Posts Written OnMarch 2008

Boy, time sure does fly when you’re having fun (or just plain busy), doesn’t it? Turns out that this here blog turned 4 a couple weeks ago, and I missed posting about it completely. Only when someone here at work asked me how long I’ve had LENNDEVOURS did I do a little thinking and realize that LENNDEVOURS turned 4 on March 15. I’m not the self-congratulatory kind, so let me just take a moment here to thank all of my readers, contributors and of course the New York wine community. Without each and every one of you (even the people…

By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent As Lenn wrote last week, Wine Spectator just released scores for a list of 2006 Finger Lakes rieslings as tasted by James Molesworth. Many thanks to our friend over at Finger Lakes Weekend Wino, who has summarized these results in two posts here and here. The wines on the list represent some great wineries to be sure, and while I respectfully disagree with some of the relative comparisons between these tastings (the 2006 Ravines is, in my opinion, one of the best Finger Lakes wines I’ve ever tasted and deserves a higher score) it…

I received an email this morning that Richard Olsen-Harbich, winemaker at Raphael and LENNDEVOURS contributor has has received the for "Best Beverage Artisan of 2007" from Edible Communities and Edible East End Magazine. Rich is being recognized for making his significant contributions to the local foods movement for our region. Voting for the award took place online and ended in December, and you won’t hear any arguments from LENNDEVOURS headquarters. Rich has been a member of the  Long Island wine community for nearly 30 years and has authored all three local Federal American Viticultural Areas on Long Island" The North…

You may have heard about this already, but April is New York Wine Month (warning, the website is awful). More than 300 fine restaurants and wine shops are featuring over 92 New York wines all month long. It seem as though the restaurants are spread out over the state pretty well, but it’s not easy to be sure because of how they are organized (or not) on the website. This is a program that I’m obviously behind. It’s important that the NY wine industry do a better job of marketing its wares to the local residents — saturating them —…

Last year, Bedell Cellars added a new premium white wine to it’s portfolio, named Gallery. I really enjoyed it and I actually just polished off my last bottle a few months ago. They didn’t make much of it, so once my last bottle was no more, I wasn’t able to get my hands on another bottle or two. Luckily, Bedell has recently released the second edition of its flagship white with Bedell Cellars’ 2006 Gallery ($48). And even if I like this one a little less, it is far more successful that the two chardonnays I reviewed earlier this week,…

You may have noticed the banner on the left-hand side of this site, but Hamptons Restaurant Week 2008 starts this coming Sunday and runs through April 6th. It’s the sixth annual edition of HRW and it looks like they have more restaurants (and other vendors) lined up than ever. LENNDEVOURS is proud to be a media sponsor this year and I’ll be visiting at least a couple restaurants next week. One will be Southampton Publick House, which serves its own great beers. Not sure where else we’ll go, but I’ll definitely write about it. There are some of the North…

Yesterday, I wrote about Corey Creek’s regular chardonnay from the 2006 vintage, a wine that I thought was this wine when tasted blind because of all the vanilla and oak aromas and flavors. Today, it’s time to take a look at the reserve bottling. Darker in the glass, this one is a medium gold, but the aromas show plenty of oak influence — though in a slightly different way. Here, the oak comes through as a butterscotch and caramel character with toast, spice-roasted apples and a faint doughy, yeasty note. The palate is medium-full bodied and much like the regular…

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Publisher If the Napa Valley is cabernet sauvignon country and Long Island is the land of merlot (and cabernet franc), the Finger Lakes region is definitely the U.S. region where riesling shines brightest. The deep, narrow lakes that give the region its name gather and hold a significant amount of heat in the warm summer season, extending the grape-growing season just long enough to ripen grapes as well as protect vineyards against potentially catastrophic early frosts.       Recently, James Molesworth, on WineSpectator.com rated several Finger Lakes Rieslings well — in the high 80s —…