As a cheese geek I am continually preoccupied with the age-old question that plagues the majority of the cheese obsessed here in NY and elsewhere. “What makes the better cheese pairing? Wine or Beer?” I am clearly not...

Our son Rhys was about 16 hours old when he tasted his first wine — roughly a quarter of a drop of Champagne, sucked off the end of my pinky — in our hospital room. Our family toasted his arrival, and I attempted to...

Just in from the Cornell Cooperative Extension Northeast NY Commercial Fruit program, is announcement of an open position at the cold hardy hybrid wine grape trial vineyard in Willsboro, NY. I’m well acquainted with the vin...

A small cluster of vines dating to 1866 is, one would assume, the proudly held evidence of some European estate’s history. Given the relatively short history of winemaking in the Finger Lakes, such a cluster of vines migh...

Perhaps it’s fitting that the first all-pinot-noir flight at this year’s Expert’s Tasting at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) was named after Monty Python’s classic film. If t...

For the second year in row, Chef Gerry Hayden of The North Fork Table & Inn in Southold on the North Fork of Long Island is a finalist in the James Beard Foundation Awards as “Best Chef, Northeast.” He’s o...

After taking a bit of a winter break, we’re happy to announce the next in our series of New York Cork Report Artisan Dinners — this one with Anthony Nappa Wines at Orto, Chef Eric Lomando’s new restaurant i...

The March shipment of the Empire State Cellars Wine Club will ship this week, so it’s time to tell you about the picks. Admittedly, I had a little help with the wines this time around… thanks to our annual Wines of...

The earliest anyone can remember seeing bud break in Long Island vineyards was mid-April in 2010 — a vintage that ended up being one of the longest and warmest on record. Bud break in 2010 was about two weeks earlier than...

In New York City, local is sought after like a taxicab in the rain. Overused words like “artisanal” and “heritage” bring self-proclaimed locavores to eateries around the city (and even to BROOKLYN) thinking they’re di...