Selecting a beer called “Hop Manna” is about as close as I’ve come in years to celebrating Passover/Easter, but it had been too long since I’d had a Shmaltz Brewing Company (Saratoga Springs, NY, and San Francisco) br...

The wine tastings at Standing Stone Vineyards are hardly typical, but then again, owner and winemaker Marti Macinski isn’t your average wine industry professional. A former lawyer with a degree in piano performance and philos...

The May shipment of the Empire State Cellars Wine Club won’t ship for a few weeks, but from now on, we’re going to announce the selecitons at least a few weeks beforehand. That way, if you’re not already a mem...

Well, I’m once again the midst of my annual month-long break from alcohol –– but that doesn’t mean I can’t still enjoy a trip to Finger Lakes wine country. In need of a road trip and eager to take advantage of Wednesd...

What was mere speculation and conjecture just a few weeks ago is now a reality on the North Fork. Shinn Estate Vineyards’ David Page sent me this photo this morning of bud break in their estate merlot vineyard, marking ...

As a cheese geek I am continually preoccupied with the age-old question that plagues the majority of the cheese obsessed here in NY and elsewhere. “What makes the better cheese pairing? Wine or Beer?” I am clearly not...

Our son Rhys was about 16 hours old when he tasted his first wine — roughly a quarter of a drop of Champagne, sucked off the end of my pinky — in our hospital room. Our family toasted his arrival, and I attempted to...

Just in from the Cornell Cooperative Extension Northeast NY Commercial Fruit program, is announcement of an open position at the cold hardy hybrid wine grape trial vineyard in Willsboro, NY. I’m well acquainted with the vin...