Queens promotion to push LI wines, foods

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY -- While some industry organizations such as the New York Wine & Grape Foundation and Long Island Wine Council make continul efforts to promote island wines to the public, smaller enterprises shouldn't be overlooked.

Take the quarterly magazine Edible Queens, for example. Editor and Publisher Leah McLaughlin has organized the inaugural "Queens Uncorked," intended to promote  the cuisine of Queens and the wines of Long Island.

The event is set for Wednesday of this week, when consumers can purchase $40 tickets from more than 20 borough restaurants and 16 Long Island vineyards and wineries. A portion of the proceeds will go to an estimated 30 local greenmarket farmers who lost crops to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

"It’s really about meeting local food artisans, meeting our local wine makers and facilitating connections to help strengthen the economy across the region, McLaughlin said. "There’s an incredible wine region in the backyard of the Queens borough.”

She said she hopes the event will encourage more restaurants and stores to stock wine from the North Fork and South Fork. It was modeled after "Uncorked Brooklyn," an event created by the sister publication Edible Brooklyn.

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ON THE WEB
• Discover Queens
• Dowd's Guides home page

NYS wine project targeting NYC

Courtesy of Wine Bohemia

The New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF) is re-targeting a major consumer market -- New York. City, that is.

The initial phase of the program will be concentrated in the first three months of 2012 as a launching pad for additional activities in the future.

The trade organization, headquartered in Canandaigua deep in the Finger Lakes, hashired  First Press Public Relations in Manhattan to create and coordinate the multi-faceted program, which will involve initial market research, cellar visits to the main wine regions by New York City media and trade representatives, a multi-day market visit to New York City by participating wineries, media outreach and advertising, and a dedicated web site for New York wines in New York City, according to Jim Trezise, NYWGF president.

 "New York wines are poised to be a bigger part of New York City's renowned culinary landscape, and First Press's experience, talent, and savvy will propel us in that direction," he said.

Trezise noted that over the past several years, the quality of New York State wines has improved dramatically, with many now routinely receiving scores of 90 or above in major wine consumer magazines and winning top awards in international competitions.  Still, they remain vastly underrepresented in their major home state market, which also happens to be the world's most competitive.

"We're not urging New Yorkers to buy New York wines because they're local, but because they're high-quality products at reasonable prices," Trezise said.  "But the added benefit of buying really good, affordable New York wines is that these consumers are also supporting their own state economy."

Thirty-eight New York wineries from various regions will participate in the promotion. The program was open to all 308 wineries in the state. The regional breakdown:

Finger Lakes -- Anthony Road Winery, Atwater Estate Vineyards, Chateau LaFayette Reneau, Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars, Eagle Crest Vineyards, Fox Run Vineyards, Glenora Wine Cellars, Heron Hill Winery, Hosmer Winery, Inspire Moore Winery, King Ferry Winery, Knapp Vineyards & Winery, Lakewood Vineyards, Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars, Pleasant Valley Wine Company/Great Western Winery, Red Newt Cellars, Sheldrake Point Vineyards, Standing Stone Vineyards, Swedish Hill Winery, Thirsty Owl Wine Company, and Wagner Vineyards.

Long Island -- Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard, Bedell Cellars, Channing Daughters, Macari Vineyards, Martha Clara Vineyards, Palmer Vineyards, Paumanok Vineyards, Raphael Vineyard, and Wolffer Estate Vineyard.

Hudson Valley -- Benmarl Winery, Brotherhood Winery, Clinton Vineyards, Millbrook Winery, and Stoutridge Vineyard.

Niagara Region -- Leonard Oakes Estate Winery and Spring Lake Winery.

Thousand Islands -- Thousand Islands Winery.

              

Sullivan Co. winery going underground

WURTSBORO, NY -- Bashakill Vineyards, the Sullivan County winery that won "Best in Show" honors in the recent Hudson Valley Wine Competition, is going underground.

That's no reference to hiding. Rather, it's the implementation of a project owner Paul Deninno has had in mind for a while.

He's constructing a wine cave that measures 9 by 16 feet, with a 40-foot depth. That will be room enough for a tasting bar as well as 20 to 25 barrels.

Deninno plans to age some of his red wines in the cave, which should be an interesting evolution for the likes of his Black Bear Cabernet Franc that won a double gold and best red wine honors, as well as top show honors, in the aforementioned test I helped judge.

