Posts Written OnFebruary 2012

T’Jara Vineyards Joins Long Island Merlot Alliance

\Yesterday, the Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA) announced that T’Jara Vineyards label has joined the merlot promotion group. That means that two barrels of 2010 T’Jara merlot will be included in the 2010 Merliance, LIMA’s cooperative merlot blend. T’Jara is a brand created by winemaker Russell Hearn and business partner Jed Beitler, who together own T’Jara Vineyards — an established vineyard in in Mattituck, NY. T’Jara  released two 2007 vintage wines, a Merlot and Merlot-based blend, in late 2011. According to the press release, “T’Jara is the phonetic spelling of an aboriginal word that, roughly translated, means ‘where I’m from.’…

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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Hermann J. Wiemer Wine Dinner at Aurora Inn on February 25

The Aurora Inn will present the eighth in its series of Epicurean Events on February 25th, with the Hermann J. Wiemer Wine Dinner. The meal will include five paired courses, in addition to a reception wine. The evening’s wines feature the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard of Dundee, New York. Hermann J. Wiemer was a pioneer of Finger Lakes wine, bringing with him skills and traditions of his native Germany. Some fifty years later, the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard is one of the premier producers of Riesling in the United States. Our epicurean dinner will feature an array of Wiemer wines,…

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A Magical Finger Lakes Red, and Why it’s Gone Too Soon

It had been two years since I last tasted the Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Cabernet Franc, and I was down to my last bottle. On release, it was an impressive wine with depth, if a tad besmirched by oak. I liked it enough to buy three bottles. Earlier this month my wife and I went to dinner and decided to open this wine one more time. Sometimes we talk about transformation that can occur in a complex wine, but no one really knows what to expect. If I harbored high hopes for the Damiani Cab Franc, it turns out those…

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Damiani Wine Cellars 2010 Semi-Dry Riesling

I first tasted this wine as a part of Riesling Hour and it was one of the more popular wines amongst the Long Island wine industry folks who joined me for the tasting. This review is based on a subsequent tasting in my home. Light hints of apricot and lime bring nuance to a nose driven by sweet pear and green apple. Juicy, ripe and off-dry, the palate shows more sweet pear character along with flavors of peach and white grape — with snappy acidity that brings focus and verve. There is an interesting floral, green tea note on the…

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Flying Bison Brewing Brindle Porter

\A good porter feels like your favorite pair of jeans. It just fits — your tastes, the meal, the moment. I’m constantly in search of the perfect porter. It’s one of my favorite styles not least because brewing it correctly requires skillful composition and, I would argue, a sense of honor for the style’s history of comforting and sustaining the Industrial Revolution workforce. Flying Bison Brewing has produced such a beer. Brindle Porter, a limited release inspired by the classic English porter, pours a deep brown color with a one-finger head and wide, faint lacing. Hints of coffee, chocolate, and…

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Peconic Bay Winery 2009 “La Barrique” Chardonnay

Yes, another North Fork chardonnay. A barrel-fermented one at that — thus the name “La Barrique.” But wait. It’s not what you think. This is the rare barrel-affected chardonnay that I willingly went back to after my tasting was finished. I had two glasses, in fact. It almost makes me hate winemaker Greg Gove for proving my boredom over local chardonnay wrong. Aromas of pineapple, Golden Delicious apple, vanilla, and lemon verbena are accented by just a hint of butter. Overly toasty or raw oak just isn’t part of the equation. Mouth-filling but very well balanced, the palate shows similar…

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7 Questions with….Regan Meador, Assistant Winemaker, Osprey’s Dominion Winery

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor I have yet to meet Regan Meador, assistant winemaker at Osprey’s Dominion Winery — in person at least. As is so common these days, he and I got acquainted via Twitter before he left his white collar job in Manhattan for good and moved to the North Fork to make wine. We keep saying that we’re going to meet up for a glass or a pint or five, but it hasn’t happened yet. In the interim, I’ve asked him our standard set of seven questions… What event/bottle/etc made you decide that you wanted to be…

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New York Cork Report Adds Trzaskos, Expands Coverage into Northern New York

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor The goal here on the NYCR is to cover every corner of the New York wine, beer and spirits world. While we don’t have someone on the ground in every region — most notably the Hudson River Region and Lake Erie wine country — I think we do a pretty good job accomplishing our goal. I’ll be honest about it too — I hadn’t even considered Northern New York as a true wine region. Not yet, anyway. But after speaking with our new Northern New York Correspondent, Todd Trzaskos, a few times, I’ve gotten an…

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Sheldrake Point at Seneca: What’s New for a Classic Finger Lakes Winery

By Rochelle Bilow, Finger Lakes Food Correspondent Photos courtesy of Sheldrake Point winery Mention Sheldrake Point Winery on Seneca Lake and, chances are, you’ll be corrected. “It’s on Cayuga Lake,” I heard a half-dozen times over the course of the last month from friends and Finger Lakes wine fans. They aren’t wrong, but neither am I. On September 26, 2011, Sheldrake Point opened a second tasting room on Route 414 along the southeast side of Seneca. The tasting room has opened quietly, not for lack of marketing and outreach on their part, but because they were just getting started as…

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