LIWINEDAD

  Channing Daughters Winery May club arrived this week.  I look forward to the club shipments as Channing grows many uncommon varietals for Long Island, such as Blufranskisch and Dornfelder. This month we received a 2019 Syrah Mudd West Vineyard and a 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Mudd Vineyard. The Syrah is a 100% Syrah fruit, harvested in October 2019, fermented with wild yeasts, and aged for 11 months in used oak.  I have enjoyed prior vintages of this Syrah, and they have all been good, and I look forward to trying this one soon.   The Sauvignon Blanc is a stainless Steel fermented 100% Sauvignon Blanc fruit, so I expect a flavor profile closer to a New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc than the French Version. As I have enjoyed Channing’s Sauvignon Blanc in the past, I am sure this will be a winner also.  CHANNING DAUGHTERS MAY CLUB

  The Lindstrom 2018 Pinot Noir is yet one more fine wine from winemaker Celia Welch , showcasing her talents.   The wine was chilled to about 60 ⁰ F and decanted for 45 minutes [1].  The nose was abundant black cherry and raspberry with hints of peppercorn and vanilla. The mouthfeel was lighter with well-balanced acids.  The Pinot Noir opened bright and intense with whole dark fruit, notes of anise, cedar, and caramel on the palate.  Harvesting the fruit took place from 2 sites in the green valley area of the Russian River valley part of Sonoma. Each block fermented the wine separately and rested in 50% French new oak barrels for ten months before the final blending.  After the blending, it was back to the barrels for three months, then bottled unfined in December 2019.  This wine could rest a year or two more; however, I will be enjoying it this year.  1- LINDSTROM 2018 RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY PINOT NOIR

Today we received our Jamesport club shipment for May.  It consisted of two wines, one red and the other white.  The red is their 2019 Estate Cabernet Franc which is traditionally an excellent example of a Long Island Cabernet Franc.  The fruit is from Mattituck fermented with indigenous yeasts and finished in French oak barrels.  The wine is unfined, and I would expect the wine to mature well over the coming decade in the cellar if I can hold off drinking it.  The white wine is a 2019 “Twenty Nineteen Sauvage, Wild/Untouched/Fierce.”  According to the label, it is a Sauvignon Blanc of Italian descent and aged in French oak for 11 months.  Given this lineage, I would expect this to be close to a French Sancerre than a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. As it is summer, I will be tasting this shortly and see if my guess is correct. JAMESPORT MAY CLUB SHIPMENT

  The Lindstrom 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon hails from the Stags Leap District in Napa Valley and generally regarded as a 91-point wine.  It is reflective of that AVA showing bright, bold, and well-structured already.  The opening nose is one of cherry and blackberry aromas, mocha, and hints of vanilla.  The wine burst onto the palate with bright berry, full mouthfeel, and a smooth texture.  The tannins are well represented, and the finish is long with a hint of oak and berry.  The wine began as fruit from the Estate in Stags Leap, harvested late in September 2018.  The blocks were fermented and rested in 60% new French barrels for 12 months.  The individual blocks were blended and then back to the barrels for eight more months, bottled unfined in May 2020.  After this one bottle, the remaining five will continue to rest in the cellar, hopefully for several more years to soften the tannins and develop more structure.  LINDSTROM  2018 CABERNET SAUVIGNON STAGS LEAP DISTRICT NAPA VALLEY CA U

While Jo and often enjoy a good dinner at the local restaurants, nothing beats a simple meal for two at home.  Today was that day.  We opted for a selection of fresh seafood and a bottle of simple white wine.  For the wine, we chose a Bridge Lane (Lieb) 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon [1].   Bridge Lane is a second label in the Lieb Cellars family.   The second label, in this case, should not imply the second best.   The Bridge Lane wines are a fun, approachable set of wines, not for savoring with a friend but for sharing with a group of friends, such as our last family party where we polished off six bottles of the Cabernet Sauvignon alone.   The wine packaging is for fun, available in cans, screw-top bottles, boxes, and even kegs for the big gatherings. The Cabernet Sauvignon is light in color, with aromas of citrus fruits and herbaceous notes.   The flavor is crisp (good acid) with subtle Grapefruit, Citrus, and a hint of grass notes with moderate alcohol (12% ABV).   My personal prefer

My once-a-year allotment of Lindstrom from Napa arrived Wednesday, much to the delight of all. Lindstrom is the handiwork of one of Napa Valleys' finest consulting winemakers Celia Welch . She also has a hand in such other outstanding labels as Corra and Scarecrow. I started to follow her work almost a decade ago and now have subscriptions to Corra and Scarecrow. In this shipment were both the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2018 Pinot Noir[1]. The Cabernet Sauvignon package is a solid wood six-pack case. The Pinot Noir came as 2 - 3 pack cardboard boxes. The combined total should last about a year as I treat these wines as a monthly wines [2]. The Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic Stags Leap district Napa Valley wine that consistently sources in the high nineties. The Pinot Noir is from the Russian River Valley and again is a consistently high-scoring wine. I will be tasting a bottle of each shortly before laying them down to rest for a few years. 1-LINDSTROM SHIPMENT 2-LIN