Bashakill is located at 1131 South Road, Wurtsboro. Phone: (845) 888-5858.

Harvest Fests on success November weekends

The two Pride of New York Harvest Fests are fast approaching.

The older of the two, the Capital Region version, this year will move from its Albany County roots to the City Center in Saratoga Springs for a November 12-13 weekend run. It previously had been held at The Desmond in Colonie and the Empire State Plaza in Albany.

The other is scheduled for the New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes, near Syracuse, for the weekend of November 5-6.

Both Harvest Fests will feature New York-made products, including wines, beers, ciders and a wide range of foodstuffs for sampling, particularly New York-made cheeses, smoked meats, preserves and other items.

Tickets are available online for both the Syracuse event and the Saratoga Springs event.

Troy Chowder Fest fare conjures tastes of beer

PHOTO BY BILL DOWD

TROY -- After sampling two dozen different entries as a judge in the 6th annual Troy Chowder Fest competition this afternoon, my thoughts turned to beverages. Only natural, considering food and drink are my mainstay topics.

But, what does one imbibe with such a wide variety of creations -- from classic New England clam chowders to such exotica as Guinness scented hickory smoked corn and ancho chilis chowder, jerk chicken, autumn pear and smoked Reuben chowders, varieties that drew several thousand people to the riverside event behind Brown's Brewing despite overcast, rainy skies?

Beer, of course, and that thought comes to mind not only because we were doing the judging inside the brewpub's Revolution Hall event space. Yes, a bold pinot noir, or a tangy malbec or even a citrus-tinged seyval blanc might work if you insist on wine. But, only beer has the tasty edge, the cleansing carbonation to cut through all the creams and hot peppers and mixed spices the chefs used to concoct their chowders. Even if you're not a regular beer drinker -- which seems to be a growing number of the population, according to all sales statistics -- beer will do the trick.

There may be something to the theory that because beer was the drink of the common man and chowder originated as a meal cooked by the lower economic classes, our DNA's palate is hard-wired to pair the two.

Fish chowders were the ancestors of clam chowder. Some of the chowders I sampled today were topped with a bit of puff pastry or a crisp crouton, mimicking the practice of our early settlers who usually broke ship's biscuits into their seafood chowders to help thicken them.

The Oxford English Dictionary says the very word "chowder" can be traced to fishing villages along the coast of France, as well as in southwestern England and Brittany which flank the English Channel. It was the practice in the 16th and 17th centuries to have a large cauldron -- a "chaudiere" -- ready to cook some of the catch when the fishing boats returned to port and celebrations ensued.

There may have been some in the festival crowd here today who were there to escape financial worries for a few hours, but they no doubt were in the minority. That is very unlike the populace of such places as Brighton, England, in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Chowder-centric revelry probably was helpful in letting the locals forget for the moment the miserable economic and hygiene conditions in which many of them lived. Writing in 1860 in "Brighton As It Is," one J.G. Bishop described the hardscrabble fishing village this way:

"The houses of the poor in Brighton, which are situated in narrow streets and courts, are for the most part ill-ventilated, badly drained, if at all. The numbers which are huddled together in them render decency and decorum next to impossible. Many of them being built with inferior bricks and mortar made of sea-sand are wretchedly damp so that even the walls are covered with lichens, and the miserable tenants, unable to endure the depression of spirits which is the necessary result, try to drown their uneasy sensations in the neighbouring beer shops."

So, count your blessings, cook your chowder and chill your beer. All in all, I’m sure we’d rather be here than in Brighton.

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ON THE WEB:

• 180 Trusted Chowder Recipes
• Dowd's Guides home page

Chautauqua Co. winery becomes NY's 308th

PORTLAND, NY -- Olde Chautauqua Farms, founded in the 1960s, has grown tremendously over its half-century history. From its initial 12 acres, it has grown to a 300-acre grape farm.

Now the Lake Erie region enterprise has expanded again with the opening of 21 Brix Winery, its offshoot and New York State's 308th winery.

Mike and Marion Jordan and their sons Bryan Jordan and Kristopher Kane -- the winemaker -- are behind the winery and its new tasting room.

Kane has done some harvest time work with the Stuart Wine Company in Australia, and for the past six years has been the winemaker at Presque Isle Wine Cellars in North East, PA.

