Regan and Carey Meador, owners and of one of the newest vineyards on Long Island, SOuthold Farm + Cellar have started and at the time of this writing have completed their Kickstarter campaign.  They want us, you and me, to help bring Weird Grapes to the North Fork.

You won’t see chardonnay on their land.  You won’t see merlot either.  And I probably won’t see cabernet franc either wich is a real bummer.  But you will see some legrein, goldmuskateller and syrah — for starters.

What The Meador’s are asking for is for you tho help them plant one acre of teroldego.

HUH?  What’s teroldego, well it’s a wierd grape.  You can find more about it from New York Times wine writer Eric Asimov.

The money they raise will not only go to plant some teroldego, according to their Kickstarter page:

But helping us raise this money is about more than just Teroldego… it’s about…

- helping a fledgling start up.

- fostering even more diversity in the wine world.

- planting the first of a variety ever on the North Fork and bringing more Weird Grapes to the North Fork of Long Island.

- joining our Planter’s Club. Some wineries have wine clubs and someday we will too, but our Planter’s Club will always be a special group of people to us. Perks abound, first access to our estate wines and no monthly purchase will be required.

Again our plan is to plant two acres of this varietal come spring 2013. Normally that would cost upwards of $30,000, so we wanted to put it out to our friends, family, the greater wine and Kickstarter worlds to help us raise $15,000 to help get one acre of these suckers into the ground, but we have to hit our goal and deeply need your help!

Imagine they reach $30,000 with this campaign  they only need about $6000 more.  That would be weird and cool all at the same time.  The fact that something like this can happen here, in America, on Long Island makes this a worthy thing to consider.  I contributed, I hope you do to.

Related articles

• weird grapes, good wine, medium money (grapefriend.com)
• Former Agency Guy Wants To Bring ‘Weird’ Grapes To Long Island (psfk.com)
• weird grapes, good wine, medium money (salentoallseasons.wordpress.com)
• weird grapes, good wine, medium money (itastespain.com)

I enjoy my rose dry.  Bone dry.  Don’t offer me anything with a hint of residual sugar.  Not going to touch it.  I prefer my rose to have a bit of a tannin bite with big bright acidity.  I love rose with roasted chicken or even better at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead is one of the few Long Island producers that release 4 Rose wines.  One sparkling and three still.  This rose that I tasted was and is the driest of all.  And quite frankly it was delicious.

Martha Clara Vineyards 2010 “Five-O” Rose, ($18) a blend of 49% Merlot, 38% Syrah, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot.  The wine shows a nose of Strawberry, ripe berries, black pepper, fresh herbs and a distinctive fresh-baked rhubarb pie note.

The palate showed cranberry, raspberry  strawberry and spice with more fresh herb.  As it warmed up to room temperature, a note of watermelon and mint appeared.

Fresh acidity and ripe tannins made this wine delicious, mouth-watering and perfect with food.  There was a hint of effervescence to the wine which I enjoyed.

There may not be much of this left, it is from 2010 and some vineyards are ready to release some of their 2012, if they have not already.  But if you find some, it will ease you out of your wintry blues soon and make you think spring.

Sláinte!

This is not Paumanok Vineyards current Festival Red release, they are currently offering the 2011.  Never the less, this is intended to be had young, and boy was this young.

Paumanok Vineyards 2010 Festival Red ($22) (Sold Out) captures the essence  of the great 2010 vintage.  A blend of 42% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot it never lets down and shows all varieties mingled together in one glass.

The nose brings cherry, plum, ripe sweet red fruits, herb, and a bit of the 2010 heat at first open.  24 hours later the aroma’s are more concentrated with hints of savory herbs showing.

On the palate you are presented with the same notes as the nose brought but with time open, you can pick up more exotic spice and more cherry then berry notes.

Bright and clean with some gripy tannins.  It carried a lengthy finish with hints of dark cherry, plum and tobacco.  There was a hint of dried flowers on day 2.

Sláinte!

My palate enjoys a cabernet sauvignon in a blend much more than the varietal offering from most east end vineyards.  Probably because the other varieties that are blended with it, like merlot or cabernet franc, do ripen.

That being said, I will still taste and experiment with cabernet sauvignon.  And that’s exactly what I did with Martha Clara Vineyards 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon ($29).  Martha Clara Vineyards does not produce a cabernet sauvignon in every vintage, in fact the last time they did was in 2007.

