NY distillery course expands

WARWICK, NY -- If you've never seen a distillery close-up, make a note of this event.

Beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 6, the Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery will begin its 3rd annual Distillery Demonstration Series, with Master Distiller Jason Grizzanti leading the tour and tasting. A lunch is included in the event, which will wrap up around 1:30 in the afternoon.

The distillery will be adding an intermediate distillers course this year. Anyone interested in that must take this opening course first. Pre-registration at $30 per person is required for this every-Saturday-in-February event, each session limited to 15 people.

Warwick Valley is located at 114 Little York Road in Warwick, Orange County. Phone: (845) 258-4858. Directions are available online.

Kosher wine-and-food extravaganza in NYC

NEW YORK -- From time to time, I get an inquiry about kosher wine and food events. They're few and far between in most areas.

However, if you're willing to trek to Manhattan, you can take care of that problem on Monday (February 1).

The Royal Wine Corporation of Bayonne, NJ, is hosting a "Kosher Restaurant & Wine Experience" at 6:30 p.m. at Pier 60, Chelsea Piers. The event will feature tastings from 20 kosher restaurants -- Abigael's, Cho-Sen Gardens, Fumio, Glatt a la Carte, Le Marais, Pomegranate, Noi Due and Taverre 84 among them -- and 200 varietals from 40 international wineries.

Numerous winemakers will be on hand. There also will be a seminar by Jay Buchsbaum, Royal’s fine wine director Jay Buchsbaum.

The cost is $100 per person or $175 a couple. Details and reservations: Call (888) 710-2439 or go online.

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ON THE WEB
• Kosher Wine Society
• Kosher Wine Review
• Dowd's Guides

Coffee & Tea Festival set for NYC

NEW YORK -- Wine, beer and spirits have their extravaganzas, but coffee and tea don't have nearly the number of showcases. However, the 5th annual Coffee & Tea Festival NYC is a major event.

The international event, open to the public and the trade, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, February 2021, at 7WEST, located at 7 West 34th Street in Manhattan.

The event will offer two days of programming including classes/lectures/demos from industry pros and pioneers. Chocolates and sweet treats will offer a wonderful compliment to the spectacular collection of coffees and teas.

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ON THE WEB
• Ticket information and reservations
• Dowd's Guides

Ice Wine Festival set for Casa Larga

FAIRPORT, NY -- Casa Larga Vineyards will host the 2nd annual New York Ice Wine Festival here on Saturday, February 20.

The event, which will run from noon to 7 p.m. at the 2287 Turk Hill Road facility, will include ice wines from a variety of New York wineries. Tastings, food stations, live music with The Vinifera Quartet, and ice-carving demonstrations will be included.

Admission is $35 in advance, $45, at the door. The price includes a tasting glass, gift bag, seminars and winery tours. Advance tickets are available online.

The state’s ice wines will be featured throughout February at area wineries, restaurants, hotels and the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua. Casa Larga Vineyard, which created the Ice Wine Festival last year, will hold its annual "Fire & Ice Dinner" on February 26.

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ON THE WEB
• Ice Wine Festival website
• Dowd's Guides

Long Island to be flooded by beer

UNIONDALE, NY -- The 4th annual Spring Craft Beer Festival, a highlight of the beer events calendar for Long Island, NY, has been scheduled for March 27.

The event, held at Nassau Coliseum in this Nassau County town, will draw more than 50 craft brewers from around the country, pouring samples of more than 100 brews.

The 60,000 square foot exhibit hall once again will include a beer garden with a great menu of craft beer-infused fare.

The pay-one-price admission includes a 6-ounce souvenir tasting glass. Further details and reservations are available online.

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ON THE WEB
• Dowd's Brews Notebook
• Dowd's Guides

Wine and wildlife a Montezuma pairing

SENECA FALLS, NY -- The 3rd annual "Walking In a Wintry Wonderland" will team up the Montezuma Winery and the Montezuma Audubon Center, a pair of adjacent Finger Lakes facilities.

The limited-participation event is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m Saturday, February 6.

The day will begin at the winery where Audubon Center Director Frank Moses will lead a guided nature hike on snowshoes through a portion of the refuge bird to watch and tracking animals.

Participants are invited to bring their own snowshoes or rentals are available on a first-come, first-served basis. However snowshoes are not required for the hike.

After that, participants will return to the winery for mulled wine or hot chocolate, followed by a winemaker’s luncheon paired with Montezuma Winery wines. A live birds of prey presentation will be held after lunch by local bird rehabilitator Ron Walker of Friends With Feathers.

Reservations are limited, and cost $20 per adult ($25 with snowshoe rental), $15 for childredn under 12 ($18 with snowshoe rental). A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to the Montezuma Audubon Center. Reservations may be made by calling the winery at (315) 568-8190.

