I heard last week that Sannino’s Bela Vita Vineyard, Long Island’s only custom winemaking facility for home vintners will be expanding its operations for 2009. Owners (and great people) Anthony and Lisa Sannino have entered into a long-term arrangement with Ackerly Pond Vineyards to share production facilities and other space on Peconic Lane in Peconic. You can think of Bella Vita as sort of a mini-, locally focused Crushpad, where you can make your own barrel (or partial barrel) of wine with locally grown fruit. I've made a few wines there and I've been very happy with the reds as…
Posts Written OnMay 11, 2009
TasteCamp 2009: An Interview with Joe Roberts
On this beautiful Monday morning, we catch up with Joe Roberts, a fellow Pittsburgh Steelers fan who just happens to publish one of my favorite wine blogs, 1WineDude, which he sometimes describes as "Wine Edutainment for Intermediate Wine Lovers." Joe isn't a one-trick pony, however. He's a wine consultant and musician in the greater Philadelphia area, and holds the Level 3 Certificate in Wine & Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). He is also a member of the U.S.-based Society of Wine Educators, holding their Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) qualification, and is a member of the…
Sneaking NY Wines Into the Lineup
By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Correspondent Few things put a hop in my step like a tasting of cabernet franc from around the world. Before heading out to Wine Sense, an excellent wine shop on Rochester's Park Avenue, I noticed that the tentative tasting list did not include any New York cab franc. The shop's owner, Kristin Vanden Brul, is a strong supporter of New York wines, and I called to ask if I could bring a bottle to taste blind. She happily agreed; it's rather common at Kristin's tastings for enthuastic guests to bring a bagged bottle from their…