Posts Written OnNovember 2015

Weekly New York Wine News — November 10, 2015

Fall in the vineyard (photo via Shinn Estate Vineyards) NEWS Facebook – 11/4/2005 Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen, have broken ground for a sizable increase in winery and tank space. Ithaca.com – 11/7/2015 A wine summit of a different sort, Frontenac Point hosted a gathering of Finger Lakes food and wine pioneers to discuss the past and future of the region. Auburn Citizen – 11/9/2015 Six Mile Creek Vineyard in Ithaca is under new ownership with plans to add sparkling wine and rum to the program. News Editor notes that this happens to be the first establishment in the region…

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Get the Best New York Wine Delivered to Your Door — The New York Cork Club

If you read this blog, you’re obviously interested in New York wine. But, depending on where you live, you may not have ready access to very much of it. If that’s you, we’ve got the solution. We’ve partnered with The Cellar d’Or — a great wine and cider shop in Ithaca, NY — for the New York Cork Club. Every month, I pick two great New York wines and they are delivered to your door. The wine itself never exceeds $50 for those two bottles (shipping costs vary) and by joining, you’ll get everything from classic wines from the top wineries in…

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Bad Seed Cider: Great Friends, Great Family Means Great Hard Cider

Albert Wilklow and Devin Britton, founders of Bad Seed Cider Company, love their work. They also love family and friends, and seeing familiar faces at the NY Greenmarkets where they sell their well-crafted hard ciders and in the newly opened Bad Seed Tap Room. This take on life drives their passion for creating excellent dry hard cider and enjoyable experiences for their many fans.

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Lieb Cellars 2013 Reserve Sparkling Rose

When a winery adds a new wine to its portfolio, I’m always curious how that happens. What’s the thought process? Is it to meet a real or perceived customer demand? Is it because there is some extra fruit that isn’t accounted for? So I asked Lieb Cellars general manager Ami Opisso how Lieb Cellars 2013 Reserve Sparkling Rose ($35) made its way into the winery’s portfolio. She told me “The simple answer is that we’ve been making what we like to drink.” It’s hard to argue with that thought process. Each summer, the Lieb management team gets together — before…

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Uncork the Forks: Making the Case for Merlot

Long Island merlot has and always will have a place in my cellar and in my glass. I drink it a few times a week, usually with dinner. It’s dependable and consistently good — even in all but the most horrid of vintages. For many, that’s the point. That’s why so much of it is planted in the ground and why several producers have hung their hats on a grape that isn’t very sexy these days. One local writer has gone so far as to say, “Merlots are now considered the highest expression of the Long Island appellation.” I’m not…

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From the Archives: Fermentation Winespeak

Editor’s Note: Every Thursday — call it Throwback Thursday if you’d like — we’ll pull a story from the more than a decade of NYCR stories and republish it. This week, I chose one of science editor Tom Mansell‘s great references pieces “Fermentation Winespeak.” Have you ever smelled grape juice? Not Concord or Niagara juice but grape must that’s about to become wine? It doesn’t smell like much. It’s kind of like fresh mown grass. How does this relatively un-aromatic juice evolve into complex, aromatic wine? Most everybody’s grapes are in (except for the ice wine grapes) and it’s now time for…

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New York Cork Club: November 2015 Selections

The November 2015 wines for the New York Cork Club will be shipping out to our members soon — so it’s time to give you peek at the picks. Harvest 2015 has mostly wound down across the state with many winemakers pressing off the last of their reds over the next couple of weeks. I’m looking ahead — to Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday and it is that holiday that inspired this month’s wine picks. Both are great picks for a diverse, turkey-focused dinner and they will both be served at the dinner I’ll be hosting with my family. Paumanok Vineyard 2014…

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Weekly New York Wine News — November 2, 2015

Glacier Ridge Vineyard pinot noir being pressed at Red Newt Cellars (Photo by Kelby Russell) NEWS PV Solar Report – 10/26/2015 The Finger Lakes Wine Region was recently named Solar Champion by a photo voltaic industry association in recognition of its energy initiatives. Albany Times Union – 10/26/2015 Something is rotten on the east end of Long Island, and the folks at Wolffer could not be happier. Poughkeepsie Journal – 10/27/2015 Recommendations to visit the Niagara Wine Trail on New York’s border with Canada where the slopes are growing remarkable wine. Finger Lakes Wine – 10/27/2015 12 Questions with Paul Hobbes…

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Billsboro Winery 2012 Cabernet Franc

Billsboro Winery 2012 Cabernet Franc ($25) is ripe and fruit-forward on the nose with cherry and plum aromas that stay this side of jammy and accents of tobacco, baking spice and dried herbs. The first sip is a bit disjointed and almost comes across as hot (an indicator of higher alcohol that isn’t balanced) but with some air that fades and this medium-bodied, ripe-but-not-too-ripe red settles in with red and black fruit notes that are tinged by toasty vanilla oak-born spice and a bit of brown sugar. Structure is provided by juicy acidity rather than the tannins, which are soft and rounded. On…

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