The winery is located at 2981 Auburn Road at Routes 89 and 5/20 in Seneca Falls.

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ON THE WEB
• Dowd's Guides

72 participants for HV Restaurant Week(s)

The 4th annual "Hudson Valley Restaurant Week" will be offering a three-course, prix-fixe lunch for $20 and dinner for $28 at participating restaurants in the historic region.

The event this year actually is a two-week event despite its name, scheduled for Monday, March 15, through Sunday, March 28.

Prices are per person and do not include beverage, tax or tip. Reservations are recommended eveywhere, and required at some establishments. No tickets or passes are required, simply review the restaurant list below. Contact restaurants directly for details and reservations.

There are 72 restaurants signed up as participants so far, including the following:

Armonk: Marc Charles Steakhouse, Opus 465

Bangall: Red Devon

Beacon: Piggy Bank Restaurant

Bellvale: Iron Forge Inn

Brewster: Santrista Grill

Chappaqua: Crabtree's Kittle House

Chatham: Blue Plate

Cold Spring: Brasserie Le Bouchon, Cathryn's Tuscan Grill. Hudson House River Inn

Congers: Restaurant X and The Bully Boy Bar

Dobbs Ferry: The Cookery, Halfmoon, Off Broadway Restaurant

East Chester: Casa Brusco

Fishkill: Hudson's Ribs & Fish, Il Barilotto

Garrison: The Bird & Bottle Inn

Goshen: Catherine's Restaurant, Il Tesoro

Hastings On Hudson: Blu Riverfront Bar & Bistro, Harvest on Hudson

Haverstraw: Union Restaurant and Bar Latino

High Falls: Depuy Canal House

Hyde Park: The American Bounty at the CIA, Twist

Irvington: Il Soriso, River City Grill

Katonah: Le Fontane

Mamaroneck: Zitoune Restaurant

Marlboro: Hidden Cellar Restaurant, Raccoon Saloon

Middletown: Nina

Millbrook: Charlotte's

Milton: Ship Lantern Inn

Montgomery: Backyard Bistro

Mt. Kisco: Cafe of Love

New Paltz: Beso, Village Tea Room Restaurant & The Bake Shop

North Salem: 121 Restaurant and Bar

Nyack: Two Spear Street

Pawling: McKinney & Doyle Fine Foods Cafe

Peekskill: The Peekskill Brewery

Pine Plains: The Stissing House

Pleasantville: Iron Horse Grill

Port Chester: Sonora Restaurant

Poughkeepsie: Amici's, The Artist's Palate, Babycakes Cafe, Beech Tree Grill, Shadows on the Hudson

Rhinebeck: Starr Place, Terrapin Restaurant

Somers: Luce Seafood & Pasta House

Staatsburg: Porotino Restaurant

Suffern: Marcello's of Suffern

Tarrytown: Bistro Z, Caravella, Eqqus at the Castle On the Hudson, Harvest Grille at the Westchester Marriott, Ruth's Chris Steak House

Tappan: Il Portico

Valhalla: Valhalla Crossing

Wappingers Falls: Aroma Osteria

White Plains: Legal Seafood, 42, The Melting Pot, Niko's Green Taverna

Yonkers: La Lanterna Restaurant, Tombolino Ristorante, X2O Xaviars on Hudson

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ON THE WEB
• Restaurant Week updates
• Dowd's Guides

Shawangunk Trail has a bit of winter life

Winter is the time of year most New York State wineries button up their activities or content themselves with setting up shop at various indoor farmers markets and waiting for spring.

However, regular readers of this blog will notice I've been uncovering a few choice events to help tide you over until warm weather.

(If you've missed those postings, try clicking here, here, here and here).

Today, I'm looking at the Shawangunk Wine Trail, an 11-member trail located in Ulster and Orange counties an hour's drive north of the New York City metro area between the Shawangunk Mountains (known as the 'Gunks to regulars) and the Hudson River.

The major winter event is "Pasta Primo," the annual self-guided event set for Saturday and Sunday, April 17-18, this year.

It includes a pasta tapas and wine tasting at each participating winery from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. those days, with some new releases from certain wineries. Visitors get a wine glass at their starting winery and proceed from there.

Two tickets are available -- wine taster ($23,76) and designated driver ($5.40). You can get them in advance online right now.

The Shawangunk Wine Trail consists of Adair Vineyards, Applewood Winery, Baldwin Vineyards, Benmarl Vineyards, Brimstone Hill Vineyards, Brotherhood Winery, Glorie Farm Winery, Palaia Vineyard, Stoutridge Vineyard, Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery, and Whitecliff Vineyards.

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ON THE WEB
• 2 wine trails separated by a river
• New York Wine Events Calendar
• Dowd's Guides