Friday Fours and a Pour - August 30

Who needs to go on vacation at the end of August when your city starts to feel like its own foreign country?  Most New Yorkers have fled sidewalks in search of sand; conversely, all of Europe has come to the city for vacation.  The hodpodge of languages I encounter on every street corner forces me to look at my city through their eyes (and with those big-ass cameras they have slung around their necks, you know they're probably getting some great shots). Some people may complain about the tourists, but it's fun to reframe the city from their viewpoint. Here's my hometown tourist favorites of the week:

The Fours:

The Highline
I'll admit, when the park was first built, I didn't fully get it and thought it was an overhyped PR blitz for the city. But over time I've fallen deeply in love with this 1.45 mile stretch.  It's become my solace during hard times; nothing's more soothing than sitting on a bench, surrounded by aromatic plants, staring at the water and just thinking things through.  In addition, there's the spot I've dubbed The Road to Nowhere:  benches face a glass wall overlooking 10th Avenue and traffic rushes underneath you as you sit perfectly still.   It's also a gorgeous walk on a warm summer night, lights glimmering at you from both the walkways and the city skyline.  And Terroir has a location on the highline.  Yep. The Highline has wine.  'Nuff said.

Mast Brothers Factory
I grew up close to a chocolate factory in the suburbs of Massachusetts and on certain mornings, the wind carried the aromas to our front door, greeting us as we made our way to school. Walking into this Williamsburg factory/showroom, I was hit with nostalgia, along with the amazing, knee-melting scent of intense cocoa. These two bearded dudes were at the forefront of the Brooklyn culinary revolution with their gourmet chocolates and a trip to their Williamsburg factory is exhilarating, not only because of the chocolate perfume that envelops you when you walk in, but with the tantalizing baked goods behind the counter, gorgeously wrapped chocolate bars, handcrafted bags...
Ah, fuck it, I'll be blunt.  They have samples. TONS of free samples of their swoon-worthy chocolate. Amazing.

TheNewPotato.com
What do you get when you combined food, restaurants, fashion and design, shopping and cool, influential people? This amazing website. Between the inspirational stories and gorgeous photography, I can't stop perusing this website, even though my lunch hour is usually well past over by the time I can pull myself away.

Diptic

I'm a bit Urban Amish so I come to technology a little late in the game.  If you know about this one, good for you! If not, I have to say, this app just upped my Instagram game tenfold.  I can put all my food and wine shots into one composite, like this:

Or this:

Yes, I look like a total pig, but it's such a cool way to show an entire meal, from appetizers to dessert. I guess you can showcase other things, too, like, I dunno, your kids.


The Pour
In honor of Labor Day, I'm forgoing wine in favor of the most summer-y drink I've had in a long time.

The Ginger Colada at Berry Park in Williamsburg.  Made with slush from Kelvin Natural Slush Co, this rummy cooler is a spicy-sweet glass of vacation.  Except you're on a rooftop in Williamsburg.  Surrounded by hipsters.


Happy Labor Day!

Friday Fours and a Pour: August 23

Obviously, I love wine and love sharing my discoveries with you.  Writing, Tweeting, Instagramming - my communication is very focused on the vino. (And if you're not following me on Instagram and Twitter, what are you waiting for?  @shanaspeakwine).

However, I come across so many unique  non-wine things during the week that make life interesting and meaningful that I'd be remiss not to share them.  This new column, Friday Fours and a Pour, will share 4 things I'm currently digging, along with one wine that made my week.

Friday Fours:
1.  This Infinity Hammock,  recently featured on www.julib.com.. How amazing does this look for those end-of-summer lazy afternoons? Bonus points if you can get one of these on a beach, a la the picture below.  www.trinityhammocks.com

2. Artist and tattoo genius Amanda Wachob.  Her work is gorgeous, both on canvas and on skin.  I want her to ink me so badly!  www.amandawachob.com

3.  The Hudson Square Music and Wine Festival at City Winery.  Free music, wine, beer and local food purveyors make this the backyard soiree you wish you could throw.  There's only one left, on August 27, so make sure to hightail it down there.  www.citywinery.com

4.  The Sugookie at Sugo in Long Beach, NY. Warm chocolate chip cookie +baking pan = a soccorat scraping effect to get every last morsel.  Just make sure to eat it on your last day of vacation.  This is not a bathing suit-friendly eating endeavor. www.sugocafe.com

The Pour:
Can't stop, won't stop: Summer of Riesling is not over yet!  Have a go at the Weingut Robert Weil, Riesling. Rheingau, 2011.  Orchard peach. Ripe melon.  Slate.  Touch o' sugar.  Have it at Terroir with their calamari salad.  Summer perfection.  http://restauranthearth.com/terrior/Terroir.html

Mystery Solved!

