By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor Honestly, I drink them all year, but with the weather we've been experiencing, we are decidedly in the midst of cabernet franc season at my house. A combination of the weather cooling and the changing local, seasonal vegetables available have meant more root vegetables, more stews, and more roasts on our dinner table. As a franc fanatic, I often reach for cabernet franc with these foods. Rooster Hill Vineyards 2009 Cabernet Franc ($25) is a wine made for rich foods, particularly those with bacon or another smokey element. Red cherries and pomegranate molasses aromas are…
Browsing CategoryNew York
Readers Write: Introducing My Midwestern Parents to the North Fork of Long Island
By Tracy Weiss (@northforkd) Last weekend, I attempted to show my persnickety midwestern parents the glory that is the North Fork of Long Island. But given their track record, I was a little nervous. They find fault in every place they visit: New York City is busy, overpriced and filthy with too many people. (Exactly why other people love it!) Chicago is too windy. (Hence the nickname?) Florida, the whole state, is humid and everyone drives too slowly. (I’m with them on this one.) As far as I am concerned, the North Fork is perfection. My first visit left me…
CaryMo Chocolate: Where Decadence, Artistry and Creativity Meet
By Rochelle Bilow, Finger Lakes Food Correspondent I guess I had envisioned that chocolate making would be a quiet, relaxing sort of activity, zen-like and leisurely this past Saturday morning. But there we were, half an hour into it at 9:30, and the noise in the kitchen was so deafening you could’ve convinced me a train was running straight through the vineyard down below. Cary Becraft had agreed to give me a lesson in dark chocolate technique at her production kitchen at Anthony Road Wine Company, where her husband, Peter, is Assistant Winemaker. I’d had an inkling of what goes…
Kicking Off “Found in the Cellar”: Jason’s Vineyard 2001 Chardonnay
By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor I recently spent what most sane people would consider an inordinate amount of time reorganizing my wine cellar. In doing so, I found a number of wines that I had forgotten I had. Some of these 'lost' wines weren't really lost at all — I hid them from myself so that I wouldn't drink them. But, I also discovered quite a few bottles that I simply forgot that I had. Those wines are the inspiration behind what I hope becomes a near-weekly feature here on the site, "Found in the Cellar," which will feature posts…
Video: Evan Dawson on Local Wine Lists — in Barbaresco and in the Finger Lakes
Naked Dove Oktoberfest is Shoe-Slappin’ good
By Mark Tichenor, Rochester Beer Correspondent It’s still a bit confusing to everybody, even the Germans. Oktoberfest is named for October, but takes place in mid-September. And craft breweries usually have their Oktoberfest-style beers ready by the beginning of August. Canandaigua New York’s Naked Dove Brewing Company is blithely tardy, waiting until the end of beer-tent season to release their Oktoberfest. It’s a crafty move for a beer that deserves to be enjoyed apart from the pack. Oktoberfest beers are as subtle as a kick in the Lederhosen: heavy, strong lagers with negligible hop character and a sweet punch that…
WineBar at The Portly Grape: Well Worth the Drive for Good Food and Local Wine
By Dave Seel, Long Island Food Correspondent My recent trip to WineBar was certainly a drive — it's out in Greenport after all — but checking out the new hybrid wine bar and tasting room inside the Portly Grape had been on my to-do list for a while. Managed by former Bedell Cellars tasting room manager, Andrew Mestler, the WineBar occupies a large backyard tent in the summer months and the bar and lounge of the Portly Grape in the winter. After working at Bedell and seeing the growth of the North Fork wine industry, he jumped at the chance…
Vineyard Visuals: Freedom Run Winery Drying Grapes for Appassimento wines
By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Editor Here are a couple pictures of Larry Manning from Freedom Run Winery as he prepares racks of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot grapes that will air dry in the estate’s 190-year old barn for their second vintage Appassimento-style wine.
Most Demanding Vintage Ever? Sounds Like Hyperbole, but in the Finger Lakes, 2011 Just Might Be
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Photos courtesy Lakewood Vineyards. Above: Vineyard Manager Dave Stamp rides the harvester on a gloomy harvest day. Below: Early October riesling grapes at Lakewood showed clean fruit with occasional affected berries Up and down Seneca Lake, no one was sleeping. No one was going home. After weeks of slowly building rot among the vines, the rains departed and the sun had gloriously returned. It was the 10th day of October, and this was the window, the chance, the opportunity to do the work and pull the 2011 vintage out of the fires of rot…
Horseheads Brewing Company Brings the Heat
By Julia Burke, Beer Editor Little Horseheads Brewing, located an hour from Ithaca in beautiful Horseheads, New York, might be the state's hottest brewery — literally. I made a visit for the first time last week after drooling for months over tales from my festival-going beer friends about an enigmatic “chili pepper beer” that was so balanced, so smooth, and yet so spicy it could please both session drinkers and spice fiends like myself. A sample at the charming brewery showed off Horseheads's brewing prowess, especially since it was just one of several oustanding beers on tap. The brewery’s low-key…