Where are the Long Island BYOB restaurants? I never really thought much about this until Nena and I visited our friends Paul and Sara in Philly, the land of BYO resturants. We had a great dinner at Azafran and what a joy it was to bring our own wine. I know of only two. Kitchen – A Bistro (St. James) Thai Gourmet (Port Jefferson Station) Both are awesome, by the way. Great food. And not corkage fee at all. Do any of my local readers know of any? Please share. I’m particularly interested because, as you all know, I love…

As you may or may not have noticed, April was an extremely busy month here at LENNDEVOURS. Beyond the home rennovations and busy day job, I was also working on an exciting wine/writing project…one that I still can’t talk about. The combination led to far too few New York wines being tasted and reviewed and far too few posts about the happenings and trends in the local wine industry. But, the final deadline for the big project was yesterday, and I look forward to getting back to my usual at-least-once-a-day posting schedule. I’ve got a lot of wines to tell…

Saturday, I fired up my smoker for the very first time. Her maiden voyage if you will. Around noon, with my spare ribs trimmed, slathered and rubbed, I fired up the chimney starter and got the charcoal and wood chunks (hickory) ready in the bottom of the Weber. I’ll tell you what, I obviously don’t have a lot of experience with different smokers, but this thing is almost fool-proof. Once I had everything set up (talk about mise en place…lots to do preparing for a smoking session), it was largely mindless. With the water pan (which holds a gallon of…

This week on Wine Sediments, I’m talkin’ Austrian wine — more specifically gruner veltliner. Austrian wine has been getting a lot of blog coverage lately, especially with the Live Austrian Wine Adventure ramping up soon, so I just had to throw my two cents in on an awesome gruner I tasted last week. Head on over to Wine Sediments this morning and learn a little about this under-appreciated white. Wine Sediments brings together some of the worlds best wine blogging talent. Even if I weren’t writing there, I’d check it out every day. You should too.

  On Monday, April 3, the Long Island Merlot Alliance hosted a press and trade preview tasting at Craft restaurant in Manhattan of its first co-produced wine – 2004 Merliance. Formed last fall by Raphael, Pellegrini Vineyards, Sherwood House Vineyards, Shinn Estate Vineyards and Wolffer Estate Vineyards, the LIMA believes that merlot is Long Island’s signature varietal, and as such has dedicated itself to its advancement and continued quality in our region. In addition to the collaborative production of Merliance every year, the group plans to hold educational programs and sponsor research into exactly why Long Island is so well suited…

No. Not for Long Island wine (the first commercial vines were only two years old at that point). 1975 was a very good year for people…particularly those born in Pittsburgh, PA and who eventually move to Long Island, fall in love with a girl and fall in love with a wine region. Yes. I turn 31 today. Not nearly as filled with fanfare as the big three-oh from last year, but a birthday nonetheless. As I mentioned a while ago, Nena and my parents bought me a smoker for my birthday. And last night Ben (yes, our beagle) gave me…

For quite a while now, I’ve toyed with the idea of becoming a home winemaker. Time isn’t exactly something I have a surplus of these days, but making and bottling my own vino is something I think would be such an amazing process. But, instead of going out and buying so-so home winemaking equipment and blindly working my way through the fermentation process with purchased juice or concentrate I’m taking it one step further. LENNDEVOURS contributor Richard Olsen-Harbich, who also happens to be the managing director and winemaker for Raphael, one of Long Island’s premier merlot makers, has offered to…