Posts Written OnJanuary 18, 2013

Mattebella Vineyards NV Famiglia Red

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.

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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