Posts Written OnJune 01, 2009

Local with Local: 2 Regions. 2 Chefs.

By Lenn Thompson, Editor and Publisher My ongoing Local with Local project is expanding beyond Long Island this summer. Expanding to the Finger Lakes. Today, I'm happy to announce that Chef Deb Whiting, chef at Red Newt Bistro on Seneca Lake in New York's Finger Lakes region will be joining LwL vet Chef Doug Gulija of The Plaza Cafe in Southampton, NY. (Read more about Chef Doug) Deb also happens to be co-owner of Red Newt Wine Cellars with her husband Dave Whiting, who is the winemaker. A winemaker and chef owning a winery and restaurant. Sounds like a power…

What We Drank (6/1/09)

For this week's edition of What We Drank, 5 of those who contribute to LENNDEVOURS chimed in with entries, some local, some not. From Bryan Callandrelli: Channing Daughters Winery 2007 Tocai Friulano Still bitter from missing the TasteCamp visit to Channing Daughters, I opened a gifted bottle of Channing Daughters Winery 2007 Tocai Friulano to ease the pain. I've been known to buy any Friulian red I can find at a wine store, but not so much the whites. They are too easy to find, and for this treasure hunter, I need to feel like I bought the most interesting…

Samples vs. Purchases: A Quick Bit of Housekeeping

I hate wasting blog space on navel-gazing and discussions about blogging ethics. But I've decided that going forward, in the interest of transparency, wines that were received as samples will be indicated with an asterisk (*) on the purchase price, which is always the price, at release, at the winery itself. I've also updated the Rating System page to reflect this. On some level, I think it's stupid. I taste and critique wines the same no matter how they end up in my glass, but there's nothing wrong with a little added transparency. We'll continue with our regularly scheduled programming…

Coming Soon: Video Blog From the Sheldrake Point Vineyard Riesling Vertical

  By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Correspondent Photo Courtesy of Sheldrake Point Vineyard While attending Sheldrake Point Vineyard's riesling vertical this past weekend, I used my new Flip video camera for the first time. I sat down with winemaker Dave Breeden, and the video will be posted shortly. Among the topics we discussed: Sheldrake's vertical featured semi-dry riesling, not dry riesling. Why? Which style does Dave prefer to lay down? Are we, as a wine community, too concerned that a bottle will pass its mythical "peak?" How can you tell when peak is approaching? How did the Sheldrake wines show?…