Sips and Slurps (October 14, 2008)

I'm back in the game after a long weekend upstate visiting my in-law's, eating delicious food and enjoying the gorgeous weather and fall foliage.

Of course, New York wine country doesn't wait around for me, so here are some things that happened while I was mostly offline:

• Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars has announced the release of a new riesling clone N90. The winery has been working closely with Cornell University, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets on the project.  The clone is from the Neustadt Research Station in Germany and has been grown in an exclusive section of Dr. Frank's Vineyards for the past two years. According to Fred Frank, "These vines have been tested to be virus and pathogen free, which will allow us to propagate them for our vineyard expansion and offer availability to other vineyards in the future.  The major advantages of N90 are that it has a higher quality wine potential with enhanced aromatics.  It is also more disease resistant due to a looser cluster and has greater winter hardiness, which is critical for the Finger Lakes region."
• As mentioned over at Cellarette, the Long Island region gets "some love" in the November issue of Food and Wine Magazine as a great region for U.S. merlot. Many of the wines listed are are also favorites in the LENNDEVOURS house, including the Medolla 2002 Merlot and Raphael 2002 First Label. The author of the piece, Ray Isle, is definitely coming around to Long Island wines in general. It's great to see.
• I'm a bit behind on my harvest reports for Long Island, but Mark Harrington has a nice round-up in Newsday this week. I've been hearing similar things, but I think wineries are now trying to keep expectations low in the hopes of over-delivering. It might not be a banner year, but I expect the best wineries to still product great wines this year.

Comments

[Len Dest]

It is most rewarding to have in a national publication such as Food & Wine to identify the Long Island region with the merlot varietal, as indicated in Ray Isle’s compilation of top US regions and their notable red wine. Long Island Merlot wines continue to demonstrate the unique terroir and the winemaking skills of Long Island winemakers dedicated to producing the highest quality wine with a very specific and identifiable character. Hopefully, wine lovers from across the country will begin seeking Long Island Merlot wines, and more importantly the wineries of the East End will begin marketing and selling their wine to a wider audience.