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New York Cork Report Featured on Grape Collective

Things have been a bit slow here at the NYCR this week. Many of got our kids back to school this week and I think I can speak for the whole team when I say that it’s been hectic. We’ll return to regular programming next week, but in the meantime I realized this morning that I forgot to mention that NYCR was featured as part of Grape Collective’s “Speakeasy” series, wherein contributing editor Jameson Fink (also of Wine Without Worry fame) interviewed me about things ranging from Randall Grahm to Finger Lakes riesling to my affection for craft beer. I…

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Empire State Cellars Wine Club: September 2014 Selections

Harvest season is nearly upon us across New York wine country. In fact, I’ve heard reports of grapes destined for sparkling wine coming in this week. It’s a busy time of year at every winery — and it has been for me too as we worked to finalize this month’s picks. This is a pretty classic ESC club shipment — we focus on the grapes that regions do best as well as some of New York’s top producers. I hope you enjoy the picks as much as my friends and I have of late. “Hello New York” Wines Raphael 2013…

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2015 Wine Bloggers Conference to be Hosted by the Finger Lakes Region

The Wine Bloggers Conference, a yearly event that helped inspire my own annual TasteCamp event — is coming to the Finger Lakes wine region August 13-16, 2015. A great ‘get’ for the region — any group that can get this event off of the west coast deserves kudos — it should bring much-deserved attention to one of the most exciting wine regions in America. A press release from Finger Lakes Wine Country said that organizers are expecting 300 attendees. There will be more information available soon, but in the meantime, here’s that press release: 2015 WINE BLOGGERS CONFERENCE COMING TO FINGER…

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TasteCamp 2014 Invites Writers to Explore Hudson River Valley Wine Country

Today, I’m thrilled to announce that our TasteCamp will take place October 10-12, 2014 and that we’re bringing it back to New York — in the Hudson River Region. Somewhat sandwiched between New York’s two most prominent fine wine regions, the Hudson River Region doesn’t get the attention that it deserves. Historically, the region has been known for the types of sweet, hybrid grape-based wines that appeal to tourists rather than fine wine lovers, but over the past decade that’s changed significantly. Hybrids are still quite common, but through improved viticultural and cellar practices, quality has never been better. And,…

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Empire State Cellars Wine Club: July 2014 Selections

Over the years that I’ve been curating this this wine club, it has been my distinct pleasure to share a great many classic wines from classic New York wineries. We have a bit of that this month, but as I was finalizing the selections, it quickly became apparent that we had a lot of new and not-yet-classic wines and wineries represented. We have New York’s only Trebbiano. We have sparkling wines — one red, one white — that are the first releases of two new labels. And we have two Finger Lakes wineries — Kemmeter Wines and Forge Cellars —…

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Empire State Cellars May 2014 Wine Club Selections

Diversity. That’s my one-word summary for May’s Empire State Cellars Wine Club selections — which really are a celebration of New York’s wine diversity. It would be easy to pick four Finger Lakes rieslings every month, add a couple Long Island merlots, a cab franc and a pinot and call it a day. And there are enough good wines to do that, but that’s not nearly as fun as exploring the hidden corners of New York’s wine regions.  Look for some even more hard-to-get wines in upcoming shipments, but it starts this month. We did include a couple rieslings, but…

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Lieb Cellars to Re-Open Original Tasting Room as “The Tasting Group” Co-Op Tasting Room

This Saturday, Lieb Cellars will re-open its Mattituck tasting room — the one attached to Premium Wine Group — as “The Tasting Group,” a co-op tasting room where visitors can taste the winery’s Bridge Lane line as well as other wines produced at Premium Wine Group, including Bouke Wines, Brooklyn Oenology, Influence Wines, Leo Family Cellars, Surhru Wines and T’Jara Vineyards. From the press release: [box_light] The six non-Lieb producers will showcase up to three wines each; selections will be rotated on a seasonal basis, and producers may be rotated in/out throughout the year to give new Premium Wine Group members a…

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Reminder: #TasteNY With Bellwether Wine Cellars is April 10

Don’t miss the return of #TasteNY — our Twitter-based virtual New York wine tasting event — on Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. We’ll be tasting three wines from Bellwether Wine Cellars, a young label focusing on single-vineyard riesling and pinot noir in the Finger Lakes. You can get the details and find out how to order the wines on our previous post. We’ hope you’ll join us. And, if you’re on Long Island and want to join me when I taste them, let me know. Evan will be hosting a group up in Rochester as well, so if you’re in that area, you…

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Northern Grape Project Webinar Series

Viticulture and winemaking are not static fields of knowledge. They are continually expanding in scope, breadth and depth. It can take a lot of effort for professionals, hobbyists and curious consumers to educate themselves in the many facets of these studies, and stay abreast of new developments. A webinar series sponsored by the Northern Grapes Project is making it a lot easier for folks to stay in the game without having to leave the farm or winery to do it. I’ve attended a number of these webinars over the last couple of years and have found them very valuable in…

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Some Highlights from NY Drinks NY

If you have a cold, it’s basically impossible to taste wine, or anything else for that matter. I got a message from Lenn that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the NY Drinks NY event at the Astor Center in New York City on March 17 because he’d developed a nasty cough and sore throat. He’d planned to attend the afternoon sessions — seminars on single-vineyard rieslings, cabernet franc across the state (no surprise that he wanted to go to that one, if you know him), and Long Island sustainability — and then we were going to meet…

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