Posts Written OnJuly 2008

There’s a lot to like about Bouke Wines, one of the North Fork’s newest wine producers. On first glance alone, the labels are clean, sleek and different from most local producers. Then, there’s founder Lisa Donneson. I met her for the first time at Brooklyn Uncorked and found her both passionate and charming. It doesn’t hurt that her wines are made by Gilles Martin, a genuninely nice guy who has been making wine on the North Fork for about 20 years.  In an email recently, Donneson told me that she wants to create "Wines that showcase the best of Long…

This edition of "Local With Local" features two (actually three) ingredients that I’m passionate about: local beets, Catapano Dairy goat cheese, and local sauvignon blanc. When I asked my partner in this project, chef Doug Gulija from The Plaza Cafe in Southampton, to create a dish to serve with Macari Vineyards’ 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, he first thought about seafood, a natural companion and the protein with which he does his wizardry at the restaurant. But, after tasting the wine in the dining room, with Joe and Alexandra Macari who were eating there, chef was blown away, telling me afterwards that…

Today we put the LENNDEVOURS Q&A questions in front of Jared Skolnick, president and co-founder of Grand Cru Classes, in Mattituck. Grand Cru Classes is the East End’s only dedicated wine education company and, along with his wife Tracy Ellen Kamens, I think Jared is onto something. He’s also a fellow lover of earthy local cab franc and the Steelers. Clearly this Q&A is long overdue. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking? La Fiole du Pape, Chateauneuf du Pape from Pere Anselme over a holiday dinner in around 1980. It was a typical family…

Red wine from the Finger Lakes. Most of the time, they are mediocre at best. My tasting notebook is littered with descriptors like thin, green and under ripe when it comes to these wines. The best ones, almost without fail, tend to be made with fruit grown on Long Island, where achieving ripeness is less of a worry. Then again, with the way our global climate is changing, they might be able to ripen cabernet fully in even the coolest years within our lifetimes. Let’s hope not. But I digress, we’re not talking about cabernet today. Today we’re talking pinot…

Three years ago today, on a covered bridge in Schoharie, NY, Nena Helene Vedder became Nena Helene Thompson. It was a beautiful day that I’ll always remember as one of the best days in my life. Perhaps only the day Jackson William Thompson joined us bests it, in fact. Happy anniversary, Nena. I know that I can be a challenge at times, what with all of the time on the computer, the obsessions with local foods and wines (and recently beer), and my grill-collecting tendencies. But through it all, you always support me, put up with (mostly) my quirks and…

I really do want to love Love Lane Kitchen. Seriously. It’s a bustling little cafe on a great little street (Love Lane) in Mattituck. The menu balances local standards (lobster rolls) with things that are a bit of a surprise (pad thai and Cuban sandwiches). And, given the dire need for lunch options in wine country, I really really want to love the place. But after our second visit, I can’t say that I do yet. After a quiet 4th of July at the house, we decided to make the short drive out to the North Fork. We picked up…

One of the highlights of our lunch at Love Lane Kitchen on Saturday was my first look at Southampton Publick House’s new packaging, or at least a look at the new IPA label. Spencer, one of the assistant brewers at SPH tipped me off a while ago that a change was coming, including new packaging and also the renaming of at least one beer, the beer formerly known as Secret Ale (which is now named for its style, Altbier). I like the new labels quite a bit. I think they are an upgrade over the old ones. What about the…

One of the most fun aspects of picking up our weekly share at Garden of Eve Organic Farm is one that I never really thought of before we signed up. You see, the have pigs, goats, turkeys, chickens, sheep and even a calf there. And, to say that our little guy loves animals is akin to suggesting that I merely like pork. Every week he enjoys checking in on his farm animal friends. Here we are saying hello to one of the pigs. If you could hear Jackson when this picture was snapped, you’d hear him grunting like a pig.…