Posts Tagged“long island wine”

The 12 LI Wines of Christmas: #2 Jamesport Vineyards 2006 Sauvignon Blanc

This post is a part of my 12 Long Island Wines for Christmas series that will run from now until Christmas 2007. See the entire series here. The second Long Island Wine for Christmas is a wine that didn’t last long in our cellar this spring. I had several bottles of Jamesport Vineyards’ 2006 Sauvignon Blanc ($22). I loved so many local sauvignon blancs this year that it’s hard to pick a favorite, but based solely on how quickly this one vanished from the cellars, this is the one. Most local sauvignon is reared entirely in stainless steel tanks, which…

The 12 LI Wines of Christmas: #1 Wolffer Estate Vineyards 2003 Estate Selection Chardonnay

This post is a part of my 12 Long Island Wines for Christmas series that will run from now until Christmas 2007. See the entire series here. Welcome to my 2007 12 Long Island Wines for Christmas, where I share with you the 12 wines that I’m most excited about and consider the some of the best Long Island had to offer in 2007. Today’s wine is Wolffer Estate Vineyards’ 2003 Estate Selection Chardonnay. I’ve written about this wine before, but I was reminded this past weekend of just how much I enjoy it. I served it with the pasta…

Next Week: The 12 Long Island Wines of Christmas

I don’t do a lot of "top 10" lists here on LENNDEVOURS. It’s just so hard for me to pare down my favorite things to such a short list. But, with the holidays under way and the shopping season in full swing, I’ve had a few people ask me for help on what local wines make the best gives and a list of my "favorite" Long Island wines of the year. Come back next week to see my 12 Long Island Wines of Christmas, the wines that I’m enjoying the most and most excited about. Think of it as the…

The 2007 Vintage and Howard Goldberg, the Wine Curmudgeon

Over the weekend, you may have seen Howard Goldberg’s "Long Island Vines" column in the New York Times, which focuses on Long Island’s 2007 vintage and it’s potential quality. He starts the column with quotes from Charles Massoud of Paumanok Vineyards and Roman Roth of Wolffer Estate, two of Long Island’s most respected vintners. The quotes mirrored what I’ve heard from local grape growers and winemakers. John Levenberg, winemaker at Bedell Cellars told me that 2007 was a "a great growing season with plenty of heat and good sunshine, punctuated by bouts of rain that happened upon us when our…

I Guess Alice Feiring Doesn’t Like Long Island Wine…Or Hasn’t Tasted Much of It

Alice Feiring (you might know her as the writer behind Veritas in Vino) has written an opinion piece about the World’s Most Overrated Wines for Men.Style.com. So I’m clicking through the piece, expecting to see Beaujolais Nouveau, maybe Aussie shiraz mentioned. I really didn’t know what else would be included. Imagine my surprise when I saw "Long Island Wine" listed with Ms. Feiring saying: "The strawberries, potatoes, and corn grown out on Long Island are world-class. But grapes? Not so much (though you’ve got to give local winemakers credit for their perseverance). The fact is, soils are just too shallow…

Long Island Community-Made Update: The Pressing

Yesterday afternoon, several members of the LENNDEVOURS community winemaking project descended up on Sannino’s Bella Vita Vineyard to press the juice from the grapes we harvest a couple weeks ago. I was upstate, so couldn’t attend, but one member took several photos and posted them. I’ve heard through the grape vine (awful pun, no?) that there are several different types of oak barrel in play as well as a couple different yeast strains. We’re going to have a lot of options (and fun) when it comes time to blend our wine I think.

Lettie Teague Tastes (and Likes) Long Island Wines

As you long-time readers know, I like seeing Long Island wines mentioned in the big-time, mainstream press…but I also find myself being critical of the coverage. Either the writers get their facts wrong, choose the completely wrong wineries to represent the region, or perpetuate the sort of "France and California" snobbery that I loathe so much. But, Lettie Teague of Food & Wine Magazine gets it right in her recent story "Can Long Island Make World-Class Wines?" At least when it comes to the places she tasted, the wines she liked and the answer to that question. My only comment…

Long Island Wines in the Blogosphere

Yeah yeah. I’m the Long Island wine blogger. You come here expecting to read about Long Island wines — the good, the bad and the ugly. But, it’s not like I’m the only wine blogger writing about Long Island wines. This week, two other blogs have trained their tongues and keyboards on Long Island wine. First, Ruuari over at Grape Thinking tastes and blogs about Wolffer Estate Vineyards’ 2005 La Ferme Martin chardonnay. Who knew he could even get Long Island wine in Georgia? I’m glad he could, and of course appreciate the tip of the cap towards my blog…

LENNDEVOURS Q&A: Kelly Urbanik, Assistant Winemaker, Bedell Cellars

On Long Island, as in most wine regions, the ‘stars’ are the winemakers, but you rarely hear much about the assistant winemakers and other cellar rats who work hard to produce the wines we enjoy so much. With that in mind, I decided to get in touch with Kelly Urbanik, assistant winemaker at Bedell Cellars and ask her our usually batch of questions. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? The first wines I remember drinking were the home wines that my Dad and Grandpa made together. My grandpa had a small vineyard, and our…

A Sad Tale of the Drunk and Idiotic in Wine Country

When it comes to Long Island, or any other wine country, it’s important to remember that there will always be times when—no matter steps a winery takes to avert unfortunate, drunken incidents—a pathetic subset of losers will still act like jerks and ruin the fun for everybody else. With that in mind, I wanted to share a story I heard via email over the weekend from a tasting room manager who will remain nameless for obvious reasons. Out of respect for this individual and other parties involved, I’ll keep my version of the story appropriately anonymous—except for an interesting piece…