By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes CorrespondentPhoto by Morgan Dawson I nearly sprinted down to my basement — ahem, cellar — when Lenn made a bit of a shocking announcement last week: His 2007 Ravines Argetsinger Riesling was closed with a synthetic cork. This is a very highly regarded wine (Lenn included it in his 2008 wines of the year) and it seems destined to improve with time. Wine Spectator gave it 89 points and advised readers to "drink now through 2009;" I found that assessment to be wholly misguided and actually wrote, in silver marker, the words "drink after 2020"…
Posts Tagged“wine”
Why the Pessimism, Howard?
In last weekend's New York Times, columnist Howard Goldberg penned a piece "More Trouble for Vintners" that paints an uneccessarily bleak picture for New York wineries in 2009. In the story, he points to Governor Paterson's proposed budget, the possible elimination of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF), and the closing of both Vintage NY wine shops (which only sold NY wines) as the reasons for "more trouble." All three could potentially be detrimental to Long Island and other New York wineries, but they are only a part of the story. A small sliver in fact. The closing…
Quick Q&A with Anthony Nappa, Winemaker, Shinn Estate Vineyards
Anthony Nappa (left), winemaker at Shinn Estate Vineyards, on the 2008 crush pad. For the first Q&A of 2009, we pose our standard questions to Anthony Nappa, winemaker at Shinn Estate Vineyards in Mattituck, NY. Anthony is still a relative newcomer to the region and is one of the East Coast's youngest winemakers. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? Outside of Boone’s Farms when I was young, I didn’t drink much wine except on holidays with the family, mostly Italian wine or homebrew. Asti Spumante at Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving is still a favorite.…
Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Dry Riesling
Of all the Finger Lakes wines that I review every year, those from Dr. Konstantin Frank are among my favorites. Why? Well, for one, the whites are consistently good, especially the aromatic whit varieties like riesling and Gewürztraminer. For another, these are often the only quality New York wines that my friends and family back in Pittsburgh have any chance of seeing in their local, state-run liquor stores. Much like the other wine regions of New York, the Finger Lakes enjoyed a long, hot growing season in 2007 and that is apparent in many of the wines I've tasted from…
Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Reserve Gewurztraminer
Too often the descriptor "food wine" is used in a negative way, used to describe wines that aren't all that pleasing on their own. This is, of course, preposterous, and is just a way for writers to soften the blow when writing reviews of mediocre wines. Wine is meant to be enjoyed with food. At least it should be. Saying that a wine needs food, should be a given. This Dr. Konstantin Frank 2007 Gewuztraminer Reserve ($25) doesn't need food, but it sure does shine with it (or at least it did with the green Thai curry chicken and zucchini…
Merliance 2005 Merlot
Merliance is a wine co-produced by the members of the Long Island Merlot Alliance: Raphael, Pellegrini Vineyards, Sherwood House Vineyards, Shinn Estate Vineyards and Wolffer Estate Vineyards. This is only the second vintage of Merliance, but each year, the member wineries choose two barrels from their own cellars that they feel best represent their own individual style as well as Long Island’s unique terroir. For those keeping score at home, that's ten barrels of 100% merlot from five wineries with five winemakers with five differing styles. Under those conditions, crafting a wine that not only retains true Long Island character…
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…
Quick Q&A with Tim Moore, Owner, Imagine Moore Winery
We're joined by Tim Moore of Imagine Moore Winery for this week's edition of Q&A. Imagine Moore is still a relatively new player in the Finger Lakes wine community, but there are plenty of things to like about the operation. They source fruit from sustainable vineyards and print their labels with organic inks, to name just a couple of those things. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? It was in the mid 80’s and being from California and relatively young, it was a bottle of Korbel Sparkling Wine out of my best friend’s house…
Looking Back at 2008 in the Niagara Region
By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Escarpment Correspondent When Lenn asked me to write about the five most exciting wines of 2008 from the Niagara region, I assumed that I could rattle them off in a heartbeat. But when I really sat down to put my list together, I realized something; it takes a lot these days to really get me going – at least when it comes to wine. In established wine regions, I usually reserve my excitement for estate-grown wines or hard-to-find varietals. In Niagara wine country, however, things are a bit different. For one, we’re still in the pioneer…
When Common Sense and NY State Politics Collide: The Wine Bag Issue
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Correspondent I do not intend to make a cabernet out of a concord here, but this is ridiculous. And it's a microcosm of the dysfunction that has rotted this state for years. The owner of one of western New York's largest wine and liquor stores may be fined $10,000 by the New York State Liquor Authority because he had the audacity to sell wine gift bags to his customers who were buying, you know, wine. Here's the short version: The law is written to enumerate the various things that a wine or liquor store is…