This week on Hamptons.com, my column "Corks of the Forks" focuses on Peconic Bay Winery, a winery that makes a wide range of wines — which is good and bad. Sure, they appeal to one of the wider range of wine drinkers around and I’m no wine snob, but I’ve long felt that their sweet, entry-level wines detract from the higher end stuff because the good stuff is buried at the end of their tasting room list. But, I’ve long loved their steel fermented chardonnay…and at $13 it’s a bargain that is nearly impossible not to like. Read more.

Join TV personality and cookbook author David Rosengarten this Saturday at The Lenz Winery for Celebrating the Multi-Ethnic Flavors of the American Grill. He’ll be doing a cooking demonstration, making Greek Swordfish Kebabs, Indonesian Shrimp Satay, Chicken Tandoori and Spanish Lamb Chops along with a selection of Lenz wines The event starts at 5:30p.m. in the Lenz Courtyard. Tickets are $60 per person. Call the Lenz Tasting Room at 800-974-9899 or 631-734-6010 to make your reservations. I can’t make the event (it’s my anniversary) but this should be an interesting event. Check it out.

All of us at LENNDEVOURS — that being Nena, Ben and Lenn — hope all of our U.S. readers have a happy, fun and safe Independence Day. We’re planning a low-key day here around the house doing yard work and relaxing. But, we’re going to head down to Port Jefferson this evening for fireworks I think. Don’t forget to enjoy some BBQ wine today and blog about it tomorrow for Wine Blogging Wednesday #23.

Clearly I wouldn’t make much of a full-time vineyard manager. It’s been almost a month since my first visit to Raphael’s vineyard to visit "my" vines. As you can see to the right, they’ve grown quite a bit. But on Saturday morning, we went out east and stopped by so that my parents could taste Raphael’s bottlings and enjoy the vineyard views as I walked my row of ten-year old  cabernet franc vines. There isn’t a whole lot for me to do with the vines yet (the real vineyard tenders are making it easy on me), but I did weed…

Just a quick picture update on my vinegar making endeavour. Here I am pulling a thick slab of cellulose off of the first batch, which is a combination of merlot and cabernet sauvignon from the North Fork of Long Island AVA.

As you’ve probably guessed, we’re home from our trip to San Francisco and Sonoma. We had a great time, saw some great sights and, of course, enjoyed some great meals. But this post is about one meal in particular — the best meal we had in San Francisco. No, it wasn’t the dinner we had at Zuni Cafe, though that was romantic, delicious and amazingly fresh. And it certainly wasn’t our visit to Rubicon — a great meal in terms of the food, but god awful in terms of the service and overall experience. No, our best mean in San…

Last fall, when Leucadia National Corporation bought Broadfields Wine Cellars from Robin and Karen Meredith, it led to the closing of Long Island’s only two co-op tasting rooms for small, artisanal wine producers, both called The Tasting Room. This weekend, the owner of a winery who used to sell wine through the two locations is re-opening the Peconic location under the same name. Theresa Dilworth of Comtesse Thérèse, who will run the operation, is The Tasting Room’s third owner in nine months. Founded by the Merediths in May 2003, The Tasting Rooms in Peconic and Jamesport were acquired by Leucadia…

By Contributing Columnist Donavan Hall Butternuts Beer & Ales is a partnership between Chuck Williamson and Leo Bongiorno; both were involved with the (now closed) Long Island Brewing Company. In a converted dairy barn in Garratsville, New York they operate a brewery with the capacity for up to 8000 barrels a year production.  (Though, no doubt they aren’t producing that much yet.)  They started shipping Porkslap, a Pale Ale, and Heinnieweisse, a Hefeweizen, in March 2006. These beers are distributed in New York and in parts of New Jersey. In the fall they expect to add an India Pale Ale…