New York Cork Club: July's Selections

I try not to spam my own readers here on LENNDEVOURS with talk about the New York Cork Club, the wine club that I run with Greene Grape Wine in Brooklyn. I could (and probably should) tell you much more often about how I pick the wines independently, without the wine shop telling me to pick wines that they can make a ton of money on. I could tell you how I'm able to get wines that aren't available to any other clubs or retailers. But I don't nearly often enough probably.

But this month, we have two wines that I've enjoyed quite a bit recently and neither are easy to get your hands on.

First up is Bouke Wine's 2007 White Table Wine ($18), which I wrote about last week. It is the first release from one of the North Fork's newest producers. It's 40% chardonnay, 32% pinot gris, 18% sauvignon blanc, and 10% Gewurztraminer and has a surprisingly complex (at this price) nose showing predominant apple and citrus aromas accented by those of white flowers, pineapple and spice. The fresh, satisfying palate is medium-light in body and offers green apple, peach and lemon zest flavors with more spice. There is just the right acidity here to keep it lively. Make sure that you don't over-chill this wine. You'll miss out on some of the depth and complexity. It's only available at The Tasting Room, a co-op tasting room for tiny producers that don't have their own tasting rooms. We were able to get some for the club though, so you won't have to drive out to Peconic.

 

The second wine, Ravines Wine Cellars' 2007 Argetsinger Vineyard Dry Riesling ($24), is even harder to get your hands on. You might remember that sent winemaker Morten Hallgren's regular 2006 Dry Riesling to members last year, but this wine is even better... and it's his first-ever single-vineyard wine, with 100% of the fruit coming from the Argetsinger Vineyard on Seneca Lake, one of the region's oldest. A pale yellowish green in the glass, this riesling from the hot 2007 vintage offers lightly floral aromas along with those of dried apricots and fresh lime with a great minerally quality. The palate is lighter bodied and lithe, but still fills the mouth with intense minerality, bursting citrusy-lime flavors and an undercurrent of apricots. Several 2007 riesling I've tasted were flat and lifeless, but this one is anything but. The acidity is almost electric in its liveliness and the finish is lengthy, lingering with lime and slate notes. Morten only made 150 cases of this wine, so it's only available at the winery. But, I was able to convince them to sell us enough for our club.

To learn more about the New York Cork Club, you can either visit the website or just email me. I'm more than happy to tell you about it. I don't make a penny from it, so it's clearly something that I'm passionate about.

Comments

[mona]

hey lenn, just wanted to shoot you a quick msg. yvo (feisty foodie) brought it to my attention that this blog womancontac.blogspot.com was stealing our content unbeknownst to either of us. i went to her site and found your posts too. are you aware this is going on? any thoughts? hope all's well!