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Posts Written OnJanuary 18, 2013

Mattebella Vineyards NV Famiglia Red

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Say what you will about Long Island wine prices, but I’ve recently tasted at least three reds for under $20 that I’d happily drink any day of the week, including this blend of merlot and cabernet franc — Mattebella Vineyards NV Famiglia Red ($17). Clean, ripe-but-not-over-ripe fruit — primarily black cherry and plum, is accented on the nose by a light sprinkling of spice and leaf tobacco. Lean and lively, the focused, medium-bodied palate shows similar fruit qualities as well as well-integrated lighter tannins, table-friendly acidity and a low oak footprint. There is a charming purity of fruit here that…

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Brewing With Restraint and Growing Without Bounds at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.

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Greenport Harbor Brewing Company is getting bigger, and fast. The company launch in 2009 with little more than two owning partners and a brewer. Four years later, the brewery employs more than a dozen workers and is in the process of building a second brewhouse. But the brewery’s quick expansion has not swayed its resolve to maintain control over their own product and quality. I recently met with Head Brewer DJ Swanson. He pulled his head out of a steaming fermenter to greet me upon arrival at the fire house-turned-brewery that dates back to the early 1900s. The cozy historic…

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