The palate brings notes of blackberry, cassis, tobacco, leather, tar and grilled figs

More cassis or currant leads the way with blackberry, black cherry, vanilla tobacco, bay leaf and toasted spices.

Chewy tannins and bright acidity round out the finish of cassis and chocolate.

If you have not noticed, Martha Clara Vineyards changed their wine labels.  I really like the new look.  Classy and now you know what your drinking and where it’s from and who produces it.  With the old labels, that was lost.

Sláinte!

Sure, other elements come into play thanks to the aging of the wine, but really, if I were a winemaker, I would want to bring people back to that vintage with as little outside influence as possible.  When I say outside influence, I am talking about oak influence.

Medolla Vineyards 2007 Merlot ($22) captures the 2007 vintage in the purist of forms.  In my opinion this is one of the best bottles from the 2007 from the North Fork especially for this price.  I remember visiting and hanging out at harvest time and alot of Merlot grapes that were just picked tasted just like this.

The nose brings ripe notes of plum, cherry, raspberry and blackberry.  Juicy fruit with hints of smoke, vanilla, clove, dried herb and earth mushroom like notes.

The palate brings more plum, blackberry, cherry, grilled fig and espresso.  Dried savory herbs, cocoa and sweet vanilla round out the palate.

Great acidity with velvety tannins make this a wine that goes perfectly with food.  The wine finishes up with a lengthy finish of cherry and clove.

2007 was one of the best vintages of Long Island and this represents it well.  It take me back to 2007 as if I just picked a few Merlot grapes off the vine.  John Medolla with the help of Eric Fry have made one fine Merlot that captures the vintage well.  At the price of $22, this is bargain and has tremendous value.

Sláinte!

In 2009, the weather was not as hot as say 2007, 2010 or more recently 2012, but the year was long and warm steady dry temperatures and conditions allowed vineyards to hang fruit into November to make up for some not so pleasant mid summer growing days.

Shinn Estate Vineyards 2009 Estate Merlot ($27) is their entry-level merlot. Their reserve merlot is called Nine Barrels. This is Shinn Estate Vineyards, everyday merlot that is delicious with a roast chicken or just as nice with a group of friends and some good conversation.

Aromas of blackberry, plum, black pepper and subtle herb dominate the nose. Hints of ripe fresh sweet berry fruit mingle in the background as well. after some time in the glass exotic spice, meaty, Unami flavors like mushroom and hints of fresh earth appear along with some sweet vanilla and cigar box cedar.

The palate shows more ripe fruit flavors like plum, blackberry, dark berry fruit and black cherry. Great chewy tannins and delicious mouth-watering acidity brighten the palate. bright. Flavors of spice, clove, cardamom, whole peppercorns, smoke, and fresh espresso round out the back-end of the palate. Subtle hints of bay leaf and tobacco appear.

The finish which is lengthy, brings flavors of cherry, vanilla and savory herb.

A solid wine that despite the price just shy of $30, it does over-deliver.

Sláinte!

I was not going to review this, I figured it would be hard to come by.  I also figured with all the media surrounding this, why write about it.  However, with my recent visit to Empire State Cellars, they just got a shipment in of it so I figured, why not.  I wanted to see if this was indeed presidential.

Bedell Cellars 2009 Merlot ($30), now sold out at the winery, comes from some of the oldest vines on Long Island.

The nose brings aromas of cherry, raspberry and dried herb with notes of fresh soil, spice, cedar and subtle vanilla .

The palate brought more to the plate.  Cherry, raspberry  plum and vanilla intermingle with each other.  The flavors were ripe, juicy red berries.  Nice acidity and good tannins gave some good structure.

It had a lengthy finish of plum and spice.  It did show some heat at the start of the finish.

I had really hoped I would not get caught up in this whirlwind, but I could not resist.  Today this will be served at the White House during the Inaugural Luncheon.  Was this wine presidential? Who am I to say.  What I do say and I do hope is that both sides of the aisle can agree that Long Island is making some fine wine these days.

Sláinte!

Related articles

• FOX-TV Covers Bedell Cellars at Innaugural Lunch (eastcoastwineries.blogspot.com)
• Suffolk Times: Bedell is on Obama’s Innaugural Table (eastcoastwineries.blogspot.com)
• Long Island Wine Chosen For Lunch At Obama’s Second Inauguration (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• inaugural wines spur a white house beatdown (grapefriend.com)

It has been almost four months since I posted something to this blog.  A real shame.  Not only for me and for those that follow my writings, but for the region and hobby I love.

