Posts Written OnJuly 13, 2006

By Contributing Columnist Richard Olsen-Harbich Contrary to popular belief, rain is not always a four-letter word to the winegrower. Grapevines — like all other plants — need water to survive and grow. Early season rains help the vines start their growing season and lead them into a hopefully, long, hot summer. Improved vineyard management and disease control techniques have recently shown that late season rains have less effect on wine quality than once thought. And, there’s another fact about rain that goes without saying — we can’t do a thing about when and where it occurs. A lot has written…

I’ll admit it — I drink a lot of rose in the summer. It’s good with grilled foods, refreshing but flavorful, and just plain fun to drink. Of course, I don’t like the ‘adult koolaid’ style of sweet pink drinks…and there are a lot of those out there. Yes, even here on Long Island. In fact, we’ve got just about every style of rose you can think of and then some. Castello di Borghese’s Fleurette ($9) has some of the sweetness that mars many cheap "blush" wines, but it’s a definite step up from the ubiquitous white zinfandels from the…

Over the past few days, several of you have emailed me asking about Long Island rose. What are my favorites? How are the 2005 bottlings? Because I aim to please, keep your eyes on LENNDEVOURS over the next week or so as I talk about Long Island rose — a surprisingly interesting topic. Some winemakers use the saignee method to bleed of juice to concentrate their reds, resulting in a rose. Others make rose for rose sake. Other’s use blends of red and white grapes. Thankfully, there are lots of bone dry versions to drink, and many of the ones…