Event Wines: Use the Late Harvest to Elevate Cocktail Menus

Forget about what you have been told about wine harvest season at New York-area vineyards. Some of the most exciting wines are harvesting way past October and ideal for winter corporate events.

What exactly is a late-harvest wine? It usually features grapes that are aging longer and go through at least one freeze. While they are sweeter then usual, we especially love the Long Island North Fork Rieslings that are basically "endless summer" vintages. There is another vineyard option in the South Fork that every celeb who vacations in the Hamptons probably knows for its summer Rose. Here's the catch, the winemaker is from Germany, so he knows how to optimize late-harvesting grapes as well. And there is another vineyard in the area that produces a late-harvest Niagara where your attendees and executives can also make their own labels for holiday gifts.

If you really want to get creative, try a Fiori Vidal Ice Wine from the Finger Lakes region upstate.

Finally, we are seeing that climate change produces much later warm temperatures which, in-turn, is also moving back some harvests for all kinds of crops.