I could go on and on about what caused this lack of postings, but the fact that there is only 24 hours in a day, really limit the ability for me to get something up.  Fatherhood, husband-hood,  community involvement, work and the loss of my Grandmother have all affected this blog.

So what I am about to embark on here is a new way of posting and writing.

I used to write posts after tasting a wine over the course of 3 days; if the bottle lasted that long.  Now, I might just post the next morning.  After 3 days, I may have lost interest in talking about the wine.  I am going to be more relevant to actually what I am drinking that day, that moment.

Why?  I have used Untappd, a beer world app, where you post your thoughts immediately upon what is in your glass.  There is not much time to ponder, not much time to think about what you are tasting.  You share it with the world that moment.  It has been more useful and less time-consuming.  Quick, short, posts about what you are enjoying or not enjoying.  I want to bring that to you.

Another issue I have wrestled with is my writing, spelling and flow of the posts I write.  I am not a professional writer.  I have no writing training or ability.  I am a horrible speller and fail at grammar and punctuation   Those things have always plagued me.  I have always worried about them in every post.  There are times that I spend hours editing something that I lose interest in it and it never gets posted.  I’m not going to worry about that anymore.  It is what it is.

I have also worried about being a cheerleader for my region.  It’s an easy thing to do.  While I am comfortable at being one, I am also uncomfortable about being one.  If that makes sense.  Bottom line is this, I never want to be called a critic and I never want to speak badly of one, but because of that, I have had some issues.  I always look for the positive in things and the glass is always half full.  Going forward, I am going to tell you what I am tasting, and that is basically all I want to do.   In the past, I have used my rule: if I did not like it, I won’t post it.  I only posted the wines I like in the past.  You would be hard to find a negative post here.  If I like it, I will tell you, if I don’t I will tell you.  It’s just that simple.

And lastly, I want to tell you about me.  How I came to this, what I enjoy and what I feel and think about the North and South Forks.  That is something missing from here.  It’s not as personable as I would like it to be.  While you won’t exactly know if I wear boxers or briefs  I think you will get to know how cabernet franc evolved in my wine world.

So here is my clean slate.  We all need this.  We all need to restructure, review and look at what we do.  I took a step back and thought about it.  I hope you enjoy what will be coming out in the future.

Blend 2 is known as the Cabernet Franc dominated blend while Blend One is the Cabernet Sauvignon based blend.  I have always liked Blend 2 more, mainly because I am a Cabernet Franc fan.  However, I thank that Blend One represents Roanoke Vineyards well and gives people who are not familiar with Roanoke, an insiders look to what you will find in the offerings from Roanoke Vineyards.

At Roanoke, they love their blends.  Heck, they are one of a handful, if not the only Long Island vineyard that has two releases of their Cabernet Franc and the only one on Long Island who have a single vineyard Cabernet Franc release Gabby’s and the standard.

Roanoke Vineyards 2008 Blend One ($43) is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot, this according to Roanoke’s Blend Tech on their website.

The nose brings elements of ripe blackberry, cherry, plum and Cassis.  Hints of earth, sweet vanilla, clove and ground spices, tobacco.  Notes of cocoa and dried herbs linger as the wine opens up after some time in the glass.

The palate brought more of the fruit notes that I found in the glass but blackberry and Cassis dominated.  Bramble notes with hints of cinnamon  coriander  nutmeg  earth and vanilla mingled on the palate with some dried bay leaf and thyme.

Well balance with bright clean acidity and smooth tannins.  The finish brought some bramble like flavors with ground spices and dried herbs.

2008 was not a banner year on Long Island, but as I have been told and I will now tell you, seek out wines from top producers from down years, you can’t go wrong.

Thanks Claire Sliver

On Saturday, at Empire State Cellars, in Riverhead, nearly 30 people came down to taste Riesling from the Finger Lakes Region of New York.  The event was put on by the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance and Finger Lakes Wine Country.

Riesling is the signature grape of the Finger Lakes region and it is the grape that has garnered the region 90+ point scores in various wine publications from multiple vineyards and wineries.  The region takes pride in their Riesling and this effort by them shows how much they believe in it.

Across the country various wine bloggers, writers and media outlets received samples to coincide with their official launch of the 2011 Riesling.  Lenn Thompson of The New York Cork Report and I were on hand as the group assembled around 6PM to taste the 2011 Riesling.

