Posts Tagged“wine”

WTN: Osprey’s Dominion Vineyards 2006 Sauvignon Blanc (North Fork)

Today’s review is going to be a quick one. Are you sick of over-the-top grassy sauvignon blancs from New Zealand? If so, let me suggest that you try Osprey’s Dominion Vineyards’ 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, a steal at $13. I’ve enjoyed many local sauvignons over the past couple years, but many are at or around $20, making them a little beyond the "summer sipper" price. Right out of the fridge, this one was a little tight and a bit neutral, but once it warmed just a bit, nice lemon, melon and grapefruit aromas appeared with just the most subtle hints of…

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Reminder: LENNDEVOURS/canvas Magazine Wine Event, March 1

I know that several of you have already signed up, but I wanted to remind all of you that on Saturday, March 1 at 5 p.m., I’ll be co-hosting a wine event at at canvas’ Footprint Art Gallery in Huntington, NY. Three North Fork wineries will be pouring local wines with food from Whole Foods Market. The three participating wineries are Raphael, Lieb Family Cellars and Macari Vineyards. I’m still working with Whole Foods on the final pairings, but I’ll post them once they are finalized.  In addition to great wine and food, there will be live music and a…

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Arrowhead Spring Vineyards Joins the Trail

By Niagara Escarpment Correspondent Bryan Calandrelli The Niagara Escarpment AVA added another winery this weekend as Arrowhead Spring Vineyards opened it doors to hundreds of chocolate-eating, wine-drinking visitors during the "Be Mine with Wine" trail event. The Niagara Escarpment itself provides a spectacular backdrop for vineyards in this area which is quickly making Cambria, NY a wine destination thanks to the six wineries located within a few miles of one another. Temperatures in the single digits and wind chills flirting with minus twenty below didn’t stop the hordes of tasters, myself included, from checking out the view from the newest…

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Fox Run Vineyards’ Peter Bell Heading to Serbia…

This is just a quick note about an email conversation I had with Peter Bell, winemaker at Fox Run Vineyards in the Finger Lakes. He’s been telling me for months (maybe a year) that his 2005 reds are going to change my mind about Finger Lakes red wine, which I’ve never been overly impressed with. And now, it seems that his merlot and reserve cabernet franc are ready for me to taste. Hopefully I’ll have them next week sometime. But that’s not what I’m writing to tell you guys about. Peter mentioned in passing that he’s leaving for Serbia tomorrow.…

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WTN: Raphael 2002 First Label Merlot (North Fork of Long Island)

Editor’s Note: Yes, I do still write for my blog. When Richard Olsen-Harbich, winemaker at Peconic’s Raphael, started his winemaking career, it was in the Finger Lakes region of central New York. As you all know, the Finger Lakes region is best suited —  and best known —  for its aromatic white wines, particularly riesling. Much of the time, the classic red varieties of Bordeaux struggle to ripen in central New York. Some wineries make wines like merlot and cabernet sauvignon anyway, but many of the better ones are made using fruit (or bulk wine) grown here on Long Island.…

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“Pruning” by Christopher Watkins

By Poet Laureate Christopher Watkins   Pruning Early morning, and like middle-schoolerschicken-pimpled beside a swimming pool, the once-mighty vines stand humble, naked in their rows;I swear they’re shivering—a finishing schoolof apprentice scarecrowspracticing on snowflakes… I walk the morning-after battlefield — the fightan ancient rite of deconstruction —marveling at the meagerquintessence of these vines: arms thinas antennae, slender trunks poorly mimickingtheir elder’s muscularity; reminded of a bubblegumcartoon, I imagine Old Vines walking byand kicking sand in all the littlevine’s faces, then stealing off their girls… A long year ahead, and I have no song I can singto march them onwards, but…

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All is NOT Quiet in Long Island Wine Country

Long Island wine country might seem quiet right now. But it’s not. Visit the North Fork this time of year and (even without any snow) the landscape seems barren compared to any other time of the year. Most of the farm stands are closed, with the few that do stay open relying on greenhouse vegetables and crops like potatoes, carrots and apples. The vineyards, alive with lush canopies, ripe clusters and harvest teams only a few short months ago, have fallen silent. It’s a quiet that you can feel when you visit the tasting rooms this time of year. To…

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Brooklyn Oenology Debuts

By New York City Correspondent Sasha Smith This fall I went to the launch party for BOE, a winery housed in a converted warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. (BOE is short for Brooklyn Oenology.) Founded by engineer-turned-winemaker Alie Shaper, BOE released its first wines this fall, a 2005 Chardonnay and a 2005 Merlot. While the fruit comes from the North Fork and the wines are made in Mattituck at Premium Wine Group, the rest of this endeavor is thoroughly Brooklyn-based. Alie says that the winery was created “in the spirit of Brooklyn’s artisanal resurgence,” and points to the many artists and…

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I’ll never buy from wine.com again

There was a time when I ordered wine from wine.com on occasion, but no more. You’ve probably heard about this already, so I won’t write it out in full detail, but wine.com has gone tattle tale on its competition, and not in any sort of professional or honest way. Alder over at Vinography has all the pathetic details. I think pathetic is a good word here, don’t you? I’d encourage any reader of LENNDEVOURS to never order from wine.com again. I’m boycotting them as well. If they are losing ground to their competition (I have no idea if they are),…

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4th Annual Menu For Hope: December 10-21

Menu For Hope is the annual event when food and wine bloggers the world over unite to raise money for the U.N. World Food Programme. Founded by Pim several years ago, this is one holiday tradition that I hope never falls by the wayside. This year, LENNDEVOURS is offering two prizes for the fund raising raffle: WB19: Long Island Cabernet Franc Three-Pack A lot of people think that Long Island is all about merlot, but those in the know realize that some of Long Island’s best, most-interesting wines are made with cabernet franc. This lot is a simple one. It…

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