Posts Written OnApril 2010

Sacketts Harbor War of 1812 Amber Ale

By Kevin Burns, Beer Columnist Sacketts Harbor Brewing Company is located in historic Sacketts Harbor, NY.  The small village was the site of two famous battles in the early 1800s between the United States and Britian.  In honor of those victories by the U.S. Military, Sacketts Harbor Brewing has named their amber ale War of 1812.   War of 1812 poured a clear, dark amber color with a finger width of off-white head. The aroma is mostly malts with a bit of nuttiness. The body is malty up front and the hops show through in the middle as the malts…

Announcing HARVEST | September 24-25

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Harvest season is always bustling and fun on the East End of Long Island, but this year there is another (though expensive) reason to get out there — HARVEST, a wine auction and celebration of Long Island's East End — to benefit the Peconic Land Trust and East End Hospice. Organized by the Long Island Merlot Alliance and Long Island Wine Council with support from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, HARVEST is happen September 24-25 at Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack and at local vineyards on both forks. It's a bit of a complicated…

Wine Bars Offering Local Wines: It Has to Make Money to Make Sense

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor Photos by Morgan Dawson Photography "You should support local wines." "Why aren't you offering more Finger Lakes wines?" "Don't you care about local growers?" By now you've heard some variation of the above, and likely you've said something similar to a restaurant manager or bar owner. At a time when restaurants are closing and businesses are feeling pressure, it's important to remember that businesses make decisions first and foremost to survive. They are not charities, and if they're not making money, they're gone. With that in mind, it is thrilling to discover the wine…

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2009 Coalescence

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief This is the last of the value whites I tried during a recent tasting, and guess what? Not only was it the unofficial winner, it's also the wine priced the lowest. Shinn Estate Vineyards 2009 Coalescence ($14) is a unique steel-fermented blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, riesling and — get this — merlot blanc. The riesling that went into this wine comes from Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes, by the way. The nose is citrusy but showed a bit more nuance than the other two values whites in the lineup, delivering minerally seawater character and…

Volunteers Needed at Emery Vineyard in Pulteney

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief This email crossed my virtual desk yesterday afternoon and I wanted to post it for NYCR readers, particularly those in the Finger Lakes, to see. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED SATURDAY MAY 1st TO HELP RAY EMERY A work bee has been scheduled for Saturday, May 1st at Emery Vineyards in Pulteney, New York to trim and tie about 35 acres of vines. Owner and vineyardist, Ray Emery, has a serious medical condition that leaves him unable to work this spring. A few weeks ago, about 150 area grape growers, winemakers, friends, family and strangers turned out from as far…

What We Drank (April 27, 2010)

This is what our editors are drinking right now: Lenn Thompson: Windham Winery 2004 Cabernet Franc (Virginia)  There is a lot of cabernet franc grown and made in Virginia, so you'd think I'd come back from my trip with a long list of killer wines. Not so, at least not when it comes to the cabernet franc I tasted. Sadly, it seems as though the prevailing style is to oak and manipulate the "green" out. Too many tasted like lighter cabernet sauvignon, or at least didn't display any of the vegetal/herbacious edge that defines cabernet franc. This Windham Winery 2004…

Drink Local Wine 2010 Conference: It’s About the People

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Photo courtesy of Dezel Quinlan Despite the New Jersey Turnpike's best efforts, I made it home last night from a great weekend in northern Virginia where I attended (and spoke at) Drink Local Wine 2010. I'm still gathering my thoughts about all the goings on at the conference, but this much is clear: the people were the real star of the conference — just like every other blogger-heavy gathering I've attended. Meeting bloggers is always an extreme pleasure for me. The passion they have(and share) and the nuanced wine knowledge they exhibit about their niche of…

Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops

By Kevin Burns, Beer Columnist The bottle of Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops states: "Brooklyn Black Ops does not exist. However, if it did exist, it would be a robust stout concocted by the Brooklyn brewing team under cover of secrecy and hidden from everyone else at the brewery.  Supposedly Black Ops was aged for four months in bourbon barrels, bottled flat, and re-fermented with Champagne yeast, creating big chocolate and coffee flavors with a rich underpinning of vanilla-like oak notes.  They say there are only 1,000 cases.  We have no idea what they're talking about." In some ways, that says…