Dan's Papers - July 25, 2008 - Over The Barrel... with Lenn Thompson

20 years ago, Long Island wine country hosted its first major conference "Maritime Climate Wine Growing: Bringing Bordeaux to Long Island." That event, which took place in the summer of 1988 in Riverhead, brought wine types from all over the world together, most notably people from Chateau Margaux, Chateau Pichon-Lalande, and Institut Technique de la Vigne et du Vin, Montpelier.

In just a couple weeks, on August 5 and 6, world wine leaders will again converge on the East End, this time at Stony Brook's Southampton campus for The Art of Balance: Cool Climate/Maritime Wines in a Global Context, a symposium that will feature advanced educational presentations and wine tastings led by prominent winemakers and vineyard managers from top wineries in cool climate/maritime winegrowing regions around the world.

Organized by the Long Island Wine Council, and partly sponsored by the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, the symposium will highlight the renewed appreciation of balanced, elegant, lower-alcohol wines among consumers and discuss the challenges and opportunities that cool-climate wine producers face. Featured speakers and guests include Eric Fry of the Lenz Winery on the North Fork, Thomas Laszlo from Heron Hill in the Finger Lakes, Gunter Künstler from Germany, Katia Álvarez of Spain's Martin Códax, Pascal Jolivet from the Loire Valley, and Jacques Lurton from Bordeaux. Representatives from Manhattan importers and restaurants will be on hand. There will be talks, discussion panels and a grand tasting. For a complete list of participants, visit http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/winecenter/symposium2008.shtml

Tickets for the symposium lectures (days 1 or 2) are $180.00 per day, which includes breakfast, lunch and lecture tastings. For both days it's $360.00 and you get the grand tasting for free. Otherwise, the grand tasting is $75.

The symposium is targeted to New York's wine and culinary community: winery and vineyard owners and managers; restaurant sommeliers; chefs; retail store professionals; wine educators; wine and food critics; and the wine and food press. But, I think it's a great opportunity for local wine enthusiasts to learn more about the region and its wines. And, this grand tasting, which takes place on Tuesday, August 5, from 5:30-8:30 pm is a truly special opportunity.

Attendees will be able to taste more than 200 wines from conference participants and the 40 wineries of Long Island, paired with exquisite regional fare from some of Long Island's finest restaurants, bakeries and food artisans, including Catapano Dairy, Mecox Dairy, The Ramshead Inn, The Laundry, Jedediah Hawkins, La Plage, Tierra Mar, Vine Street Café, The Fifth Season, Sang Lee Farms and Blue Duck Bakery. I haven't tasted wines from every participating winery, but the rieslings from Kunstler and Heron Hill's ice-style dessert wines shouldn't be missed.