Last weekend, as I walked through the barrel room at Pellegrini Vineyards with the lovely Mrs. LENNDEVOURS and four friends, one of the biggest reasons I love wine hit me yet again — there’s always something more to learn……always. In fact, I’m not sure you can ever know everything there is to know about my favorite farm product (and beverage). We were at Pellegrini taking part in the first class in their wine education series, “Sensory Training, Tour and Tasting,”  ran this summer. We started with a tour of Pellegrini’s vineyard, winery and various barrel rooms as Juan “John” Eduardo…

On Sunday, October 2nd, Martha Clara Vineyards is hosting "Feast for the Gulf Coast" a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. From noon to 6:00 p.m. there will be live music, wine, seafood, BBQ and a gumbo cookoff…all for $25. It’s my understanding that all of the food/wine/entertainment has been donated, so $25 is a steal of a deal…and even if it were $125 it would be an event worth checking out both for the event it self and for the important cause. All proceeds are being donated to Habitat for Humanity Katrina Relief, the Farm Bureau Hurricane Ag…

I’ll write more soon about our winery visits from this past weekend, but I wanted to give Osprey’s Dominion Vineyard credit for dontating $1 for every bottle purchased in their tasting room during September. The tasting room, however, wasn’t a great experience on Saturday. The staff seemed completely overwhelmed and they were unpolished (bordering on rude). It was not one of the best experiences we’ve had.

My Utah-living vinobrother Beau of Basic Juice has started a wine meme — with two tails, and he’s called upon me as his first "tag, you’re it" victim. For wine bloggers, he’s interested in knowing what the best wine (bottle or glass) is that I’ve tasted in the last 30 days. I’ve tasted so many wines in that span that it’s tough to say…but luckily I’ve got my handy dandy wine notebook to guide me. Thumbing through, there are several contenders…but the winner is:

                    I first introduced you to Vineyard 48 in early May when they released their first wines under the Vineyard 48 label. Even though Italian-born Rose Pipia and her son Joseph Pipia had taken over the old Bidwell Winery in Cutchogue a year before that, the wines were really old Bidwell stock that was tweaked by winemaker Mathew Berenz and winemaking consultant Roman Roth of Wolffer Estate. While most of the releases were palatable, the ten-dollar red table blend was probably my favorite.                    Everyone at Vineyard 48…

Head on over to Dr. Vino, one of the world’s seven best wine blogs, to read a piece I wrote about Long Island’s Route 48 Wine Trail. The story started as an email exchange between Doc and myself…and has turned into a three-part serious on Long Island wineries. In coming weeks I’ll be exploring Long Island’s other wine trails — Route 25 and the Hamptons. Check out the story and if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me.

You may or may not know this, but New York State passed a law a year or so ago that allows you to take home wine (from a bottle) that you don’t finish at a restaurant. Not many people know this — including many restaurants — so it’s important to get the word out.   There are, of course, conditions that must be met to avoid being in violation of NY’s open container laws, including: The wine has to be purchased with a "full-course meal" The restaurant must provide a dated receipt for the meal and the wine The bottle…