Aromas of sweet candied lemons and and dried apricots lead into an extremely fruity palate oozing with lemon and peach candy and just a hint of foxiness. Though off-dry (2.5% RS), crunchy acidity (9 g/L) brings solid balance. Simple and somewhat short, but refreshing and well-priced at $10. Producer: Hunt Country Vineyards AVA: Finger Lakes ABV: 12% Price: $10* (2.5 out of 5, Average-to-Very Good)
Collaboration beers are hot right now. It seems like I can find a handful of them at each of my local beer shops. Breweries large and small are teaming up to brew some unique, interesting, and often delicious beers. The idea of two (or more) brewers coming together to create something new isn’t reserved for big, well-distributed brands either. About a year ago Greenport Harbor Brewing and Southampton Publick House brewed a Strong Ryland Pale Ale together and more recently Blind Bat Brewery and Long Ireland Beer Company brewed a saison together. Today, I’m excited to announce a different kind…
I seem to have built up a backlog of chardonnays that need to make their way to the NYCR tasting table. So, over the next couple of weeks, you can expect it to be a focus of reviews — along with some roses, some newly released summer whites and some other wines, of course. We’ll start the chardonnay parade with this Macari Vineyards 2009 Estate Chardonnay ($19) fermented in stainless steel, but showing some interesting lees characteristics on a nose dominated by juicy pear, pineapple and green tea. The nutty, slightly yeasty lees quality is bit more pronounced on the dry, snappy,…
Beer and cheese make a perfect pair. I have said it many, many times here at the NYCR, behind the counter at a cheese shop, and talking with other cheese geeks. It is pretty universal that when these two are brought together, there is an opportunity for good things to happen. As the Specialty Products Coordinator for Whole Food Market, Chris Manca takes concepts such as beer and cheese together, develops them, and finds a way to make a product from them. With the plethora of local artisans and producers in the Northeast, what better way to celebrate this than by…
On the first night that acclaimed restaurant Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine was open during Finger Lakes Restaurant Week, owner Bob Stack found that nearly half his customers had ordered the all-local Restaurant Week menu. Some of those customers had come specifically for the event; others hadn’t known, but were eager to try the chef’s special hyper-local creations when given the option. “We’re off to a wonderful start,” Stack told me as we finished our meal on the deck overlooking Seneca Lake. “We’re very curious to find out how other restaurants are doing with it. We think it’s a great idea.”…
Editor’s Note: The story was written by our friend Alan Wax and published on his blog Corks, Caps and Taps. No. 1260239. This number means everything to Mike Voight and Donavan Hall, principals of Long Island’s Rocky Point Artisan Brewers. It’s the serial number on their just-granted New York State microbrewery license. The brewery submitted its application on Jan. 3 and five months and 20 days later, it became a realty on June 20. The project has been in the works for three years. “It just took so long,” Hall told Corks, Caps and Taps. “They kept giving us so many…
David Page had his Newton-apple-falling-on-the-head moment in the basement bowels of a New York City restaurant. A chef by trade, he and his wife, Barbara Shinn, traveled east from California and washed into New York City in 1990. By 1993, they had scrounged enough money together to open Home restaurant, a rustic, cozy place that celebrates traditional American cuisine. Soon, their 60-seat restaurant (30 inside, 30 outside) was jammed to the gills with adoring fans feasting on Skillet Fried Chicken, Whole Grilled Trout and the like. Another restaurant would follow (Drovers Tap Room), a cookbook, prospects of more businesses in the neighborhood…it…
Miguel Martin, Spanish-born winemaker at Palmer Vineyards, flies under the radar. Instead of grabbing headlines or a lot of attention, he simply works hard in the vineyard and cellar to not only produce impressives wines from the grapes you’d expect on the North Fork — grapes like cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc and pinot blanc — but also from those you might not expect, like New York’s first Albarino, which he introduced last spring. With Palmer Vineyards 2011 Aromatico ($25 per 500-ml bottle), Miguel adds to the unexpected end of roster. A blend of 72% muscat canelli and 28% malvasia, you…
My husband is a pretty low energy guy. Mets baseball (even when they stink), air conditioning, and sleeping later than 7 a.m. are pretty much all he needs in a weekend. He’s not loud or hyper or excitable about most things. So when you spy the pair of us in late June do-si-doing around a gravel covered parking lot, high fiving and screeching like six year olds on a roller coaster, you have to know the inspiration for our behavior must be pretty damn special. We didn’t hit the Mega Millions. It’s something better. I present to you: The Blueberry Cream Pie from Briermere Farms…
Charles and Ursula, owners of Paumanok Vineyards are excited to partner with Philippe Massoud, Executive Chef and Proprietor of ilili (and Charles’ nephew), to host the Second Annual Lamb Roast event at Paumanok on July 3 at 7 .m. Philippe and Chef de Cuisine Erik Osol and their team will prepare a family-style (shared platters), sit-down dinner. The tentative menu is listed below. Of course, it will all be accompanied by Paumanok wines. Assorted Lebanese Mezza Home Made Yogurt Cheese Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes and Seasonal Onions Foster Farm, Purslane and Lebanese Thyme Salad, Lebanese Green Olives Grilled Okra Salad Roasted Whole Lamb Lamb Stuffed…