This video, produced by Finger Lakes Wine Alliance, has been named a finalist in Wine Spectator’s 2012 Video Contest. We, of course, would love to see a winner from New York. Check it out and vote today.
During our summer recess/hiatus last week, Ben O’Donnell wrote a blog post titled “The Big Grapple: Can Long Island Wines Get Some Respect?” If you’re at all intersted in Long Island wine — or most any emerging region, really — I’d encourage you to read it. Because it’s part of the Wine Spectator’s blog, you needn’t be a subscriber to access it. I read it while I was away — and honestly didn’t think much of it. I’m not familiar with Mr. O’Donnell or his previous work, and the topics he covers are generally known (most for many years). In…
By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief Last week on Twitter, Morgen McLaughlin of Finger Lakes Wine Country said, referring to a short piece by Wine Spectator's Thomas Matthews, "This is why Long Island wineries need to submit wines for review to Wine Spectator." As you can see, the story includes Matthews scoring at\ Lenz Winery 2005 Old Vines Chardonnay 90 points. Morgen has done a great job getting Finger Lakes producers editorial coverage in the Spectator over the last year or so — mostly by submitting a boatload of wine to the magazine (both current releases and library wines). In…
By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor Last night over on Facebook, I learned about Wine Specator's first 2008 vintage report card, which includes an A grade for the Finger Lakes and a B for Long Island. A brief comment discussion ensued and I thought that I'd write a bit about it this morning. I have an email in to Mitch Frank, who contributed to the piece and who I know writes about Long Island for the publication, because I'm curious to learn how these grades are calculated. On the surface, it looks like winemaker and vineyard manager interviews are the…
Morgen McLaughlin and Leign Triner. Photo Courtsey of Morgen McClaughlin Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Shannon Brock, wine coordinator at the New York Wine & Culinary Center. Those in the know are well aware that Finger Lakes wines, particularly rieslings, are capable of ageing ten years or more. A couple weeks ago, a group of Finger Lakes wine community members gathered at Red Newt Cellars prove it. Their mission: to select about 40 library wines to send to James Molesworth of Wine Spectator. The hope is that if Molesworth finds the wines to be holding up…
By Melissa Dobson, Finger Lakes News Correspondent In an effort to continue to establish the Finger Lakes wine region as a producer of world-class wine, a first-time older vintage tasting of almost 70 wines produced from 1988-2003 will be held tomorrow, Friday, November 14, 2008 at Red Newt Cellars and Bistro on Seneca Lake. This tasting of a diverse collection of wines from past vintages is an important step for the wineries of the Finger as they travel the road toward carving out a place amongst the top wine regions of the world. Prior to this effort, there was no…
Check out this video filmed at Bedell Cellars on the North Fork by Wine Spectator as Eric Arnold picks and sorts grapes with winemaker John Levenberg. Arnold also put together a series of video podcasts at Wolffer Estate, but I’m having a hard time finding any way to get to them other than through iTunes. So, I can’t embed them for you.
By Contributing Columnist Richard Olsen-Harbich When it comes to things like music, cars, sports, food or even clothes, Americans are adamant about their likes and dislikes. Why is it when it comes to the subject of wine, so many Americans act like a deer in the headlights? How often have you heard someone say, as you them pour a glass of wine – “I’m not a wine connoisseur…I really don’t know much about it.” Of course we know it’s partly due to the fact that most of us didn’t grow up with wine like kids in European countries. The “foreign…