Posts Tagged“long island”

Bedell Cellars 2007 Taste White

Chardonnay is the most-planted white grape on Long Island, covering around 30% of local vineyard land. That's a lot of chardonnay, relative to the white grape that I think holds the most potential for the region, sauvignon blanc, which covers far less than 5%.  That's also a lot of mediocre chardonnay. A lot of chardonnay that (usually) isn't going to do much more than fill the white wine columns on tasting room sheets. Don't get wrong, there are some outstanding, well-made Long Island chardonnays — made both with and without barrels — but Long Island is never going to be…

Lenz Winery 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

Most winemakers talk about how their wines are "made in the vineyard" and about how they let the grapes make the decisions for them in the winery. Not all of them actually practice what they preach though. Some local winemakers seem to impose their will on their wines, regardless of vintage. Having a consistent "house style" is one thing, but sometimes you need to take a step back and not overwhelm the fruit. Eric Fry, winemaker at Lenz Winery, is one winemaker who follows the fruit's lead. In the best vintages, he goes for it, making some of Long Island's…

Clovis Point Winery 2005 Cabernet Franc

Every time I drink a cabernet franc like this, I wonder how I had never heard of this beautiful, wonderful grape until I moved to Long Island almost a decade ago. To think, I could have been drinking cab franc back in grad school, wen was drinking super-fruity chardonnay and shiraz from Australia. Oh wait, maybe that's the problem, I was drinking those mass-produced, one-dimensional wines. I probably wouldn't have appreciated cab franc for all of it's non-fruity characteristics. This Clovis Point Winery 2005 Cabernet Franc ($25) is probably a wine I wouldn't have enjoyed back in my Black Opal…

Martha Clara Vineyards 2005 Estate Selection Cabernet Sauvignon

Long Island cabernet can be a not-very-tasty proposition. As consistently as vineyard managers can ripen merlot on this overgrown sand bar, cabernet does so just as inconsistently. Often, it doesn't ripen fully at all, leading to wines with overwhelming green flavors that are almost unrecognizable as cabernet sauvignon. As you might expect, a lot of this under-ripe cabernet ends up blended into other wines to mask its faults or is used to make rose or blush wines. Even at its best, Long Island cabernet sauvignon bears little, if any, resemblance to the hulking, muscular wines of Napa or Sonoma. Instead,…

Bouke 2007 Red

If you read about wine online much, you've no doubt heard of one of Long Island's newest wine producers, Bouke Wines. Pronounced like "bouquet," Bouke is the brainchild of Lisa Donneson and the wines are made by industry veteran Gilles Martin. Lisa has done a great job, better than most winery owners in New York, of engaging with the blogosphere to get her wines and brand out in front of bloggers and those who read blogs. Her wines are well priced (this red is the most expensive at $21) and I really appreciate her dedication to creating affordable, but still…

Scarola Vineyards 2005 Masseria Merlot

Members of the New York Cork Club will recognize this wine — it was part of our October shipment — but for some reason I never got around to publishing a review. That's a shame because this is a very interesting wine that combines value with all the characteristics that make Long Island merlot so unique and delicious. As I taste more and more 2005 reds, I'm finding them inconsistent. Some really show off the ripeness attained during the hot, dry growing season (before the deluge that is). Some don't. Many were bludgeoned with a lot of oak. Some weren't.…

Channing Daughters Winery 2007 Rosso Fresco

Chris Tracy, winemaker at Channing Daughters Winery, thinks of Long Island as a white wine region, which is a unique stance in the industry. It's hard to argue with him when you taste the white wines in Channing Daughters' portfolio though. He creates some unique-to-Long Island blends with Northern Italy as the model and the results are often delicious and always interesting. His red wines, however, are sometimes a bit less polished. This wine, Channing Daughters 2007 Rosso Fresco ($18) is a blend of 80% merlot, 14% syrah, 2% blaufrankisch, 2% cabernet franc and 2% dornfelder. It's the second vintage…

Wolffer Estate 2005 Caya Cabernet Franc

Wolffer Estate's winemaker, Roman Roth, made some delicious and unique wines to commemorate the winery's 20th anniversary, and this wine the Wolffer Estate 2005 "Caya" Cabernet Franc ($40) is one of them (even if I liked the 04 a bit better). The commemorative wines are all named for horses in the Wolffer Stables and this one bears the name of Caya, a 16- year old Hanoverian Warmblood and a Grand Prix winner. This blend of 86% cabernet franc and 14% merlot shows ripe, intense blackberry and cassis fruit aromas on the nose, which are accented by vanilla, toasty oak and…

The LENNDEVOURS 2008 Wines of the Year

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor This is a post that I look forward to writing every year. I dread it too. On one hand, it's fun to look back at all of the New York wines I've tasted over the past 12 months. On the other, how can I possibly choose a handful of the "best" wines, especially when I wasn't tasting them with this post in mind? For 2009, I have already promised myself that I'll come up with a formal process for the LENNDEVOURS wines of the year, but that doesn't do me any good for 2008…

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…