Posts Tagged“featured”

Save the Date: June 15 NYCR “Drink Local” Wine Dinner with Anthony Road Wine Company at Amarelle

We’re still working out the details, but I couldn’t help but tell you about the next New York Cork Report Drink Local Dinner. It will be on June 15 at Amarelle in Wading River, and will feature the wines of Anthony Road Wine Company, located on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. Winemaker Johannes Reinhardt will be pouring a variety of wines (still to be determined) paired with Chef Lia Fallon’s creations. I hope that we’ll be able to share the menu sometime in the next week or so, but in the meantime, save the date!

Turning Beer Into Bread: Greenport Harbor Brewing’s Spent Grain Takes a Tasty Turn

The North Fork food community is a practical, inventive bunch. From creating chicken coops from wine barrels to using local beer for cheesemaking, members show how a local food economy should be – small, integrated and sustainable. Often, one person’s waste is another’s treasure. So I was not surprised to hear recently that Greenport Harbor Brewing is doing some pretty cool things with their spent grain. For those unaccustomed to brewing, malted grain is the key ingredient used as the starch in beer. That grain is soaked and put through a series of steps to break down its sugars for…

Scenes from TasteCamp 2012 Virginia

TasteCamp 2012 is now in the rear-view mirror. So as I ponder the stories told and the wines tasted, I wanted to share some of the highlights from the weekend event with a handful of pictures. I’d like to thank all of the wineries that poured for us and all of the winemakers and winery owners who took the time to share their corners of Virginia wine country with the group.

Ravines Wine Cellars Acquires White Springs Winery Vineyards, Production Facility in Significant Expansion

Ravines Wine Cellars has closed on a deal to acquire the White Springs production facility, along with 42 acres of vineyards at the Geneva site. The deal includes an additional 19 acres not under vine. Owner Morten Hallgren explained that the deal is an acquisition of selective assets, not a merging of the two brands. White Springs owner Carl Fribolin will keep the White Springs Winery brand, along with the White Springs tasting room located on State Route 14. Ravines will custom-make wine for White Springs, which Hallgren had already been doing. Ravines will construct a tasting room within the existing…

Tap New York: Experiencing New York Beer at its Best

Long Island’s Spider Bite Brewing won the TAP New York 2012 F.X. Matt Memorial Cup! Photo Credit: Niko Krommydas Teeming masses of increasingly inebriated folks who don’t know or care what’s being poured. 45-minute lines. Tired, stressed brewery staff dealing with falling-down drunks getting belligerent about “short” pours and closing times. All reasons I don’t love beer festivals. Which is why I was blown away while hanging out at the Custom Brewcrafters table on Saturday at Tap New York 2012; people were returning and bringing friends, even towards the very end of the day, because they remembered the beer. They asked for their…

Fighting Frost in the Finger Lakes

Some photographs tell a deeper story than the first glance reveals. This beautiful shot was taken by Todd Eichas at New Vines Bed & Breakfast on the east side of Seneca Lake, shortly after 6:00am this past Saturday. It shows more than a placid spring morning. New Vines sits on top of a hill overlooking two of the region’s most acclaimed vineyards: Magdalena Vineyard and Josef Vineyard, which are owned and operated by Hermann J. Wiemer. Eichas says his thermometer read 28 degrees on Saturday morning, but he says the vineyards below are always several degrees warmer. I asked Hermann…

Goodale Farms Valencay-Style Goat

There has been a lot in the local press about Goodale Farms as of late.  A year ago, in May 2011, the farm received a license to start making and selling cheese.  Just five months later, they had already won first place in their categories at the American Dairy Goat Association’s 2011 national convention. Winning awards just after a few months in production is quite impressive for cheesemakers new to the business. Goodale Farms in Aquebogue places a strong emphasis on milk quality and the natural farming practices required to support it.  They don’t use pesticides and the fertilizer is…

Screwcaps at Paumanok Vineyards — Not Just for White Wines Anymore

Photo courtesy of Paumanok Vineyards Kareem Massoud, winemaker at Paumanok Vineyards, has a thing for screwcaps. I wouldn’t say that loves them — that’d be kinda weird — but believes in them and loves talking about them. Just trying talking to Kareem for any length of time without alternative closures coming up. It’s damn near impossible. Kareem, like his father Charles before him, takes a very thoughtful, logical approach to the family’s wines. “My parents bought this farm in 1983 and planted grapevines on bare land,” he says “Many years were spent establishing the vineyard until the vines bore fruit for the…

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company Beers Now Available in 6-Packs

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company has been working through some growing pains over the last couple of years.  They’ve just gotten so damn popular they couldn’t keep up with demand (pretty much a problem any business wants to find themselves in), going so far as to pull out of the New Jersey market to keep their supply to the Empire State flowing. Striking it rich with popularity in the New York City beer scene means you better be ready; ready for the thirsty mobs who’ll pound through whatever barrel of beer you put in front of them and ready for the…

Talking Appassimento with Freedom Run Winery’s Cellarmaster Kurt Guba

Kurt Guba is someone I’ve worked with since I moved to the Niagara region in 2007. He’s a certified sommelier, a professor at the local community college and a cellarmaster at Freedom Run Winery in Lockport, NY. He was a huge motivating force behind that winery’s new 2010 Appassimento Meritage, which has been released in limited quantities. I recently sat down with him to get his take on the wine and how it came to be. What lead to the decision to make the appassimento in 2010? Appassimento style wines are something that I really enjoy but it was also…