Posts Written OnDecember 22, 2008

Jason’s Finger Lakes Wines of 2008

By Jason Feulner, Finger Lakes Correspondent Lenn asked me to write a "wines of the year" post, but as enthusiastic as I am about Finger Lakes wines, I feel ill-equipped to name a "wine of the year" since the joyous rigors of life keep me from driving around the Finger Lakes as much as I'd like. Through events and site visits, I probably tasted four dozen rieslings this year and sampled the spectrum of varietal selections at about 20 wineries. That's a lot of tasting, but there are a lot of wineries in the Finger Lakes region (at least 115 at this point). While…

Quick Q&A with Frank Scarola, Owner, Scarola Vineyards

For this week's holiday edition of the Q&A, we pose our questions to Frank Scarola of Scarola Vineyards, a still-new producer that definitely flies under the radar. The wines are made at Wolffer Estate under the watchful eye of Roman Roth, but the Scarola family has plans for a tasting room on the North Fork, hopefully soon. As with many new producers, they are playing the waiting game with the New York State Liquor Authority. In the meantime, the wines are available directly from the Scarola and at a few shops in the tri-state area. What (and where) was the…

Will Governor Paterson’s Budget Mean the End of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation?

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor It's not news to anyone in New York that the state government is running under a serious deficit. It's all over the news and even before it was being talked about so much, many knew and feared that this day would come. Now, Governor Paterson is trying to rectify the situation with his proposed 2009 budget. Economic times are tough, seemingly, every where, with everybody. This isn't a political or economic blog, so I'm not going to write today about the entire budget and the decisions Governor Paterson has made. But there are a…