Those awesome Pop-tart like crackers I consumed with a crythal meth addict's intensity during my Finger Lakes trip?  They've been found! Thank you, Fox Run Vineyards, for sending me the info! 

Now, all I need is some wine....

Road Trip: Finger Lakes Part 3

Excited by our great tastings yesterday, we were ready for our last day of wineries on the trolley tour.  We knew we would be at some of the more touristy spots so managed expectations accordingly, but were still hopeful there would be some quality quaffing.

Our first stop was at Wagner, the Disneyworld of Finger Lakes wineries.  You enter into the gift shop and are immediately taken on one of the rides  (the tour of the faciltity with a Production 101 schpiel) followed by the tasting options (both wine and beer are up for grabs).  You can then get lunch at their cafe (with the un-Disneylike surly staff).  Be sure to buy some of your favorites on the way out!

We went through the wine tasting and here's where we encountered Melody, the aforementioned grape engineered in a Cornell University lab, designed to be light on the nose, ghostlike on the palate, but enough of a simple presence on the tongue to encourage more drinking.  None of what we drank was really our style, so we headed over to the brewery, which was a pleasant surprise. In particular, we enjoyed the Amber Lager, IPA, Oatmeal Stout, and the Doppelbock.  The beers trumped the wines at Wagner. 

 What we quickly learned is that many of the touristy spots offer flights of dry wines or sweet wines.  We always opted for the dry after seeing the frightening Catawba and other native grapes on the sweet runs.

After WagnerWorld, we hit up Standing Stone. Their 2012 Riesling displayed pleasing notes of citrus and warm tropical fruits complimented with the terroir-driven minerality and a decent amount of acidity. At this winery, I was also introduced to their 2011 Semi-dry Vidal, a grape with tons of pineapple and warm weather fruits, a butterscotch tone but a very short finish.  Upon further research, I learned Vidal is a hybrid of Ugni Blanc (also known as the Italian grape Trebbiano) and Rayon d'Or, created in the 1930s by Jean-Louis Vidal, designed to stand up to cold and harsh winters.  They also had several red varietals, the most interesting of which was 2010 Dark Red.  Made from the Saperavi grape, native to Georgia (as in Eastern Europe, not the South, y'all), the wine was intense ruby in color with flavors of macerated blackberries, black tea and soil. 

Lakewood Winery followed but nothing really drew us in.  Their 2010 Cabernet Franc was agreeably smoky but the Rieslings were oddly lower in acidity that what we normally expect in a Riesling. The absence of zing left them feeling unstructured.  

Then,  beacon of light arose on the trail:  Fox Run Vineyards.  This was one of the wineries on our "must-try" list and we were looking forward to what they had to offer. Their Tierce Riesling 2010, which is actually a collaboration among Fox Run, Anthony Road and Red Newt,  was served at the Presidential Inauguration this year, so expectations were high.

Again, we optioned for the dry flight which contained  Chardonnays reminiscent of ones found in the Languedoc-Roussillion, Pinot Noirs more aromatic most of the others we've tasted, as well as a Lemberger/Cab Franc blend, two grape varietals were were coming intimately familiar with. However, it were the Rieslings that jarred our palates awake.  The 2012 Dry Riesling had the now-familiar citrus fruit and stony aroma profiles with intense orchard fruits joining on the tongue. I had to keep going with their Rieslings, so the 2010 Riesling 12 was next on my lineup.  A few tropical fruits appeared on this sweeter-style Riesling but a very light smokiness wafted on the finish, giving it some intrigue.  My flight ended with their 2011 Reserve Riesling, the pinnacle of this tasting. It was off-dry so sugar tingled on the tip of the tongue and it married the zest of citrus fruits again with the more tropical tones. The flavor profile was somewhat simliar to the 12 but there was a gorgeous balance and complexity to this wine.  

How do you follow up with a tasting as spectacular as Fox Run?  You drink beer.  At our final stop, White Springs winery, we fled from the wine tasting table when we got a whiff of their sickly-sweet wine cooler and moved over to the Glass Factory Brew House table. Again, we found a rather elegant Doppelbock as well as a quaffable IPA. 
While the second day was a bit uneven in terms of what we tasted, we still came away with a deep appreciation for the region and the wine culture that has developed.  I'm eager to go back and delve even deeper into this burgeoning area.

P.S.  If anyone can tell me what these palate-cleansers are, I'll buy you a bottle of Riesling.  They taste exactly like Pop-Tart crusts.  Mmmmm, Pop-Tarts.

In the meantime...

While part 3 of the Finger Lakes trip is in progress, have a gander at this graphic, courtesy of my ever-supportive mother.

Happy Monday!