The New York Cork Report Names Tom Mansell as Science Editor

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief

This announcement has been in the works for some time now, and I'm happy to finally be able to make it official — Tom Mansell, founder of the Ithaca, NY-based wine blog Ithacork, has joined the New York Cork Report team as its new science editor.

We often talk about the "art" of winemaking and the romance surrounding our favorite adult beverage, but behind those things is a whole lot of science. That's where Tom comes in with knowledge and a true scientific approach to wine. Don't worry though, he loves drinking it as much as the rest of us.

Tom is a PhD candidate in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Cornell University, where he is studying protein folding in E. coli. In the spring of 2008, he took a wine chemistry course and has never looked
at wine the same way since. He has taken several courses in the
Viticulture and Enology program at Cornell and is currently enrolled in
a course in Viticulture and Vineyard Management.  

And as you can see, despite his love of science, he certainly doesn't take himself too seriously.

Here at the New York Cork Report, he'll bring a scientist's
skepticism and insight into the complicated and convoluted world of
winegrowing and winemaking in New York state.

So please join me in welcoming Tom to the staff. I'm excited to have him on board and look forward to his contributions.

In other news, I wanted to officially mention that over the next several months, the LENNDEVOURS "brand" will slowly be replaced by a name we've already started using — the New York Cork Report. I see this change as a mere part of the natural evolution of what was once my personal blog and has grown into what many consider the de facto site for information and commentary on New York wines.

My hope is that, by the time 2010 rolls around, we'll have an entirely need design for the site on a completely new platform that will offer a much more feature-rich experience. We'll have interactive winery maps, user-generated wine ratings and much much more. There's a lot going on in the background already and much more will be rolled out soon.