Posts Tagged“drink local”

Uncork the Forks: Local Wines Should Be on Local Menus

(Photo Credit: David Benthal for northforker) Local wine people — both inside and out of the industry proper — have long lamented how few local restaurants support and offer local wine. Short of visiting every restaurant and asking to see their wine lists, it is hard to know precisely who is listing local wine and how much of it. Visiting restaurant websites — many of which aren’t updated very often, rendering them largely useless — does offer some insight, though. The results are still ugly, though there are some exceptions — restaurants doing good things with local wine. Some restaurants,…

Serving Local: Recognizing Wine Country Restaurants That Truly Support Local Wine

After spending the late morning in Greenport on Sunday — riding the carousel and getting our son Jackson out onto the ice for the first time — my family and I stopped at Bonnie Jean’s in Southold for lunch. Bonnie Jean’s might seem like little more than another Long Island diner, but it is a new favorite for its affordability, its family-friendliness and for the homemade flourishes across the menu. The restaurant now has a beer and wine license after operating for a time as a BYOB. It would have been easy for owner Jennilee Morris to offer cheap, not-very-good wines chosen by a…

Artisanal Spirits: Forcing People from Their Comfort Zones

People are devoted to their liquor brands.  And often militantly so.  I’ve found that, sometimes, the only way to get them to try a local, artisan spirit is to simply NOT carry their tried-and-true old standbys.  Remove them from the equation entirely.  Plain and simple. If you’ve ordered a Grey Goose Martini up with a twist the last twenty times you’ve gone out to dinner, it’s pretty safe to say you’ll do so the next twenty times you go to dinner.  In your eyes, that brand is the only brand that gets you.  Its a safe, warm lighthouse in the…

The Chronicle Express Asks “State unfair to New York Products?”

We don’t link to New York wine stories published by other publications very often, but this piece by John Christensen is more than deserving. In the piece, Christensen starts off with some surprising news: [quote] The New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets may be the organizers of the New York State Fair, but they seem to have forgotten that New York is in the wine business. According to local sources attending the fair, the Empire Room, despite the hundreds of wineries in the Empire State, serves only one New York wine (from Glenora), yet offered several wines by…

June 15: NYCR “Drink Local Dinner” with Anthony Road Wine Company and Amarelle

We have the menu and pairings for our next New York Cork Report “Drink Local Dinner” on June 15 Amarelle in Wading River, featuring five wines from Anthony Road Wine Company, located on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. We’re excited that German-born winemaker Johannes Reinhardt will be with us to talk not only about the wines, but the stories and work behind them. Johannes will also be at Empire State Cellars the following evening pouring many of the same wines for customers. Seats are $75 plus tax and gratuity,  so call Amarelle at 631.886.2242 to reserve your spot today. Anthony Road Wine Company…

Drink Local Beer. It’s That Simple.

By Donavan Hall, Beer Columnist Lenn asked me to write a year-end post and I've been mulling over what you might be interested in hearing about.  I could give you a list of all the great locally brewed, Long Island beers that I've tasted this year. I could tell you which ones were my favorites, but in the end such lists and recommendations reflect a personal taste. They might prompt you to try something new, but ultimately you'll have to decide for yourself what you like. So, instead, I'd like to tell you about what I've been thinking about this…

Thanksgiving Wines: Stop Stressing. Drink Local.

I haven’t written about it much lately, but I’m still the wine pairing guru over at the Culinary Media Network (formerly Gilded Fork). Jen and Mark are terrific and supremely passionate about what they are doing. Between the website and the podcasts, there is plenty of food and drink information coming out of the network. Why do I bring this up as part of my LENNDEVOURS Thanksgiving wine column? Well, when Chef Mark sent me his Thanksgiving menu so that I could start working on the pairings, it really hit me: Why do we worry so much about Thanksgiving wine…

Why do YOU drink local?

Obviously I drink a lot of local wines, and I can only assume that a lot of you do as well, be them wines from Long Island, California, France, wherever you live. I’m working on a piece about why I drink local, but I’d love to hear why you drink local. What is it about the wines made near your house that draw you in and make you keep going back for more? Leave a comment and tell me!

“DRINK LOCAL” T-Shirts Available

For quite a while now, I’ve been trying to find some interesting-without-being-lame wine-related t-shirts…with very little luck. Then I tried to find some locally focused ones…with even less luck. So, I decided to create one of my own, emblazoned with "DRINK LOCAL" on the front. The message is clear, concise and one that is near and dear to my heart. And, as much as I hate the idea of "going commerical" I’ve opened up a GoodStorm shop where anyone can buy one. I’ve got a few different colors set up right now, but plan to add more at some point.…