Author of Long Island’s AVAs @ Appellation America

This week at Appellation America, you’ll find my Q&A with Richard Olsen-Harbich, winemaker and managing director for Raphael. Rich has been working in the local wine industry for almost 30 years. The interview focuses on three main topics: Long Island’s three AVAs (he authored them), the differences between the two forks, and the varieties (and styles) he thinks do best on Long Island. You may recognize Rich from his contributions here at LENNDEVOURS as well, including: Human Terroir and Parenting Wines The Urban Legend of Sulfites The War on Terroir and Wines of Mass Vinification Read my Q&A over at…

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Our Last Supper…

…with the old stove. Normally I’d never do a post about a simple pasta dinner, but this one was special…not for its deliciousness, but because our new stove (and fridge) come today, so this mixture of bacon, chick peas, oven-dried yellow cherry tomatoes, kale, garlic, onions and fresh basil (which I later tossed with whole wheat pasta shells) was the very last meal cooked at our old, pathetic stove. Oh, it still works, but none of the elements are level, so the oil/butter pools to one side when trying to sautee or pan fry. Our old fridge (which came with…

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Baby Food Cookbooks — Any Recommendations?

As you all know, Nena and I are expecting our first child in early February. With that in mind, I’ve asked Nena to buy me a baby food cookbook for Xmas and she was happy to oblige…until she looked around. Apparently there are hundreds of them and shopping online, they all look pretty much the same. Can any of the parental types who read LENNDEVOURS offer some suggestions? Tasty and healthy are what we’re going for here.

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Are Food and Wine Too Big a Part of My Life?

Are they? I say no. They are my primary hobbies and hey, we all need hobbies right? The reason I ask is actually related to Christmas. My family is big on gift-giving and we basically work off of Xmas lists every year. Yes, I’m 31 and I still make a formal list for Santa! I’m also notorious for putting off the creation of said list until the last minute — particularly when you consider the fact that Nena and I will be in Pittsburgh over Thanksgiving to celebrate both holidays with my family back home. True to form, here I…

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LENNDEVOURS’ First Real Harvest

With most all of Long Island’s white wine grapes in and the reds coming in as well, it’s time for the first-ever LENNDEVOURS Cabernet Franc to get plucked from the vine, stomped with these size-12 feet and then fermented. That’s right folks, this weekend, I’ll be heading out to Peconic to pick my adopted row of cabernet franc at Raphael. Raphael’s winemaker — and LENNDEVOURS contributor — Richard Olsen-Harbich just emailed me and said that it’s time. Anyone want to come help?

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WBW #26 Winners Announced

Beau, host of WBW #26 has posted the results of our little contest. Congratulations to Dr. Weingolb for picking 14 of the 19 entries correctly. And he gets bonus points from me for drinking Channing Daughters Winery 2005 Clones, from the Hamptons AVA on Long Island. When Beau approached me with his theme, I wasn’t sure how it would go over with the masses. But, even if we only had 19 participants, I think it was a lot of fun and something we should do again — with different regions of course.

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Wine Blogging Wednesday #27 Announced: Ice Ice Baby

Photo taken by Dominic Rivard. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License v. 2.  I’ve long loved ice wines and ice-style wines (those that are made by frozing grapes in a commercial freezer rather than leaving them to freeze on the vine). The best versions are rich, succulent and sweet…but always have a burst of fresh acidity that brings balance and life on the palate. So, it is with much pleasure that I announce Wine Blogging Wednesday #27, hosted by the Kitchen Chick. The theme is Icy Desserts — ice wines that is. Luckily, she’s not being a stickler, so…

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October 24: Wine Dinner at Blond Restaurant with Castello di Borghese

Next Tuesday night at 8 p.m., Blond Restaurant and Bar in Miller Place, NY will be hosting A Fall Sensation Celebration with the wines of Castello di Borghese. The evening includes a six-course dinner prepared by Blond’s owner and executive chef, Samih Nelovic and entertainment by Walter Finley and accomplished acoustic singer/songwriter. This restaurant is about two miles from our house, but we haven’t been there in years — at least three or four. The last and only time we were there we thought the food was good, but overpriced and the service was just okay. But, I hear that…

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This Week On Appellation America (10/19/06)

This week on Appellation America, you can read my recommendations for two chardonnays made by Roman Roth at Wolffer Estate — a 2003 Reserve Chardonnay ($20) that shows nice balance and a stellar 2005 Late Harvest Chardonnay ($37) that should be good for another decade or five. Soon, they will also be publishing a Q&A I did with Raphael’s Richard Olsen-Harbich, who is also a LENNDEVOURS contributor. Rich has been working in the local wine industry for nearly three decades and actually authored the three local AVAs: Long Island, North Fork of Long Island, and Hamptons, Long Island. Appellation America…

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The Challenges of Editing

Once again I find myself apologizing to you, my readers, for the pathetic posting performance this week here at LENNDEVOURS. You see, there is this little project I’m working on — editing the next issue of the Long Island Wine Gazette — that has been sucking up all of my evenings. Before taking over the LIWG, my only "real" editing experience was as the assistant sports editor of my college newspaper, and that was a short-lived appointment. I wrote a story about how Cal Ripken’s consecutive games streak was bad for the Orioles, about twenty angry letters arrived and I…

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