Posts Written OnFebruary 11, 2014

Lenz Winery 2010 Malbec

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Lenz Winery 2010 Malbec ($35) — the winery’s first-ever varietal malbec release — opens with a beautiful nose of ripe plum, blueberry and currant with notes of black licorice, tar and lilac. Juicy and fruity on the palate with almost no oak footprint, the fruit edges on over-ripe with dried plum and fig notes joining the dark fruits apparent on the nose. Licorice pokes its head in on the mid-palate. The tannins are lightly grippy, but it’s acidity that provides most of the structure. Medium-long black cherry-meets-fig finish. Producer: The Lenz Winery AVA: North Fork of Long Island ABV: 13%…

Back to the Future(s) at Shinn Estate Vineyards

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On two consecutive Saturday nights in February, Shinn Estate Vineyards in Mattituck, NY, held their annual futures dinners. 100 guests and friends of the winery spent several hours eating hummus, salumi and duck stew while tasting barrel samples of soon-to-be-released wines from the 2012 and 2013 vintages — which co-owner David Page calls two of the best back-to-back vintages he can remember. 2014 marks the 11th year that Page and his wife, co-owner and vineyard manager Barbara Shinn, have hosted the futures dinner. Over that time, it’s grown from a small family-style dinner held in the barn to a three-room,…