. It’s even more rare that I get to taste one from California, made by a blogger-turned-winemaker. A few weeks ago, William Allen, the Bermuda native behind Simple Hedonisms and Two Shepherds, visited Long Island wine country and asked me for my recommendations on where he should taste, eat, etc.…

Continue Reading