21 Brix is located on Route 20 between Westfield and Brocton in this Chautauqua County community. The official address is 6654 West Main Road. Phone: (716) 792-2749.

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ON THE WEB
• Lake Erie Wine Country
• Dowd's Guides home page

'Barrels & Drams' whiskey anthology on sale

My new book, "Barrels & Drams: The History of Whisk(e)y In Jiggers and Shots," is on the market.

(A hint for holiday shoppers -- The retail price is $18.95, but you can get a variety of discounts online, for example from Amazon.com.)

The book is a collection I co-wrote and edited, with essays from numerous writers famous in the field, from F. Paul Pacult to David Wondrich to Tom Wolfe.

You'll discover the spread of whiskey throughout the world and how it helped build countries. Read profiles of some of the most famous giants of the industry as Jack Daniel, George Smith and the Beam family.

Plus, go behind the scenes of Prohibition to check out the legendary gangsters, small-time rum-runners, a famous NASCAR champion who made his mark as a moonshine runner. And, you'll get insiders' looks at legitimate whiskey-making in such diverse spots as Scotland, Ireland, the U.S., South Africa, India and Japan.

NY wine marketing push under way

A promotional poster.

The last time we heard much about The Last Store On Main Street, it was vigorously opposing any and all attempts to allow wine sales in the state’s grocery stores.

Now, the statewide coalition of some wineries, unions, distributors and other small businesses is back for a third year of promoting the purchase of New York State wines.

“New York wineries make great wines that can compete with any in the world, but too many New Yorkers look elsewhere when shopping or ordering wine,” said Jeff Saunders, coalition founder and president of the Retailers Alliance.

His comments echo that of many in the New York wine industry. Anyone who thinks they’re not on target hasn’t studied many restaurant wine list in the state where New York wines are few and far between.

The marketing push is aimed at the fall and holiday seasons, and will run through October and November with retailers across the state participating in the “Fall in Love with New York Wines” promotional program. Depending on the participant, it will include in-store tastings, special pricing on New York wines and other related offerings.

Peconic Bay opening NY-only wine store

RIVERHEAD, Long Island -- Here's an update on an earlier report. An October 21 opening date has been set for Peconic Bay Winery's retail store at the Tanger Outlets here.

The store, named Empire State Cellars, is a 3,000-square-foot merchant store and tasting room. In addition to wines from Peconic Bay, the stock will include about 15,000 bottles from about 200 other New York wineries.

Peconic Bay Winery is one of the few North Fork vineyards to open a second location, a move allowed under state agricultural law that allows wineries to have up to five satellite locations. Pindar Vineyards opened a second tasting room and retail store in Port Jefferson, called Pindar Wine Shop, about 25 years ago.

Tastings will be offered daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Tanger Outlets are located at 200 Tanger Mall Drive, just off Main Street (Route 25).

Here's the latest NY gold rush roundup

Here are the latest success stories for New York wines in competitions.

• New York wineries won six gold, five silver and seven bronze medals in the recent Denver International Wine Competition, where Coyote Moon Vineyards also won a gold and Best Label Series Design for its packaging. Gold medals went to Chateau Frank 2005 Blanc de Blancs; Dr. Frank 2010 Muscat Ottonel and 2009 Gewurztraminer; Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards 2010 Riesling and 2010 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine, and Sheldrake Point Vineyards Apple Wine.

• At the Tasters Guild Wine Lovers' Consumer Wine Judging, Chateau Lafayette Reneau got double gold for its 2010 Semi-Dry Riesling. Gold medals went to Belhurst Estate Winery 2010 Dry Riesling, Carrie Blush and 2009 Merlot; Chateau Frank 2006 Blanc de Blancs; Chateau Lafayette Reneau 2010 Late Harvest Riesling; Dr. Frank 2010 Semi-Dry Riesling; Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards White Stag and Wagner Vineyards 2007 Meritage, 2008 Vidal Ice Wine, 2008 Cabernet Franc, and Sparkling Riesling.

• In the Sommelier Challenge International Wine Competition, Sheldrake Point Vineyards 2010 Finger Lakes Gewurztraminer took both Best Gewurztraminer and Best of Show White Wine.

Thanks to Jim Trezise of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation for rounding up the event results.