Shout out from Detroit

Sandra Silfven, who has been writing about east-of-the-Rockies wine for nearly 25 years, gave the Long Island wine industry some space in her column in the Detroit News this week. She mentions Jim Trezise, executive director of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, and the upcoming symposium “The Art of Balance: Cool Climate/Maritime [...]

Mucho airén

Cool packaging is one way this company is trying to breathe new life to airén, the most planted grape variety in Spain. Pronounced eye-ren, this wine, from Second Story Selections, smelled faintly like honeysuckle, was crisp and fresh with a lime peel finish. It was long on the palate and a light lemon color. Not [...]

Dropping fruit

The last week of July will be remembered as the week of the big thunder/lightening storm. On Sunday it rained and thunder cracked just outside the house for a good hour and a half. My mother, who lives in Quogue on the south shore, said she got some hail.
Not here though (that would be bad.) [...]

One flight up

Second Story Selections bills itself as a boutique importer/distributor of “wines with the energy, depth and complexity that might come from artisanal practices such as organic/sustainable viticulture, small hands-on production and uncompromising commitment to balanced aroma and structure.”
Wines that “might come from …”? Second story’s portfolio makes a point of indicating which wines come from [...]

What’s open now

Castello di Porcia 2006 Traminer Aromatico

Traminer aromatico is another name for gewurztraminer. This wine is from the Friuli Venizia Guila region of Italy, in the north east corner of the boot, kind of behind the knee. According to the Oxford Companion to Wine, the grape’s origins are from a neighboring region, Alto Adige, around the [...]

BYOB

The Roggis were in on Friday night and brought with them some of the most delicious California chardonnay. The couple has an extensive collection of California wines and relationships with a lot of the winemakers. I’m now kicking myself because I didn’t write down the vintage of the DuMOL. If I remember correctly it was [...]

Burgman

Michael Feuerstein’s in town. Zooming around in his white Mini Cooper and Rambo-red crocs. This time he showed up with — guess what? — Burgundy, the only wine he believes has the mid-palate essential to well-made wine.
He brought two wines from a new-to-me producer, Devevey. We tasted the 2005 Borgogne blanc and the 2006 Volnay. [...]

Guerrilla dining

Last night Matthew Boudreau, the executive chef at the Ram’s Head Inn on Ram’s Head Island on Shelter Island, was taking a busman’s holiday. He was in the restaurant with three friends at the end of a two-day experiment in guerrilla dining. As far as I understand it, the group hit up as many as [...]

The Leap

One of the focuses when studying for the Diploma in Wine and Spirits is to be able to determine, through practiced tasting and writing a tasting note that conforms to the WSET standards, if the wine you’re drinking is a quality wine. In one class Lisa Granik, MW, gave us an acronym — BLIC. Which [...]

Local chard sold locally

The Patio restaurant in Westhampton Beach has contracted with Raphael to make private labels. Starr Boggs, another restaurant in Westhampton sells wine under its own label that’s made by Lenz.
Starr Boggs is a great restaurant; the Patio, a venerable Westhampton institution, has new owners. My sister and I are going to check it out tonight.
The [...]