Part 5: Field Spray Preparations: Stirring Controversy Part 4: Hidden Alchemy in Compost Part 3: Organic Viticulture in Long Island Part 2: Moonstones OR Gravitas Vos Liberabit Part 1: Ground Rules
Posts Written OnSeptember 21, 2010
Roanoke Vineyards 2007 Gabby’s Cabernet Franc
By Lenn Thompson Every wine has a story behind it. All too often, those narratives are joyless and dispiriting ones filled with nefarious characters, corner-cutting, over-manipulation and mass-production. Then there are the tales of incredibly meticulous artisans, their dedication and their dillgence. These are the stories than inspire us and drive us to act — or buy in the case of wine. I've told the story of Roanoke Vineyards Gabby's Cabernet Franc before. It's story of a man, Gabby Pisacano, tending the 12 eastern-most rows of cabernet franc in his son's vineyard. Sometimes the best wine stories are born at…
What We Drank (September 21, 2010)
This is what our editors and contributors were drinking last week…. Lenn Thompson: Wolffer Estate 2005 Reserve Chardonnay (Hamptons) If you have any of this knocking around in your cellar, chill it only lightly and open it tonight. It's nearly impossible to know if it's truly peaking (and this was my last one) but it's tasting so delicous right now, that I don't want you to miss it. I've been a vocal advocate for less (okay, usually no) oak in Long Island chardonnay, but Wolffer's winemaker, Roman Roth, has been crafting well-balanced chardonnays of varying styles for years. He…
McCall Vineyards 2007 Pinot Noir
Visitors to Long Island's North Fork have been driving right by the McCall family's Corchaug Estate for years — without even knowing it. Located directly across the road from Pellegrini Vineyards in Cutchogue, the 21-acre vineyard is planted with 11 acres of pinot noir (the region's largest planting) and 10 acres of merlot. Until 2007, Russ McCall sold all of his fruit, but in started keeping some of it for his own McCall Wines label. McCall Wines 2007 Pinot Noir ($24) was made in the Hudson Valley by at Millbrook Vineyards by winemaker John Graziano. Millbrook Vineyards has been buying…
2010 Harvet Update: Chardonnay at Oak Summit Vineyard
Photo Courtesy of Hudson Valley Wine Country Oak Summit Vineyard, producer of what I consider the best pinot noir in the Hudson Rivery Valley AVA, also grows chardonnay and cabernet franc in their little vineyard. Over the weekend, they harvested the chardonnay — which they sell it Millbrook Winery — picking 1.5 acres by hand at 23.5 degrees brix, TA at 8 g/L and a pH of 3.25.