Browsing CategoryWhat We Drank

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

What We Drank (February 15, 2012)

Here is a sampling of what our editors and contributors have been drinking…. Evan Dawson: Standing Stone Vineyards 1995 Riesling and 1994 Pinnacle The first question when encountering wines of this age is simple: Are they alive? The next question is more complicated: Are they any good? It was a tremendous pleasure to drink the ’95 Riesling, which takes its place in my memory alongside the Hermann J. Wiemer 1994 Riesling as some of the best riesling I’ve ever had from this region. It’s the kind of wine that is difficult to describe for those who haven’t tasted mature wines.…

What We Drank (January 11, 2012)

This is a sampling of what our contributors have been drinking… Evan Dawson: Cold Heaven Cellars 2009 Viogniers This weekend we opened a pair of viogniers from a California winemaker uniquely devoted to the grape. I had a chance to talk to Morgan Clendenen at length about her work, and I can tell you that her wines match her rhetoric. She knows what she likes, and she knows how to deliver it. Clendenen feels that viognier can be spellbinding, but it can also easily become fat and hot. She loves a carefully made wine from Condrieu, the grape's ancestral home…

What We Drank (January 4, 2012)

Here is a smattering of what our contributors were drinking over the holidays… Lenn Thompson: Troeg's Brewery Perpetual IPASometimes, a brewery's top-flight reputation can almost be a hindrance. Troeg's Brewery is one of my favorite east coast breweries. Of course they brew one of my all-time faovrites — Nugget Netcar — but all of their stuff is good, even the stuff made in styles that I don't typically reach for. So when I saw this for the first time on my local beer shop's shelf on New Year's Eve, I grabbed it without thinking. My instincts told me that Troeg's…