You’ve heard all about Long Island merlot, but what about the Malbec? Merlot might rule this over-grown sand bar, but Malbec, the large, easy-to-ripen black grape best known as Argentina’s premier variety, is showing surprising potential in Long Island’s maritime environment. It has been grown, and used, on Long Island for quite some time—usually ending up as a minor component in Bordeaux-style red blends. But now, as Long Island vintners continue to experiment with grapes and techniques, varietal Malbec bottlings are becoming available. Macari Vineyards in Mattituck released its 2005 Malbec ($22) a couple months ago and it’s impressive. It’s…
Posts Written OnApril 2007
Whole Foods Market Coming to Lake Grove?
For a while now, it’s been rumored that the SportsPlus is going out of business and that Whole Foods will take over the building. Well, an unnamed source that I have in the local commercial real estate business confirmed it yesterday. This is awesome news. I drive about an hour each way to their Jericho store now and this new one would only be 10-15 minutes…with traffic! I have calls and emails in to both Whole Foods and SportsPlus to further confirm the rumor. Hopefully I’ll get a timeframe as well.
Beer Podcast: Crop Circle Ale and More
By Contributing Columnist Donavan Hall I hope you all enjoyed the last installment of the Long Island beer and malt podcast, The Daily Catch. This week I’m joined by Rich Thatcher, fellow beer and whiskey enthusiast and contributor to Catch & Release (my blog) where he writes about whiskey and Long Island restaurants. Rich and I talk with Dudley Cates, the man behind Crop Circle Ale. We caught up with Dudley out in front of Shoreline Beverage in Huntington. It’s not just a cool name for a beer, it’s brewed with malted barely from the fields in England where the…
WTN: Comtesse Therese 70% Cabernet Sauvignon 30% Cabernet Franc (North Fork)
Some of the wines that display Long Island’s true nature–terroir if you will–are actually red blends, not the varietal merlots that are often lauded as the region’s best. I know, shocking. I should be strung up for suggesting such a thing. Of course not all blends are created equal. There are more than enough wines that fall into the "meritage" catetory that seem more like a way to use up extra lots of lesser reds than anything else. Theresa Dilworth, co-owner of and head winemaker for Comtesse Therese isn’t making one of those. This blandly named but far-from-bland blend of…
WTN: Castello di Borghese 2005 Chardonnay (North Fork)
Even the most casual Long Island wine lover knows Castello di Borghese, located in Cutchogue. Their vineyards are where the Long Island wine industry got its start back in 1973—then known as Hargrave Vineyard after founders Alex and Louisa Hargrave. As such, a visit to Castello di Borghese offers visitors a chance to travel back to infancy of Long Island wine. That’s this producer’s past. That’s the past and because winery’s current owners, Marco and Ann Marie Borghese put the property back on the market for $9.2 million (it was purchased for $4 million in 1999). The entire estate is…
Rkatsiteli: A Future Finger Lakes Standout?
By Finger Lakes Correspondent Jason Feulner Riesling is the king of the Finger Lakes, and most would agree that the Finger Lakes region consistently produces some of the best riesling in the United States. Similarly, riesling’s Alsatian cousin gewürztraminer fares well in this region although its hard-to-pronounce name is sometimes a tricky sell with the casual consumer. So, how about rkatsiteli? Rkatiswhat? Rkatsiteli (pronounced R-kats-i-teli) is in fact one of the most planted varietals in the world and is grown throughout Eastern Europe. In Western Europe and the United States, however, Rkatsiteli is very rare. The grape is similar in…
Heard Through the Grape Vine: LI Wineries Shutting Out Howard Goldberg?
My post the other day caused at least a mini-stir in the local wine industry. Several people intimately involved in it emailed me privately about it rather than commenting on the site. So, I can’t (and won’t) mention any names or quote anyone directly–but Howard is definitely a man with a reputation on the East End. Some came out and said that Howard just plays favorites. Some joked that certain wineries must "have something" on him. Another said that it appears that Howard has favorites because he’s ticked off so many out here that only a handful still send him…
WTN: Wolffer Estate Big Apple Wine
For whatever reason, there are a lot of wine lovers (snobs?) who turn their noses up at fruit wines. Maybe it’s because I live in a state where quite a few are made, but I’ve found some great fruit wines–including this one. No, I’m not saying that this is some earth-shattering wine that will change your life, age for ten-plus years or anything like that. It’s made with 20% Ida Red, 18% Golden Delicious, 18% Fuji, 17% Jona Gold, 10% Empire, 8.5% Gold Rush, 8.5% Breaburn apples, all grown by the Halseys of White Cap Farm in Bridgehampton. But, at…
Who Wants to Make Some Wine in 2007?
As you probably know, I made ten or so cases of cabernet franc in 2006. Bottling was delayed a couple weeks ago, but is should commence soon. Then, the wine will hopefully be ready just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. But that’s the past. This post is about the future. For the 2007 vintage, I’d like to open it up to a few of you to join me in making some wine. Depending on who wants to join in and what they want to do, we may do another Chinon-style cab franc, but we could potentially do a merlot or…
Wine Blogging Wednesday #33 Announced: Mid-Priced Wines from the Midi
Well folks, it looks like I’m not going to be able to drink a New York wine for WBW #33, hosted this time around by Doktor Weinolb. The theme is wines from the southern French region of Languedoc-Roussillon (which is often referred to as the Midi). It’s not that simple though. Marcus wants to highlight the mid-priced wines of the region, so your wine of choice should be between $15 and $30 bucks. This is a region that I haven’t explored much at all. But, I’ll certainly enjoy seeing what I can find in local shops. Something tells me that…