Posts Tagged“chardonnay”

WTN: Macari Vineyards 2006 Early Wine (North Fork of Long Island)

Le Chardonnay Nouveau est arrivé! That’s right — Chardonnay Nouveau, not Beaujolais Nouveau. Every fall, there is an unbelievable (and unwarranted) amount of hype surrounding Beaujolais Nouveau, the ubiquitous red wine made from Gamay in the Beaujolais region of France that is sold almost as soon as it’s done fermenting. It’s marketed well — very well — as a ‘fresh’ wine and we’ll soon seen bottles in all of our wine shops. Some people even consider it the perfect Thanksgiving wine. I don’t care for the stuff and it’s been years since I made my friends and family drink it…

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A North Fork Gallery Worth Seeking Out

I consider myself fairly sophisticated and cultured, but a trip to an art gallery — and just an art gallery — isn’t necessarily my cup of tea (or glass of wine.) I need a fine meal either before the gallery or after (or maybe both) to entice me. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right?        But, there’s a new Gallery on the North Fork that I’m willing to visit — and open — any time. In fact, I plan to several times over the course of the next few months.       Bedell…

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2003 Releases from Sherwood House Vineyards

2003 wasn’t a great vintage for Long Island wines — and many of the wines I’ve tasted from the vintage support that statement. Many, particularly the reds, tend to be under ripe and lacking flavor. The whole growing season wasn’t sub-par, but one of the most important parts was. After a perfectly fine spring and summer, untimely rain and then two October frosts did the vintage in. Basically, frost kills the vines’ canopy, stopping photosynthesis and keeping the grapes from getting fully ripe. You can talk about “hang time” (on the vine) all you want, but without the sugar factory,…

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WTN: Corey Creek Vineyards 2005 Reserve Chardonnay (North Fork of Long Island)

Corey Creek Vineyards, owned by New Line Cinema chairman Michael Lynne, produces mostly white wines (the reds are bottled under sister winery Bedell Cellars’ label), including one of Long Island’s best gewurztraminers, a flavorful late harvest riesling and two different styles of chardonnay. Too often, Long Island chardonnay is severely over oaked in an attempt to make the rich, buttery style that (unfortunately) remains so popular with consumers. These wines usually fail because, unlike warmer California regions, local fruit just doesn’t get as ripe and can’t stand up to heavy oak. Disappointingly few local producers balance fruit and oak well…

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Winners From the New York Wine and Food Classic

This week, Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard’s 2005 Dry Riesling ($16) defeated 702 other New York wines to win the Governor’s Cup, awarded to the events best wine. Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars was named New York’s "Winery of the Year" based on the number, and level, of medals its wines won. Sponsored and run by the New York Wine and Grape Foundation (NYWGF), a nonprofit statewide trade organization based in the in newly opened New York Wine and Culinary Center. Howard Goldberg reported in the New York Times, "The wine industry and influential wine periodicals treat the contest as…

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Do You Hate Chardonnay?

“I don’t like Chardonnay.” I hear this all the time when I talk to friends, family and even strangers on the street about wine. I’ve even said it to myself as I choked down a heavy, buttery, oak-filled chard…usually hailing from California. These wines are difficult to pair well with food and, unless you enjoy the flavor of American, French or some other region’s oak trees, it’s no wonder you don’t like them. Fact is, you’ve probably never really tasted this most noble of all white wine grapes. Through barrel fermentation and excessive aging in new oak, many wine makers…

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