The First Ever All New York Wine List and the Men Who Created It
It’s a constant complaint from Finger Lakes winemakers about how difficult it is to get their New York wines on lists in restaurants, but decades ago one local restaurant made it a calling card.
Turback’s, now closed, was the first restaurant in the state to feature an exclusively New York wine list, a great risk for its time, in the early 1980s, when New York State wines were just beginning to make a name for themselves. Proprietor Michael Turback and manager David Nowicki blazed a trail with a list of only Finger Lakes and New York wines, from the likes of Taylor, Great Western, Gold Seal, and Glenora.
In our Wine Issue, out on shelves now, Finger Lakes Food Writer Peggy Haine sat down with Turback and Nowicki to get their (often hilarious) story on how the list came together and what they had to do to make it happen (including how the venerable Dr. Frank almost died at their hands).
The article includes a photo by EFL Photog Robyn Wishna of the actual wine list. The photo is legible, so you can read the wines that made the list and what they charged for them, 30 years ago.
Be sure to pick up a copy of the issue and get this fantastic story, as well as many others about the Finger Lakes wine industry. Or, be a subscriber and we’ll get a copy to you directly in the mail.
