Long Island Whine: Are LI Wines Really Over-Priced? Or are We Looking at Them From the Wrong Perspective? Just like the wines we drink, any discussion of wine prices and price-to-value ratios is always a complex and layered one. There are dozens of factors that help a winery’s management decide what to charge for its wines, including land costs, labor costs, market pressures, and supply and demand. The list goes on and on. The idea of “value” is even tougher to pin down as it’s so subjective and affected by things like the media, mood and personal perception. So before…
Posts Written OnJuly 03, 2005
Lenz is a Lenn’s Favorite
(This column appeared in the 7/1/05 issue of Dan’s Papers) Over the Barrel…With Lenn Thompson Contrary to popular belief (okay, maybe just in my own wine-induced fantasies), I don’t own Lenz Winery in Peconic. That would be Lenn’s Winery anyway, even if the “z” would be a much more MTV-esque spelling. Lenz Winery is one of the North Fork’s most respected producers and employs one of the regions most gifted and charismatic winemakers – Eric Fry. If you’re at the Lenz tasting room and see a guy in overalls with a long ponytail and beard, that’s Eric. Say hello and,…
Music Among The Vines
Power. Grace. Complexity. These words, often used to describe our favorite wines, are also used to depict the nuances and wonders of great music. Standing alone, wine and music are two of life’s great pleasures, but blend the two and you have an event and experience with few peers. Last Sunday night Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack hosted just such an event: “Salon at Wölffer Estate – A Romantic Liederabend to Benefit the Music Festival of the Hamptons.” Those in attendance enjoyed glasses of Wölffer’s award-winning wines as Katya Sonina, an extremely talented pianist and student at Julliard, played selections…
The Greenport Garagiste
(This story appeared originally in the 07/01/05 issue of Dan’s Papers) Ivy League Professor-Cum-Winemaker Harold Watts’ Approach: Small Production, Big Wines Garagiste, translated from the French, means “garage owner,” not something usually associated with wine country. But it’s a term often used in regions like Bordeaux to describe a winemaker who produces small lots of high-quality, handcrafted wines – sometimes right in his or her own garage. Harold Watts, Ternhaven Cellars’ owner and winemaker, also started out at home, but instead of making wine in his garage, Watts made wine in his Manhattan apartment. Today, with an unintentional though…