Don’t forget, today is Wine Blogging Wednesday, your opportunity to expand your wine knowledge and fun with wine lovers the world over. This month, we’re hosted by the Corkdork with Red Kiwi’s as the theme. (I’ll post about my wine tonight). A few months ago, I announced a little logo design contest for the event and the time has come to uncork the potential designs…and YOU GET TO VOTE FOR THE WINNER. I was going to put together a team of judges, but with only five entries, I thought it much more democratic to let "the people" speak and vote.…
Marjorie Deninger…COME ON DOWN
…you’re the winner of a Tour of Long Island Wine Country. That’s right, Pim has announced the winners of the Menu for Hope II raffle and you won my little contribution. Overall, the campaign raised just over $17,000 for victims of the recent Kashmir earthquake. Amazing and wonderful…thanks to Pim and to everyone else involved. Marjorie, please send me an email when you can so we can touch base and start planning your tour. Nena and I look forward to meeting you and your guest and I know that we’re going to have a great time on the East End.
2006 at LENNDEVOURS
Happy New Year faithful (and interant) readers. 2006 is finally here and it signals the end of what was quite an busy and event-filled year for me. I got married in 2005. Nena and I adopted Ben in 2005. And, we bought a house in 2005. Now that all of these big and joyous events have come and gone, it is my hope to spend more time in the new year enhancing both LENNDEVOURS and my other food and wine-related endeavors. Some people in my life (my parents, Nena…) would say that I’m a man of many ideas who doesn’t…
Ben Preparing for the Steelers Game Tomorrow
As his namesake, Ben Roethlisberger, is preparing for tomorrow’s win-and-you’re-in game against the Detroit Lions, LENNDEVOURS’ own Ben, Ben Roethlistbeagle is resting up too. As he sleeps, Nena and I prepare for our first mini-dinner party in our new casa. A simple, but classic menu of grilled strip steaks, homemade twice-baked potatoes and green beens wrapped in bacon await our friends Liz and John. To drink? More on that tomorrow…when the Steelers dominate the Lions as the blaze their way into the playoffs.
Checking in on the 2005 “Winery of the Year”
Last summer, Osprey’s Dominion Vineyards was named New York’s “Winery of the Year” at the 2005 New York Food and Wine Classic by winning seven medals, including two double golds, one gold, two silvers and two bronzes. Winemaker Adam Suprenant, a graduate of the much ballyhooed U.C. Davis enology program, was and is proud of the accomplishment, but he’s certainly not resting on his laurels. Wines from the 2001 vintage (and a 2004 rosé) earned the winery all those medals, but the winery’s first three 2002 releases, a cabernet franc, a reserve merlot and a 2002 edition of the “Flight”…
Computer Models to Weed Out Plonk?
Can a computer tell if a wine is good or bad? A professor from Carnegie Mellon University (where I went to graduate school) seems to think it’s possible. He’s focusing on yeast and its behavior and hopes to" "…help vintners avoid "stuck batches" – batches that spoil and are thrown away when fermentation stalls, leaving too much sugar. Biegler hopes to make winemaking more efficient, consistent and, ultimately, profitable. Similar computerized systems are routinely used at chemical plants, oil refineries and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, he said." Obviously, one can debate the merits of "consistent" wine…but this kind of scientific investigation…
Wanna Win Some Wine?
If you do, head over to Dr. Vino’s blog, named one of the seven best by Food & Wine Magazine, and take his 2005 Year End Wine Quiz. If you win, you could one of a handful of great prizes, including a case of wine. So, if you like wine (and I know you do) take the quiz and show off your knowledge…you just might wine some vino from Dr. Vino.
Happy Holidays From LENNDEVOURS
Okay, so I’m a couple days late for Christmas, but we’re still smack dab in the middle of the holiday season…so Happy Holidays from all of us at LENNDEVOURS (Nena, Ben and myself). We’re in upstate New York visiting Nena’s family until Thursday, partially just to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of Long Island, but also to help my mother in-law prep for her annual holiday open house. It’s an open house in name only…people come when it begins and stay until it’s over. This year she’s expecting 130 people or so…and she’s happy to have…
Top 10 Must-Try Long Island Wines of 2005
Tom of FERMENTATION recently made a call for Top 10 Lists and I knew I had at least one in me as I look back on 2005. In fact, I’m sure I have more than one…but for now I present my Top 10 Must-Try Long Island Wines of 2005. While some of these certainly would qualify for a "best" list as well, this list is more accurately defined as the wines I’d insist any wine lover taste (if possible) when they come to Long Island for the first time.10. Bedell Cellars 2001 Reserve Merlot. One of our region’s top merlot…
Progress vs. Regress In the Wine Industry (via Fermentation)
Tom over at FERMENTATION had written an interesting, observant post on the state of the wine industry in terms of innovation’s progress…and those things that hold it back. Definitely worth a perusal as we head into the new year. New York winemakers, in general, and Long Island winemakers more specifically are definitely not on the leading edge of innovation — particularly in packaging. To my knowledge, no one locally is using screwcaps yet (too expensive up front) and. I doubt you’ll see boxes or bags of wine anytime soon either, though I can think of a couple producers who would…