  Back again at Cara Mia with a friend in tow for yet one more fine meal.  Opening drinks included a Cosmopolitan, a heavy pour of Woodford Reserve, and a glass of the house Chianti.  Next up was the breadbasket with both butter and oil.  For our openers, we had a Cara Mia Salad, Shrimp cocktail, and Nonna's Meatballs. The very fresh house salad is romaine lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet red peppers, and olives complimented with a balsamic dressing on the side. The Shrimp Cocktail is four beautifully plated large shrimp with cocktail sauce perked up with just the right amount of horseradish. Nonna's meatballs are two large well-seasoned balls plated with a rich Marinara sauce, one of the best I have had.  For the mains, Jo had the Chicken Princess, which is thin chicken breasts lightly battered, in white wine and a light touch of Marinara sauce.  The chicken arrived topped with melted mozzarella and grilled asparagus; the overall plating was marvelous. Accompanying the

As we come out of our bunkers from the covid winter, this was one of our first real pickups; stop, taste, enjoy not just a drive-by grab of the Lenz Winery quarterly wine. We had a chance to enjoy what turned out to be an actual lunch with our sit-down tasting in the courtyard under the vine arbors. The food was not the traditional nosh but a selection of salads, sandwiches, and wraps, one better than the next. This quarter is consisting of 6 bottles, including two of my favorites. The favorites are the old vines Merlot and old vines Cabernet Sauvignon followed by two different roses and last but not least, a sauvignon blanc. The background in the pickup picture is some of the wine racks in the cellar, soon to be an actual wine cellar courtesy of Selective Homes. The 2013 Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic as 2013 was a good year for the fruit. It is, in many ways, close to a left bank Bordeaux as they added a bit of Merlot, Malbec, and Franc to the final blend. The result

  It is time for a May pickup at the excellent long island winery Kontokosta. Kontokosta selected three wines for their club this quarter, an incredible tri color selection.   First up was the 2016 Cabernet Franc Reserve. The 2016 season was dry through most of the spring and early summer, but the season finished with quite a bit of rainfall.   The Fruit ripened well by mid-October and remained well balanced but with a slightly lower Brix(sugar level) than other seasons.   The wine fermented in steel and barrel, with about six months in new oak and six months in used Hungarian oak barrels.   The Franc was bottled in July of 2018 and then rested till its release in mid-2020.   The nose is intense Tobacco and some old leather.   The wine has a full-body mouth feel with clear black cherry and anisette notes as it lingers on the palate. This wine is a refined expression of a Long Island Cabernet Franc.   By all means, enjoy now.   Next up is the 2019 field blend, a Meritage of Sauvignon

  It is springtime on Long Island, and the seasonal waterside restaurants are reopening. Anchor down is a very local place, and if you do not live in or near Seaford, you surely overlook this gem.  Anchor Down is not a gem because of its high-end fine dining food but that it captures the essence of summer on Long Island. For Jo and I, this is very local as we can walk there and stagger back. The menu centered around classic dockside food, fish, burgers, and drinks with a bit of Mediterranean flair in homage to Cardoon's previously located here.  The outdoor deck is sunny and adjacent to a broad canal that one can leisurely watch the Swans, Geese, Ducks, and boats sail by.  The seafood is consistently fresh and well prepared, as are the other menu items.  On this visit, we were a party of three. A fish-loving friend from Connecticut joined us.  We opened with a round of drinks, including a Cosmopolitan, Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand Marlborough Oyster Bay 2020), and a Mojito with a

A good three stars with interesting entrees but still needs a bit of refinement to move into the 5-star range.   Snaps American Bistro has expanded but remains located on Wantagh Avenue just south of Sunrise Highway in a small group of stores on the west side.  Parking spots are limited and small, both in the front and back.  The greeting was prompt, and we were quickly seated at a small table for two.  The room was packed, vivacious with several large tables and a bit noisy.   Our cocktails arrived quickly, with the Cosmopolitan being fine and the Woodford reserve a bit over iced.  As this was the beginning of restaurant week, we ordered from the restaurant week menu, and to my disappointment, they did not have the Lobster bisque.  I ordered the soup of the day Chicken tortilla, which arrived table-side beautifully plated, full of flavor, and just enough spice to remind me of the soup's traditional heritage. Jo's Caesar salad promptly and was a generous portion but was lackin