I am not going to go line by line and list all the Riesling tasted, we tasted about a dozen or so.  I am going to give you my top five of the night.  There was a clear-cut winner in my opinion and from those who tasted there as well thought this was a very good Riesling.

Herman J. Wiemer 2011 Semi-Dry Riesling ($17): Stone and some pome fruit with hits of citrus.  Bright acidity with focus.  Delicious stone and pome fruits with a mineral core.  Tremendous balance, which is what made this the winner in my book.

Lamoureux Landing 2011 Dry Riesling ($14): Mineral driven with notes of stone fruit and lemon pulp.  Clean, crisp and refreshing.  Vibrant acidity. Lengthy finish.

Sheldrake Point 2011 Dry Riesling ($16): grapefruit and citrus dominated with hints of tree and pome fruit.  Floral aroma was intriguing.

Ravines 2011 Dry Riesling ($17): Most mineral driven wine of the night.  Riesling lovers Riesling.  Citrus and Floral notes with some stone fruit.  Bright clean acidity.  I was picking up a hint of sulfur at first but it soon blew off.

Red Newt Cellars 2011 Semi Dry Riesling: Stone fruits with tropical aromas.  Bright acidity.  Stone and pome fruits on the palate with lingering honey like flavor on the finish.

These were my favorite Riesling from that night.  These are Riesling that I will seek out in the future and make sure they are on my table in the future.  I urge you to take a look at them.  They all are under $20 and at these price points you can’t go wrong.

Thank you to the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance for organizing this and getting the samples out to all.  Thank you to the vineyards and wineries who supported this event by offering their wines to us.  Thank you to all who attended, I hope you learned something and found something you enjoyed.  Thanks to Empire State Cellars who opened the door for us for Riesling Hour.  Thank you to Lenn Thompson who organized the event and handled the logistics for us on Long Island.

Thanks Claire Sliver

Related articles

• Riesling Hour: Saturday, Septermber 22, 2012 – The Offical Launch and Release of Riesling from the 2011 Vintage in the Finger Lakes (undertakingwine.com)

Empire State Cellars will be hosting a Virtual Tasting starting at 6pm.  Lenn Thompson founder and publisher of The New York Cork Report and I will be offering folks an opportunity to taste these Riesling in a relaxed and entertaining atmosphere.

Yes, you will be able to taste these wine in person, but here is how the virtual tasting comes into play.  You will be tasting with others from across the globe the same wines at the same time and you can interact with the winemakers and vintners via Facebook, twitter, instagram and any other social media outlet that you use.

If you are on Facebook, make sure you “like” Finger Lakes Wine so you can post your favorites and ask questions.

If you are on twitter, make sure you use the hashtag #flxwine when talking about the Riesling you are drinking

And if you use Instagram, make sure you tag your photo with #flxwine.

This should be fun and most importantly educational.  It would be great to see you tomorrow at Empire State Cellars in Tanger 1 (next to the food court).  But if you can’t make it, make sure you have a bottle of Finger Lakes Riesling and taste and tweet, post and photo right along with us!

See you tomorrow at Empire State Cellars or online!

Related articles

• Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling 2011 (whywineblog.com)
• At Last, My Summer Wines (whywineblog.com)

From Shoreline Beverage Facebook Page

But the real thing that drove me back to wine; the one thing that made me dust off the old tasting notebook.  A display I saw in one of my favorite beer shops.  While that is not the real picture, I knew that my beer drinking and tasting would come to an abrupt end.

I loath pumpkin beer.  There is just not one I have tried that I like and I really cannot see spending money on such ales.  But it’s not just Pumpkin beers, it’s pumpkin pie, pumpkin, cookies, pumpkin candles — just about anything that has the combination of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter.

I don’t mind harvest ales.  I like Oktoberfest beer.  But please oh please don’t brew with pumpkin extract, canned pumpkin or add pumpkins to your boil.  The just will not do it for me.

So, it’s back to wine for me.  And back to tasting notes.  While I will dabble in the beer world, it’s gong to be porters and stouts for me now in the forseeable future.  Goodbye until next year by beloved Kölsch, Hefeweizen, Saisons, summer ale and pilsner’s.  I’ll see you soon enough, but will miss your terribly.

Oh the thought of pumpkin ale!
From redding.com

Related articles

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This Merlot from Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead is a fine example with some time decanted.

