This week, Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard's 2005 Dry Riesling ($16) defeated 702 other New York wines ... Cellars was named New York's "Winery of the Year" based on the number, and level, of medals its wines won. Sponsored and run by the New York Wine and Grape Foundation (NYWGF), a nonprofit statewide trade organization based in the in newly opened New York Wine and Culinary Center . Howard Goldberg...

After a fine birthday meal last night at Masa, today opened on a far more somber note, with news that Johnny Apple is gone. This was not a huge surprise to those who knew him; he had been in decline after a battle with cancer. But that doesn’t diminish the sense ...

Vineyards Cabernet 2003 Niagara Escarpment, New York ($18) Just last night I decided to open the 2003 ... blend of Cab Sauv and Cab Franc from Eveningside Vineyards, a new winery in that area. So I...

Napa’s Quintessa tries sunblock for grapes.  Biodynamic sunblock. [Decanter] Rain, rain, go away. Fall on Bordeaux some other day. [Decanter] Pete Wells weighs in on his new gig as NYT dining editor: “Blogs are not our competition. What print media do and what bloggers do complement each other; they shouldn’t be competing.” [NYMag via Eater] In Massachusetts...

... as their hospitality was generous. The next time I’m bound for Hector, New York I’ll stop back for sure ... 2003 Standing Stone Vineyards Pinot Noir Finger Lakes $25.99 www.standingstonewines.com When I spent the better part of a day last summer visiting Finger Lakes wineries I had done my research. Days prior to departing my New Hampshire home, I surfed on-line and made a “wish-list” of wineries...

As you might have seen one place or another, I’m changing jobs. Specifically, I left MSNBC.com last Friday after one last column, and after just 10 months back in New York, I’m headed West again. I’ll become the wine editor at the San Francisco Chronicle at the end of the month. For me...

The wine-growers of Virginia bravely grasped the nettle of introducing Virginia wines to the British market by holding their first overseas wine-tasting in London in May 2007. While California , Washington & Oregon and upstate New York are well-known as exporters of U.S. wines, your wine correspondent Lovat Stephen must confess that wine-growing did not rank high in his knowledge of this Mid...

This week over at Hamptons.com, my Corks of the Forks column actually leaves Long Island and its Forks for a trip to Cooperstown, NY, land of baseball...and Belgian beer. Brewery Ommegang has long been on my upstate New York "to visit" list and last weekend I was finally able to cross it off. They actually have wide distribution both on the East and West Coasts...so if you ever see a bottle...

Orgasm vs. foodgasm. [Details, via Gawker] The Brits are getting all flustered about the notion that many wines are priced at intentionally higher prices, just so they can be sold more cheaply. Decanter touched on this recently, and now The Guardian weighs in. At least one supplier, Constellation, defends the ...

Herman Weimer’s splendiferous riesling takes top slot at NY’s biggest wine competition. To balance things out, Dr. Konstantin Frank’s winery took top winery honors. Everybody wins! Will “Mosel-Saar-Ruwer” become just “Mosel”? Apparently so. Seems the Saar rigidity of riesling structure and the Ruwer ethereality will be subsumed under a two-syllable shortcut.  ...