As you may or may not have noticed via the comments on my original post announcing the Long Island Beer Festival, it did not go well. Not well at all. It was tremendously oversold, lots of people were turned away at the door and apparently even if you got in, the food was gone almost immediately and it was too backed to move. Then, to top it all off, I’ve heard that the fire department shut down the event. I’ve sent several emails to the organizers, Shoreline Beverage, trying to get an official statement and asking how I can direct…
Posts Written OnMay 2006
WTN: Paumanok Vineyards 2004 Grand Vintage Chardonnay ($30)
A couple months ago, I wrote about the "chardonnay shift" towards steel-raised wines — which I tend to prefer as opposed to the heavy, sometimes-flabby barrel fermented wines. I tasted three different chardonnays from Paumanok Vineyards yesterday for a story I was working on. One was 100% steel fermented — fresh, crisp and refereshing. It was what I expected. The other two were barrel fermented, and while both had nice acidity and avoided overuse of oak, one wine truly stood out. Fermented in new French oak barrels, Paumanok 2004 Grand Vintage Chardonnay ($30) actually has me questioning my own chardonnay…
Summer Sippers from Sagaponack
It’s not quite beach season yet here on Long Island, but it’s probably on a lot of peoples’ minds. And, Wolffer Estate in Sagaponack has released three wines that belong on the beach — and at your next BBQ. As you have probably noticed, Long Island wine’s “sweet spot” in terms of price-for-quality tends to be in the $20+ realm. Unfortunately, that turns a lot of wine drinkers off (silly, silly people), but one of my favorite wines for less than $15 has long been Wolffer’s simple-but-tasty La Ferme Martin Chardonnay ($14). My first bottle from the newly released 2004…
Reminder: Fabulous Favorites Festival (WBW/IMMB) is This Friday
Don’t forget, the Fabulous Favorites Festival is this Friday. This blog event, bringing Is My Blog Burning and Wine Blogging Wednesday together for the first time, is sure to be a lot of fun for everyone. Originally I had planned on doing an entire tasting menu of favorites, but we may just focus on a couple favorites instead. Hey, it’s only Monday…we have plenty of time. Join us and send your posts to fabfavfest@googlemail.com
San Francisco Here We Come
It’s official: LENNDEVOURS is invading the Bay Area. Everyone’s favorite Long Island wine blogger will be on the left coast from Wednesday, June 21 to Wednesday, June 28. And Nena is joining me for the second half of the trip (once the work portion is complete). I’ll be in all-day conferences Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but Nena arrives aturday and we’re going to celebrate our one-year anniversary a little early and enjoy the Bay Area bounty. Our plan is to stay in Frisco until Tuesday morning, when we plan to check out, get a rental car and drive up to…
50 in 50 #2 — Oklahoma
This morning over at Wine Sediments, I continue my tour of the 50 states and their wines with a virtual visit to Nyuaka Creek Winery in Oklahoma. You may recognize the namy Nuyaka Creek…that’s because the Oklahoma Wine News blog is run by the owners’ son, Thomas. Come taste with me at Wine Sediments.
Friends, Merlot is Not Dead
As you may have noticed, Eric Asimov’s column (and blog post) today focuses on merlot. He even mentions a locally produced bottling — Lenz 2000 Old Vines Merlot, which I think is one of the best to be had (though pricey at $55 or so). His blog post highlights mainly California merlot, which if you ask me is like talking about the fresh seafood in Indiana. Remember this: Merlot is not dead. She just doesn’t live in California. Living on Long Island and writing so much about its wines, you’d expect me to be fully in merlot’s court, but the…
Old Home + Fresh Wine = Stormhoek Geek Dinner
You have to hand it to Stormhoek, a South African winery — when it comes to marketing, they certainly march to the beat of their own drummer. Marketing disruption they call it. Instead of using any of the traditional methods for getting the word out about their wines, they have decided to provide wine for 100 Geek Dinners throughout the United States to introduce them to the U.S. market. These dinners will be hosted by the people behind the best blogs, forums and websites around. And, as you may have guessed already, I’ll be hosting one of these dinners, along…
Our First CSA Program: The Golden Earthworm Organic Farm
We finally did it. I just put my application in the mail to join The Golden Earthworm Organic Farm’s 2006 CSA program. We’re actually sharing a share with some friends of ours (Matt and Tara), just to see how we like it and to make sure we don’t have too much food. Matt, who used to live in the Hudson Valley has some experience with CSA programs up there and he seems to think that sharing a share will be more than enough for us. I’d like to thank our local Stop & Shop grocery story for making this move…
WTN: Wolffer Estate 2005 Rose ($14)
Despite what so many winemakers might lead you to believe, rose wines, also known as "blush" in some circles, needn’t (and I’d argue shouldn’t) be sweet and syrupy like the ocean of ubiquitous white zinfandel coming out of California. As Beau would say — Real Men Drink Pink. I drink rose, partially because I have to review all the local renditions but also because I enjoy many of them. I particularly like the ones made locally from cabernet franc grapes. But more on that another day. Wolffer Estate 2005 Rose ($14) is made in a dry style but is sure…