Posts Written OnMarch 2007

It’s been a light week at LENNDEVOURS

I’ve been slacking on my blogging duties this week, but it’s not without reason I assure you. It’s rare when my day job, various writing gigs and other freelance work converge so densely as they have (and still are) this week. But it does happen. Sadly, LENNDEVOURS is often the neglected party in these cases. But fear not loyal readers. Most everything except the day job will wrap up by the end of the weekend and we’ll be back to regular posting here on LENNDEVOURS. In the meantime, I thought a picture of our little guy would help fill the…

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American Airlines to Serve New York Wines

If you’re flying from New York to the west coast-say to San Francisco, Los Angeles or Seattle-you’ll now be able to enjoy some New York wine during the flight. Assuming you fly American Airlines that is. I haven’t been able to dig up specific vintages yet, but they’ll be serving a merlot from Bedell Cellars here on Long Island and also a riesling from Salmon Run, which is Dr. Konstantin Frank’s second label. This is a very cool development and I’m glad to see that they chose well-regarded producers. There are a lot of wineries in NY with better PR/marketing,…

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Wine Blogging Wednesday #32 Announced — Regular vs. Reserve

Wine Blogging Wednesday is heading into it’s 32nd edition on April 11 and the theme is one that I’m really looking forward to-Regular vs. Reserve. The premise is simple, buy two bottles of the same varietal from the same producer, one the ‘regular’ bottling and the other the ‘reserve’ and see how the juice inside those bottles differ. Which do you prefer? Is the ‘reserve’ bottling worth the higher price? I expect that we’ll see a wide array of wines involved and I hope that a lot of people participate. Reserve wines can be expensive, but you can also find…

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WTN: Channing Daughters Winery 2006 Mudd Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (North Fork)

 For all of its purported similarities to Bordeaux, Long Island produces surprising little Sauvignon Blanc. It’s the white wine grape of Bordeaux after all. Yet, those that are made always seem to capture the region’s uniqueness. The best taste like Long Island in a bottle. Channing Daughters Winery, one of only three producers within the Hamptons Long Island AVA, sources the grapes for its Sauvignon Blanc from the Mudd Vineyard on the North Fork – where some of the Island’s oldest Sauvignon Blanc grapes grow. Winemaker Christopher Tracy is a white wine wizard – mixing and matching both expected and…

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Love at First Twist

By Contributing Columnist Robin Mererdith I’d like to welcome Robin Meredith as LENNDEVOURS’ newest contributor. He is the former owner of Broadfields Wine Cellars and The Tasting Room on the North Fork of Long Island. He is now preparing to begin his Master of Wine education. If you’ve ever had a glass of wine that smelled of moldy cardboard, wet dog, or dingy basement, you’ve experienced a "corked wine." Saldy, corked wines are ruined and there’s no resuscitating them. Most of the time, corked wine is caused by 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), a hard-to-pronounce compound that taints the aromas and flavors of…

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Sips and Slurps (March 23)

I taste a lot of wine—and I mean a lot of wine. I hope that doesn’t sound like complaining, because it’s anything but. I love exploring the world of wine and bringing the best—and sometimes even the worst—to you, my readers. As spring begins, I thought it a good time to catch up on some one-off wines and news bits that I have dog-eared in my tasting notebook—notes that just haven’t made it into any stories for a variety of reasons. This is the beginning of a new periodic feature here on LENNDEVOURS…Sips and Slurps. If you love Zinfandel, look…

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Making Wine at the Equator: Zabibu

I got an email late last week from the founding mother of Long Island wine, Louisa Hargrave. That’s not particularly noteworthy as we correspond regularly and obviously share a common affection for our local wine region. But, this email was an interesting one. Turns out that she had just returned from a trip to Kenya where she had been helping Richard Leakey and his daughter Louise de Merode make wine in Kenya of all places. Apparently they are focusing on pinot noir but have also made some chardonnay with Louisa’s help. And, Louise has a great blog, Zabibu (which means…

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Vineyard 48 Hires a New Vineyard Manager

Vineyard 48 has just hired Huntington, NY-native Chris Kelly as its new vineyard and estate manager After being a professional bee keeper in Hawaii for five years, Kelly returned to Long Island in 1982 and pursued a career in vineyard management and has worked Pellegrini Vineyards, Palmer Vineyards and others He’s been working in Long Island vineyards for 25 years and now believes that boutique wineries have the opportunity to become leading edge pioneers in sustainable agriculture. Kelly is obviously not the first local vineyard manager to turn to ‘green’ grape growing, but it’s nice to see another one joining…

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“MERLOT” License Plate Illegal in Utah

File this one under "I sure am glad that I don’t live in a theocratic state." The license plate that you see mocked up at right was just deemed illegal in the state of Utah-after it had been issued and used for a decade. Turns out that using "Merlot" on a plate is illegal in the most oppressive of states because it is an intoxicant. I guess the people running things in Utah have a different view of freedom of speech-and clearly don’t have anything more important to focus on. I just went to the NY DMV site to see…

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New North Fork Winery: Medolla Vineyards

I got an email this morning from John Medolla, who along with his wife  Denise, just released their first merlot under the new Medolla Vineyards label-adding yet another producer to the North Fork wine scene. I hope Lisa Granik is paying attention. Medolla’s first release, a 2002 Merlot ($23) was produced at the Lenz Winery with Eric Fry (of Lenz) serving as consulting winemaker. Medolla Vineyards is one of the smallest in the region with an initial annual production of 500 cases. They hand harvest grapes from local vineyards. Both John and Denise work in the aviation industry, but their…

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