All posts tagged: New York wine club

New York Cork Club May Selections

Out of the over 1,000 New York wines he tastes every year, Lenn Thompson chooses 24 (2 a month) worthy of inclusion in our New York Cork Club. These wines are only available to Cork Club members but occasionally we will have extras available for purchase by the bottle at the Brooklyn wine store.

For May’s selections, Lenn says:

The weather has been cool here on Long Island, but it’s still spring, and we thought that a couple seasonally appropriate whites would be good selections.

First is one of the great values I’ve come across in a long time, Hosmer Winery’s 2007 Dry Riesling ($13). I actually stumbled upon this wine a few months ago when I was visiting the Finger Lakes region with my wife. It was our last day in the area and we took the long way home to visit some wineries on Cayuga Lake. Hosmer Winery, on the west side of the lake, was our first and best visit. Many of the wines we tasted were terrific, but this was my favorite. With .7% residual sugar, this is definitely one of the drier rieslings you’ll find in the region. It has great green apple and citrus flavors, and shows nice fresh acidity.

The second one is a one-of-a-kind from Long Island — Channing Daughters Winery 2007 Tocai Friulano ($24). If you’re a fan of Italian renditions, let me introduce you to the best one coming out of the United States (forget NY). The acidity is crisp and provides a great framework for flavors of grapefruit, honeydew melon, citrus and spice. This is a near-perfect wine for spring dishes. Enjoy!

Greene GrapeNew York Cork Club May Selections
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New York Cork Club April Selections

Our April selections for the New York Cork Club have been posted and are on their way to Cork Club members. The New York Cork Club is our monthly wine club exclusively featuring New York State wines. Each month members receive 2 wines chosen by New York wine guru Lenn Thompson. This month, Lenn selected two whites that compare and contrast very well.

First up Keuka Lake Vineyards’s Reserve Vignoles 2007. Sold out at the winery, Lenn got the last case available. Vignoles is a hybrid grape used in late harvest and dessert wines. Lenn’s tasting notes find the nose “rich and fruity with intense ripe (almost over-ripe) pear aromas mingling with those of musk melon and peach skin” with a medium to full-bodied palate that is similarly ripe and intense. We’d add that it had pineapple notes, which are typical of this variety.

Lenn also got his hands on an advance case of Raphael Vineyards’s Naturale 2008. Made with wild yeasts and unfined and unfiltered, this represents Raphael’s winemaker’s first foray into natural winemaking. Lenn found it to be complex and intricate with aromas of ripe Gala apples, apple blossom, roasted nuts, sweet herbs, lemon zest and toasty yeast. We tried the Naturale 2008 with fava bean puree and it was delicious. The crispness of the wine counters the creaminess of the puree and the herbal notes of the wine complemented the freshness of the fava beans.

For Lenn’s detailed descriptions of the wines and his tasting notes, click here.

Greene GrapeNew York Cork Club April Selections
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NY Wine & Spirits Retailer of the Year!

At last night’s New York State Wine and Grape Foundation ceremony, we were surprised and thrilled to win “Wine and Spirits Retailer of the Year”! We’re blushing . . . and pretty excited to get an award just for encouraging people to try good wines.

You can come try some great NY State wines and spirits on April 18, Earth Day Weekend as we “Think Global and Drink Local.” We’ll open past selections from our New York Cork Club, a monthly wine club featuring the selections of NY wine guru Lenn Thompson. We’ll also welcome Alie, the founder of Brooklyn Oenology, who will pour her Brooklyn Social Club White 2007 and have the folks down from Core Vodka, an upstate distiller making vodka from apples, to shake a few cocktails for you to try!

Greene GrapeNY Wine & Spirits Retailer of the Year!
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