Posts Written OnMay 2008

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Contributor Whether you are a wine geek who can differentiate the sub-appellations of the Loire Valley or just a happy-go-lucky daytripper winding along a New York State wine trail, you’ve probably experienced cabernet franc. Long Island got me hooked some years back and I know I’m not the only one who marches up to tasting bars and skips ahead to this variety. Luckily for me, the Niagara USA region is starting to realize the potential of cab franc too as its young vines begin to produce. And, if you’re a cab franc lover planning a visit…

I first heard about Sparkling Pointe several years ago when Howard Goldberg wrote a piece about them for the New York Times. At the time, I shot off an email to the owners, but never heard back. I didn’t think much of it at the time, to be honest. But, a month or two ago, their winemaker, Gilles Martin, sent me an email and let me know that he’d be dropping off some samples (he lives about a mile from us), and sure enough, the wines were at my house that very evening. But, we went away for a week,…

Our usually intrepid beer writers Donavan has been busy lately with some of his fiction-writing projects, so I’m going to hop (pun intended) in here today and let you know about the next Firkin Friday Cask Night at DEKS restaurant in Rocky Point, NY. The next edition of this monthly beer gathering will be June 6, starting at 6:00 p.m. and the beer is Troegs Brewing Company’s HopBack Amber Ale, their flagship product, and a beer that I tried for the first time over the holiday weekend. I’m a lover of well-hopped beers, a "hop head" as they say, and…

“Why the heck don’t you make riesling?” It’s a question that German-born winemaker Roman Roth has been asked endless times in his 15 years making wine on Long Island. In some ways, it’s an obvious inquiry—some of the best Riesling in the world is made in the country where Roth started his winemaking career at the age of 16. But, since 1992 Roman has been focusing on varieties like merlot, chardonnay and cabernet franc at Wolffer Estate, where he serves as winemaker, and other wineries like Scarola Vineyards and Roanoke Vineyards, where he also makes the wines. His wines are…

Today I have another event announcement here at LENNDEVOURS, one that we’re co-hosting on June 14 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. I’ve coined the series of events I’m helping canvas Magazine with "Drink Local with canvas Magazine" and this one, much like the last, will focus on Long Island wine, with live music and delicious food from Whole Foods Market. This time around, we have four local wineries coming to pour: Medolla Vineyards, Martha Clara Vineyards, Roanoke Vineyards and Wolffer Estate Vineyards. I’m excited about this one because these are some of my favorites and we have at least one…

Stainless steel-fermented chardonnay is one of Long Island’s great wine pleasures. They are always affordable and refreshing, rarely offensive and sometimes absolutely delicious. In being made without oak barrels (or other oak chunks, stave, dust, etc.) these wines allow the true character of locally grown chardonnay grapes to come through. I know that it’s hard to believe, but these wines allow you to actually taste chardonnay, not the winemaker’s manipulation of chardonnay. We drink a lot of ‘steel chardonnay’ around our house and, as I said, they are rarely offensives. Sometimes, they do miss the mark however. One 2007 white…

In case you haven’t given it a listen, head over to our very own Donavan Hall’s beer podcast, Radio Beer Hall. I’m not always good about listening, in fact I usually forget for weeks and then have to catch up, but his latest podcast focuses on a topic that is near and dear to my heart — drinking local. Always a thoughtful, insightful guy, Donavan talks about about the dangers industrial beer, capitalism in the beer world and, of course, why you should drink local. I’m also enjoying hearing about his Wit project, where he’s making numerous small batches of…