Posts Written OnMay 2007

Hey, I was quoted in a news story…

It’s not every day that I find myself quoted not as a blogger but as someone who follows and knows the New York wine industry. But, it does happen. The story, in the Itacha Journal, focuses on ‘truth in wine labels’ when it comes to Finger Lakes wine. You might remember that there was quite a discussion on a previous post about just what grapes go into some wines labeled with the "New York" AVA. Read the full story.

Latest Dinner Party: Salad Course

Saturday night, we had a dinner party with a few good friends. We call it our "Long Distance Supper Club" because two attendees live up in Poughkeepsie, NY (about 2.5 hours from our house) and my sister in-law and her husband usually come–and they live up near Albany, a full four hours away. The family wasn’t represented for this party, but the usual suspects were, including T and M and M’s brother K who was in town from Colorado. I guess the "Long Distance" took on a whole new geography this time out. We forgot to take pictures of my…

Vineyard Visuals: Between Two Posts

This is a shot taken in the Hamptons at Wolffer Estate’s vineyard on Sunday morning by our resident photographer, Ellen Watson. "I stopped on 27, away from the buildings, etc. of the winery.  I love this image between the two posts. I think I will document this spot throughout the season to see how it changes with time." Note: If you want to use this image as a desktop background, click on the image above for the full-size one.

LENNDEVOURS Q&A: Trent Preszler, COO for Bedell Cellars

Today marks the beginning of yet another new feature here at LENNDEVOURS, the "LENNDEVOURS Q&A." (Catchy name, no?) Briefly, I’m going to ask the same 7 questions to people throughout the New York wine industry (with minor tweaks depending on the person’s role). And, I won’t limit this to winery owners or winemakers. There are a lot more people behind the scenes that don’t get the attention they deserve. We start this new project with Trent Preszler, chief operating officer for Bedell Cellars. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? When I was ten years…

Idiots in Tasting Rooms

I’m way behind on my posting, but we had a dinner party Saturday night and I spent much of the tail end of last week preparing for it. Yes, I’ll have some pictures of the party soon. Yesterday afternoon, we took a quick trip to the North Fork with some friends who were in town for the weekend. We stopped a couple wineries and it ended up being a beautiful day. But, I was disturbed at the behavior of one tasting room visitor at Corey Creek Vineyards, which has become a frequent stop for us because of their beautiful back…

Beer Podcast: Blue Point Summer Ale and Barcade

Rich Thatcher and I are back again this week with another installment of our Long Island beer podcast.  As always we have Long Island beer news and a run down of all the upcoming events listed on the Long Island Beer Calendar.  You’ll get my report on the Southampton Beer Dinner last week and an update about what’s available at John Harvard’s in Lake Grove.  Rich joins me to talk about today’s featured beer, Blue Point‘s Summer Ale.  It’s one of those refreshing beach beers.  We round out the show with a trip to Barcade in Brooklyn where we play…

WBW #33: Château de la Casenove 2004 Masia M

Wines like this one are what make Wine Blogging Wednesday so great. You see, my knowledge of French wine is mediocre at best and my knowledge of wines from the Midi is even more limited. Actually, I know next to nothing other than that it’s hot there and there are lots of bargain wines being made there. And, when I think hot regions, I think about the plush, fruit bomb wines of Australia and parts of California. As you may have guessed based on the wines I typically review and drink, those wines are not my cup of tea. And…

May’s Local with Local Pairing

The goal of my new "Local with Local" series is to not only show how well Long Island food goes with Long Island wine, but also to make it easier for people to try putting the two together at home. For our inaugural pairing, I’ve worked with Doug Gulija of Plaza Cafe to put together a delectable spring offering. I told him that I wanted to focus on sauvignon blanc–specifically the latest vintage from Channing Daughters Winery and this is what he came up with. He’s known for his masterful work with seafood, and this looks delicious (even to someone…

Empire Oenophile in Edible Brooklyn’s Spring Issue

The fine folks at Edible Brooklyn have gotten around to posting the current issue, Spring 2007, on their website, so now I can point you to my first "Empire Oenophile" column there(It’s a pdf). I think you’ll find it an interesting read–especially if you’re sick of always reading about Long Island wines. In this particularly column, I focus heavily on the Finger Lakes but then include Long Island as well. Read it now.