Taste Camp East: Initial Highlights

Taste Camp East 2009 may be over yet the good memories will not diminish. It was a wonderful weekend, filled with some excellent food and wine as well as great company and conversation. Besides all the fun, it was also informative and educational. I am already looking forward to Taste Camp 2010.

Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours spearheaded the organization of this event, bringing together about thirty wine bloggers and their spouses or companions to explore the wines of Long Island. Lenn deserves kudos for all of the work he did to make Taste Camp a success. Thanks must also go to everyone else who contributed to making this event possible, including some of the other bloggers who helped out as well.

Special thanks go to all the wineries, wine makers, winery owners and others who showed such great hospitality to all of us. We certainly were made to feel very welcome.

It was a pleasure to meet the other wine bloggers who attended, many who I had previously known only online. Everyone was very nice and personable, and it was comforting to hang out together. We shared wine and food, chatted and laughed, joked and smiled. I think it helped all of us grow closer, helping to solidify the blogger community.

Here is but a sampling of some of my memories of this trip:

• The exceptional hors d'oeurves at Raphael
• The unscrupulous and greedy van driver
• The delicious sliced duck breast at Shinn Vineyards
• Eric, the colorful winemaker at Lenz Winery
• The seemingly endless line of wine bottles at BYOB night
• Everyone spitting at the drain outside Lenz
• Barrel tasting at Paumanok Vineyards
• The bartender with an ankh tattoo at the Greenporter
• The fact I enjoyed several different Cabernet Francs
• Seeing the sun on Saturday afternoon
• Merlot, merlot, merlot, merlot, merlot
• Sandwiches at Farmstead Lunch

I will be posting many more details about Taste Camp in the coming weeks, discussing what I found on Long Island, my own thoughts about their wine industry. I know that the other bloggers who attended will be posting their own thoughts, and some have already done so.

Here is a list of the blogger attendees, as well as links to their Taste Camp posts if they have already written any. Please check out their blogs during the next couple weeks to see the additional posts they write about Taste Camp.

• Becky & Steve Borichevsky of Smells Like Grape (Back From TasteCamp East)
• Rob Bralow of Wine Post (Absolutely and Totally Geeked Out)
• Bryan Calandrelli of Niagara Escarpment
• Remy Charest of The Wine Case (TasteCamp East: Adventures in Long Island Wines)
• Dale Cruse of Drinks Are On Me (TasteCamp East "Tasting Notes")
• Melissa Dobson of Family, Love, Wine
• Lyle Fass of Rockss and Fruit (TasteCamp East Report: For A Few Dollars More)
• Robbin Gheesling of Vineyard Adventures
• Deb Gioquindo of Hudson Valley Wine Goddess (Taste Camp East: Long Island Wine Country)
• Nick Gorevic of Home Wine School
• Michelle Lentz of My Wine Education (TasteCamp East: Thanks For the Memories)
• Diane Letulle of Wine Lover's Journal
• Tom Mansell of IthaCork
• Joe Roberts of 1 Wine Dude (Changes in Latitude, Changes in Gratitude)
• Erika Strum of Strumerika
• Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours (Multiple posts so just check his site)
• John Witherspoon of Anything Wine (Taste Camp East Kick Off)