Martha Clara Vineyards 2009 Merlot ($20) shows alot of typical Long Island notes, like plum, cherry and spice.

initially, the nose was reductive with a notes of sulfur, but after some time in the glass and decanting, those aroma’s blew off.  I was then picking up notes of Plum, sour cherry, dried herbs, fresh earth, clove spice and tobacco.

The palate brought notes of plum and sour cherry again with some vanilla, espresso, chocolate and spice.  The tannins were chewy with a nice amount of acidity to make this a food friendly wine.

Sláinte!

Well I was at it again.  This time, I got a little more into beer.  Tasting more, enjoying more and finding our more about the world of craft beer.  I even got into a little hop harvest action.

I love craft beer.  Everyone should get into craft beer.  That’s where the flavor is and the fun is.  There are so many new and exciting beers out there and more and more craft breweries opening.  Look around, you probably have one in your neighborhood.

So here is what I tasted and enjoyed while I was not drinking wine.

I noticed the very first sentence on the back of this chardonnay bottle from Channing Daughters — “We Love Chardonnay!”  In fact they love it so much that currently they have three 100% chardonnay offerings and 6 wines where chardonnay is blended together to make some of their other white and orange wines.

Channing Daughters Winery 2010 Scuttlehole Chardonnay ($17) is a delight, but it gets even better with time in the glasse as it come closer to room temperature.  The grapes from this vintage come from both North and South fork to make this a true Long Island wine.

The nose brings fresh sliced apple with river rock minerality and ocean water salinity.  Pear and citrus fruit linger in the background with some subtle grass and citrus pith.

The palate brings bright clean acidity with a hint of spice — think white pepper.  The apple and pear notes are prevalent, but the minerality of the wine takes center stage on the palate.

Photo from Channing Daughters

Crisp and refreshing cold, as the wine warms the tree fruit -apple and pear- really shine through.  Stainless steel fermented, this bottle saw no oak.  This is from the 2010 vintage, one of the hottest on Long Island, and it showed great balance between the flavors, acidity and alcohol.  One of my favorite 2010 white wines.

One interesting note about this bottle that I found out.  It came to full room temperature and it shows some wonderful floral notes, something I was not expecting.  Please don’t serve this wine ice-cold.  Take it out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you pour you glass.  You will be rewarded with a delicious bottle of wine that shows wonderful aroma’s and flavors.  And at under $20, it shows tremendous value.

Sláinte!

Related articles

• Long Island Vines: At Channing Daughters Winery, Rosés Flourish (nytimes.com)

That was the last time I penned a blog post.

Who’s to blame? What’s to blame? What were you doing? How Come?

Some important questions that may come from once thing and many things.  But for now, I will pin it as this — palate fatigue, palate malaise, palate block, palate disenchantment.

No matter what wine I tasted, except for a few, none of them had that spark.  They all kinda seemed to be similar with nothing distinctively different.  No matter what region the wine was from — Long Island or Willamette Valley or Mendocino or Loire..it just did not get me going.  I needed jumper cables for my dead battery.

However, some things changed with my palate and I plan on sharing those with you over the next few weeks.  I worked out those kinks, gave my palate almost a month off and over the last week or so, things started to come around.

Fear not, I am back and Long Island is in my sights.

Adam does not own a vineyard, which is something that you see from some wine makers on the North Fork; think Jim Waters, Anthony Nappa, Erik Bilka and John Leo to name some.  With his years of working on the North Fork, he has built relationships with various growers.  These relationships that he has built are going into the bottles that Adam calls Coffee Pot Cellars.

The name Coffee Pot Cellars gets it’s inspiration from something many have seen and is very much a part of the North Fork.  Entering the North Fork via ferry at Orient Point, you will notice the lighthouse.  It is a Coffee Pot Light House, hence the name.  It does not matter if you begin or end your travel on the north fork, Coffee Pot Light House is there.

Adam has 4 wines now in his portfolio.  Coffee Pot Cellars 2010 Chardonnay ($16) is one that kept me coming back to the glass.

Made with grapes from Sam McCullough Vineyard in Aquebogue.  ( He also gets his Merlot grapes from there as well)  This Chardonnay shows the 2010 vintage well.  Ripe, fresh fruit with hints of long hot growing season.  It’s fermented in neutral oak barrels and did not go through Malo-lactic fermentation.

