Browsing CategoryLong Island

Peconic Bay Winery 2009 “La Barrique” Chardonnay

Yes, another North Fork chardonnay. A barrel-fermented one at that — thus the name “La Barrique.” But wait. It’s not what you think. This is the rare barrel-affected chardonnay that I willingly went back to after my tasting was finished. I had two glasses, in fact. It almost makes me hate winemaker Greg Gove for proving my boredom over local chardonnay wrong. Aromas of pineapple, Golden Delicious apple, vanilla, and lemon verbena are accented by just a hint of butter. Overly toasty or raw oak just isn’t part of the equation. Mouth-filling but very well balanced, the palate shows similar…

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7 Questions with….Regan Meador, Assistant Winemaker, Osprey’s Dominion Winery

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor I have yet to meet Regan Meador, assistant winemaker at Osprey’s Dominion Winery — in person at least. As is so common these days, he and I got acquainted via Twitter before he left his white collar job in Manhattan for good and moved to the North Fork to make wine. We keep saying that we’re going to meet up for a glass or a pint or five, but it hasn’t happened yet. In the interim, I’ve asked him our standard set of seven questions… What event/bottle/etc made you decide that you wanted to be…

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A Visit to C’est Cheese (Port Jefferson, NY)

By Aaron Estes, Cheese Editor Artisanal cheese has made its way to the forefront of the local food movement. Farmstead cheesemakers elevate the milk from their farms, and the rock star cheesemonger expounds upon the history, the background, and unique qualities of that particular cheese. So what is the best way to accomplish this? Specialty cheese shops are all over New York City and surrounding areas to bring a piece of the farm to your table, but is that enough to distinguish one shop from another? If the quality of the product is essentially the same across the board, and…

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The New York Cork Report Tasting Table — January 4, 2012

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor This is the last "Tasting Table" that we'll publish here on the NYCR. Going forward, wines like these will each be reviewed as standalone posts. This is a long edition, but I wanted to get caught up a bit in the tasting notebook and start anew before we get too far into 2012. Atwater Vineyards 2008 Vidal Blanc ($14*): Crisp Granny Smith apple and green melon aromas. Juicy, fresh palate with loads of green apple and pear flavors. Acidity provides good cut and balances the RS well. Simple but snappy and delicious. Bloomer Creek Vineyards…

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Roanoke Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor Merlot dominates the Long Island wine landscape. It is the most-planted grape and the one that many wineries have built their red wine programs around — and with good reason. It ripens dependably and leads to some of the North Fork's best wines. Roanoke Vineyards makes merlot too of course — often very good merlot — but over time they've built a reputation for the consistent dependability and quality of their cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, as well as blends based on those two grapes. There aren't many local cabernet sauvignon bottlings that I can…

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Tasting The Season’s Harvest: Peconic Bay Scallops & the Southold Fish Market`

By Dave Seel, Long Island Food Correspondent It was a mild grey New Year’s Eve when our car pulled into the dirt parking lot of the Southold Fish Market. Out past the fish market’s docks, the water of Southold Bay was calm and glassy as several gulls and a snowy egret flapped across the pristine surface. We had come to sample a local seafood favorite harvested from those very waters: Peconic Bay Scallops. There are few places to get them as fresh as The Southold Fish Market. Stepping into the small market, there were locals lined up to grab all…

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Tap and Barrel Micropub (Smithtown, NY)

By Donavan Hall, Long Island Beer Correspondent I had arrived at Tap & Barrel just a few minutes before Rich Thatcher, long enough to have studied the menu of 52 tap offerings — well, it was 51 that night. Nothing was on tap #42. I had asked the bartender if the absence of a beer on tap number 42 had any special significance. 42 is just one of those special numbers. Just saying “forty-two” can conjure up whole worlds, universes even, in the imagination. Locked inside that number are the deep mysteries of life, the universe, and everything. To contemplate…

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Anthony Nappa Wines 2010 “Spezia” Gewurztraminer

We get back to regular programming post-holidays with one of the wines I enjoyed most during our brief hiatus — Anthony Nappa Wines 2010 Spezia ($18) a gewurztraminer for gewurztraminer lovers. Spezia is Italian for “spice” — and this is a wine that delivers a heaping pile of varietal character. Bursting with complex aromas of tropical fruit, peach, gingery spice, and rose petal the nose also features a grapefruit-spice-herb note that is reminiscent of some heavily-hopped India Pale Ales I’ve enjoyed. Though hefty at 14.6% abv, the dry, mouth-filling palate wears that alcohol well, offering a melange of tropical fruits…

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A NYCR Photo Essay: On Butchering A Local Pig & Making Head Cheese

By Dave Seel, Long Island Food Correspondent. Recently, I had the opportunity to get a pig-butchering lesson at Benner's Farm in Setauket, NY, an educational farm for kids and adults. Benner's Farm is a working farm and the slaughtering of a pig around November is an annual occurence. They don't sell meat to the public, so it is solely used by the family. Because I'm is a self-proclaimed food dork and was intrigued with the whole process, I was lucky enough to come home with the pig's head and two pork chops after my lesson was complete. From there, I…

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Comtesse Therese 2010 Sauvignon Blanc

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor For years, Comtesse Therese and its owner-winemaker Theresa Dilworth produced mostly red wines, with a chardonnay made in Russian oak the lone white. In 2009 that changed when Dilworth added sauvignon blanc to the portfolio. That first wine was a bit underwhelming, but the Comtesse Therese 2010 Sauvignon Blanc ($28) is a completely different story and wine. Two-thirds of the fruit that went into this wine was grown at Palmer Vineyards, with the remaining third coming from Dilworth's own vineyard. Only 95 cases were made. Melon rind and citrus — white grapefruit and lemon —…

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