Posts Tagged“long island wine”

Long Island Merlot Better Than Bordeaux?

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief (Note: A version of this column will appear in the 7/23 issue of Dan's Papers) I don’t typically pay much attention to the awards, scores and medals bestowed upon Long Island wines by a seemingly un-ending list of publications, festivals and fairs. Most of these competitions are flawed and I just don't think that the results can be seen as authoritative. Over the past 5 years that I've been writing about New York wines, I’ve seen too many great wines “win” bronze medals while obviously inferior wines get gold. I still think, and I…

Anthony Nappa Wines 2008 Anomaly

By Lenn Thompson, Publisher and Editor When Anthony Nappa, winemaker at Shinn Estate Vineyards, interviewed for the job, he had two questions of his own for the owners, could he bring his dog to work, and could he make his own wine? I've seen his dog at the winery myself and with the release of Anthony Nappa Wines 2008 Anomaly ($18), the second question is answered as well. His second wine, the Anthony Nappa Wines 2008 Nemesis, will be released this weeked. Both are available at Shinn's tasting room and both wines are 100% pinot noir sourced on the North…

The State of Long Island Wine

By Lenn Thompson, Editor and Publisher As expected, TasteCamp EAST 2009 has initiated a flurry of blog posts by some of the best and brightest in the wine blogging world. I've enjoyed reading through all of the posts and commenting on many of them. I'd encourage you to do the same — especially if you are one of the wineries that poured for the group last weekend. One thing that has become clear is that I was blind to one pitfall as I put together the TasteCamp format — it sent attendees away with only a snapshot of Long Island…

Some Early Posts About TasteCamp EAST 2009

TasteCamp is barely in the rear view window and already several blog posts have been written about the weekend-long event. To make it a bit easier for those interested in the event to read what the bloggers are saying, I'm going to do my best to pull together (every few days) a list of links to various posts. Today is the first installment: Becky and Steve Borichevsky of Smells Like Grape Back From TasteCamp East The Way I See It Richard Auffrey from Passionate Foodie: TasteCamp EAST: Initial Highlights Rob Bralow from Wine Post: Absolutely and Totally Geeked Out Walking…

TasteCamp EAST 2009 in Pictures

Winemaker Kareem Massoud pouring barrel samples of 2007 reds for TasteCamp attendees. By Lenn Thompson, Publisher and Editor TasteCamp 2009 wrapped up yesterday afternoon and I have to admit, I'm exhausted. It was truly a whirlwind, non-stop tour of Long Island wine country over the course of two days. There will obviously be a deluge of blogs posts, both here on LENNDEVOURS and on attendee blogs, but to give you a taste of the weekend via a handful of photos. You can enlarge any of these by clicking on them. We started the second day of TasteCamp EAST 2009 with…

TasteCamp EAST 2009 Starts Tomorrow

Time sure does fly when you're having fun planning a weekend-long wine jaunt for 30 bloggers and spouses. As early as tomorrow morning, TasteCamp EAST 2009 attendees will start descending on the North Fork of Long Island. The plans have really come together nicely and despite a grey, rainy weather forecast, I think we're going to have a lot of fun. Check back over the weekend and next week for posts about the goings on, but you can also keep up with all the TasteCamp fun on Twitter. Of course, TasteCamp wouldn't be possible without the help of the local…

Clovis Point to Join the Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA)

The official announcement is coming later this week, but I've just learned that Clovis Point has decided to become the newest member of the Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA). LIMA was formed in 2005 to develop quality standards in the production of classically-styled Long Island merlot and to establish Long Island as the leading region for merlot in the New World. To date, LIMA has been rather quite on the public scene, focusing on vineyard research and conducting tastings to identify the qualities that help define "typical" Long Island merlot. The group, which includes Raphael, Pellegrini Vineyards, Sherwood House Vineyards,…

Donnell Brown is the New Director of the Long Island Merlot Alliance

The Long Island Merlot Alliance(LIMA) has announced that Donnell Brown will be taking over as the group's Executive Director, taking over for Len Dest whose other commitments led him to step down. Brown has worked in marketing and public relations for more than 15 years, and has been a serious student of wine for a decade. She holds Intermediate and Advanced (pending) Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust and is an active member of the James Beard Foundation, the Slow Food East End Convivium, and a member of the Board-led Outreach Committee for the Peconic Land Trust, a…

Grand Cru Classes to Present at City Winery on February 26

On February 26 at 6:00 p.m., my good friends Jared and Tracy from Grand Cru Classes, a wine education center on the North Fork, will be hosting a special seminar titled "Long Island Wines: From Potato Farms to Parker Points" at the newly launched City Winery in Manhattan. They'll be discussing the history and growth of the Long Island wine industry, highlighting the recent successes and recognition the region has received. The 90-minute program will include a guided wine tasting, featuring the following six wines, all of which have been graciously donated by the respective wineries.  TBD, Sparkling Brut, NV…

Onabay Vineyards 2006 “Wild Ferment” Chardonnay

I was thinking this morning about how wineries (and to a certain extent wine writers) talk about wine. You always hear about whether or not a wine was fermented in an oak barrel, and if so, what type of oak and how many times its been used. Quite often, you'll also hear about clonal selection and even rootstock. But for some reason, yeast strain is almost never talked about. The only time you even hear about yeast is if a winery is using naturally occurring yeasts to ferment a particular wine. And yet, the yeast strain a winemaker uses has…