On the nose I was picking up hints of Apple, lemon, lemon curd and orange zest.  There was some hints of brioche, apple skin and tropical.  The brioche and yeasty notes were as a result of the ageing of the wine on the yeast used to ferment the wine, also know as sur lies ageing.

The palate brought more apple and lemon notes with more tropical flavors and a hint of white pepper spice.

The wine showed bright and clean and the acidity was crisp and refreshing.  It did show some of it’s 13% abv, but mostly as it came to room temperature.

This wine can be purchased on Coffee Pot Cellars web site and at the Greenport Farmers Market.

Sláinte!

I love the meaty, peppery characteristic that one gets from Syrah and sometimes it can get a little funk, which is always a plus in my book.  And if you can blend a little Viognier then you are really in my wheel house.  To pay homage t the Côte-Rôtie region of France here with Syrah on Long Island will most likely get me to make sure I go home with a few bottles.

The Jamesport Vineyards 2007 “Sidor” Reserve Syrah ($45) does not have any Viognier in it, but not to worry, it still is worth every penny.  A blend of 62% Syrah, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 9% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot captures the 2007 vintage beautifully.  This reserve named “Sidor” because it comes from their Sidor farm in Mattituck.

On the nose the glass was filled with notes of earth, spice, mineral and in the back ground hints of fruit.  Graphite, gunpowder, forest floor ground pepper and exotic spice lead the way with hints of plum, blackberry, cherry and fresh prune.  Vanilla, smoke and cedar round out the back end of the nose.

The palate packs more juicy fruit than the nose does with plum, cherry blackberry and grilled fig leading the way.  Hints of chocolate, graphite, mushroom, smoke and vanilla.

Bright acidity and chewy tannins fill the mouth with a clean finish of cherry, vanilla and tobacco.

Sláinte!

*I received this bottle as a sample from the vineyard

The early part of May was spent at TasteCamp in Northern Virginia.  After that, I was home for less than a week, then off to the Mexican Rivera in beautiful Puerto Adventuras.

It gave me little time to put some  blog posts up about TasteCamp or what I was tasting recently.  While I thought I could get some done on vacation, traveling with an almost two-year old surrounded by his grandparents and uncles and aunt, made that idea impossible.

Have no fear, I have returned.  Getting readjusted at work and going through some Medford Chamber Stuff, I had some time to write and finished a few posts this weekend.  I should get back into the swing of things later today.

Cheers!

So, what is TasteCamp?  Here is a little snippet exactly what TasteCamp is:

The concept for TasteCamp is a simple one: getting enthusiastic journalists and bloggers together in a region that is new to them to taste as much wine as possible and speak to as many winemakers as possible over the course of a weekend.

Most smaller, lesser-known wine regions in the world would love to get their wines in front new audiences, it can be a challenge.  With TasteCamp, the new audience comes to them.

This is not a junket — attendees pay their own travel expenses — including for their hotel rooms — and meals.  Through generous sponsors, some meals may be deeply discounted.

My agenda will be packed with opportunities to speak to winemakers, wine growers and vineyard owners.  I will have and opportunity, along with 40 other writers to experience the Norther Virginia Wine Country first hand with grand tastings,  vineyard dinners and a highlight for me is vineyard walks.  These enable us to get into Virginia Wine and get a feel for the place these wines come from.  The greatest experience from my first TasteCamp was the Vineyard walk at Daminai Vineyards in the FInger Lakes.  There is no better way to understand wine and the winemaking process than to walk the fields where the grapes grow that become the wine you and I enjoy.

I hope that you will all enjoy the posts that I will write about my experiences in VA Wine Country.  If you follow me on twitter, there will be alot of tweeting.  Follow the #tastecamp hastag and you will be fully educated by those that attend TasteCamp.  For more information about this TasteCamp, please visit their website.

Here is the agenda that I awaits us in Virginia:

Related articles

• TasteCamp 2012 in Northern Virginia is Just Around the Corner (newyorkcorkreport.com)
• TasteCamp Virginia Update: Linden, Fabbioli and Tranquility Added to Agenda (winecase.ca)
• Announcing TasteCamp 2012 Northern Virginia (May 4-6) (lenndevours.com)
• Announcing TasteCamp EAST 2009 in Long Island Wine Country (lennthompson.typepad.com)
• TasteCamp East 2010 Finger Lakes Kicks Off on Friday (lenndevours.com)
• TasteCamp 2011: We’re Going to Niagara Wine Country — Both Sides of the Border (lenndevours.com)