Posts Written OnAugust 2005

You’ll often hear Long Island’s better wines compared to those from the Bordeaux region of France, purportedly because of the similarities between the East End’s climate and that of Bordeaux. But while there are some similarities, it’s a bit of a marketing spin, too. According to Roman Roth, winemaker and general manager of Wolffer Estate in Sagaponack, “The Long Island climate is close to Bordeaux when compared to the hot climates of Australia or California. (But) Long Island is unique. We are much further south.” In describing the differences between Bordeaux and Long Island, Roth continues, “Old World wines are…

Artwork by Scott Sandell, a Minnesota native and Sag Harbor resident, is on display all over the world. His “works-on-paper,” as he calls them, can be found in the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, the U.S. State Department in Havana, Cuba, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Chrysler Museum, Harvard University, Emory University and many other places. But if serious art collecting is beyond your means, there’s another way to enjoy Sandell’s considerable talent – on a bottle of several local wines. In the fall of 2002, Richard Pisacano, owner of Roanoke Vineyards in Riverhead, approached Sandell about designing labels…

I’ve never met Pellegrini Vineyards’ winemaker Russell Hearn. But through his wines, I feel a certain welcome familiarity. From my very first sip of his Vinter’s Pride Encore – a rich, complex blend of red varietals – a few years ago, I’ve been a member of his fan club, and I’ve enjoyed numerous visits to the Pellegrini tasting room ever since. Australian born, Hearn began his winemaking career at the age of 16 and brought his substantial talents to the North Fork in 1991 when Pellegrini Vineyards first opened. By combining traditional methods with some of the East Coat’s most…

Less than an hour from Manhattan, the Brotherhood Winery, in Washingtonville, NY , is "America’s oldest winery" having been founded by John Jaques, with a first commercial vintage 1839. In 1987, new owners purchased the winery and Cesar Baeza, an internationally prominent winemaker and viticulturist, took over as winemaker. His wines were first produced in the fall of 1987. Nena and I visited a year or so ago and tasted through their offerings. Overall, we found the wines to be inconsistent, but always drinkable and sometimes quite impressive. I’ll be reviewing more of their wines in the near future, but…

With so many new food and wine blogs popping up every day, it can be tough to keep an eye on all of my favorites. But, when I stumbled upon The Wine Chicks yesterday, I had a feeling it’d become a daily read. Well, their post today about a few Long Island wines sealed the deal. I’m a fan. Turns out that one of the chicks was born on Long Island and raise in wine country…and the other is a recent graduate of culinary school (you might know her as Kristin Confit). I have a feeling that some collaboration might…

On Saturday August 20th, the Peconic Land Trust’s Quail Hill Farm will host a wine dinner beginning at 4:30 p.m. (dinner at 6 p.m.). The food will be prepared by chefs from Nick & Toni’s along with wines from Channing Daughters Winery at a 100-foot long, common table. Tickets are $125 ($85 is charitable gift to  Peconic Land Trust to help support Quail Hill Farm).  Tickets can be purchased over the phone by calling 283-3195.

On Friday, August 12 from 5 – 7 p.m., Wolffer Estate will honor local libraries, serve select library wines and present Elin McCoy, author of "The Emperor" a biography of Robert Parker. Ms. McCoy who is a contributing writer to Bloomberg and Food & Wine Magazine will be available of a book signing of this newly released biography. Reservations are not required. No charge. For more information, visit www.wolffer.com.

If you’ve been reading LENNDEVOURS for a while, you’ve no doubt read at least a little bit about Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton, NY. The CDW wine club is one of the two we’re members of — and with good reason. Not only are the wines among the best and most unique on Long Island, but they are small production and if you aren’t in the wine club, you simply won’t get your hands on the wines. In fact, this wine, which was in the club shipment in July is already sold out.