There’s been a lot of marriage talk going on.
Kelly Urbanik is the classic girl next store. Young. Pretty.
Lanky. With a great, great smile. She is tall, thin, athletic. Great eyes. Long
brown hair. She’s almost like a model. Healthy. Comfortable in her own skin. Her
daily uniform is a t-shirt and jeans. Maybe a hoodie to go with it? But don’t
let those looks fool you. She is no push over. Kelly is a killer. She is a
passionate, focused, dedicated winemaker. She knows her stuff. And she is not good
at what she does – she’s very good. And she is getting better. She is in love
with her industry and her craft. She is absolutely dedicated in her zeal to
make great wine. Her recent wedding this last September was a perfect example.
“When Kelly Urbanik, winemaker for Macari Vineyards in
Mattituck, was planning the most important day of her life, she knew she wanted
to be surrounded by family. And that's why she decided to hold her wedding in the
Macari vineyard, surrounded by relatives and friends who are as close as family
in a place that resonates with deep meaning,” wrote Lisa Finn in the North Fork
Patch on September 9, 2013. “Urbanik, 32, who married her longtime love Rob
Koch on Saturday, said the pair dated for six years before getting engaged in
December.”
Kelly Urbanik is from St. Helena, California. Kelly’s love
of wine stems from early childhood, growing up closely connected to vineyards
in her hometown. From a young age, she worked on her grandfather’s vineyard and
enjoyed making homemade wine with her father and grandfather. Kelly received a
Bachelor of Science degree from University of California, Davis in Viticulture
and Enology with a minor in French. She has worked at a number of prestigious
wineries including Beringer in California and Maison Louis Jadot in France
under the tutelage of legendary winemaker Jacques Lardière. Kelly arrived to
the North Fork of Long Island in 2006. She became winemaker at Macari on 2010. Joe
Macari and the family brought in some consultants to back her up. She’s got
some exceptional people she can rely for ideas, advice, and information. But
Kelly is no wallflower.
"I moved here to try a different region and to see what
it was like, making wine on the East Coast," she told Finn. Rob Koch her
husband is a mechanical engineer and avid fisherman. The happy couple met in a
local North Fork volleyball league. Kelly wanted to be married during the start
of the harvest season. "It's my favorite time of year," she added.
"We wanted to do it in the fall but not too late in the season, because
I'd be too busy at work."
According to Finn, the Marcari family offered to hold the
wedding at the vineyard. Kelly was thrilled. Flowers were everywhere. There
were winery workers, interns, friends, and family – hers, his, and the Macari’s.
"There's a special connection to the winery — and to the family,"
Urbanik said.
I saw Kelly just a month later. Rob and she had a short
honeymoon….a few days, and then she went back to work. It was the harvest
season after all. How can you not love this woman?!
My favorite part of the wedding story was that as she was
planning her wedding by night and weekend, but she was completely redoing the
winery inside during the work week, trading out more than a dozen and a half
tanks, and bringing in cement egg fermenters. It was a major undertaking just
before the harvest happened. Then there was a wedding. And then there was
harvest!
When I came to visit, the transformation was complete. She
showed me around her new tanks and equipment like a little kid shows off their
new Christmas or birthday presents. She was proud and giddy. She bounced from
tank to tank. But what was really interesting was that her chatter wasn’t about
the tanks themselves. It was about the wine.
Kelly was very happy with her wines, as she described the
different techniques and processes she had used between one wine and then
another. All she could talk about the natural techniques she was using, maceration
times, and about the fruit quality at time of picking. And that is the real
part of Kelly’s charm that absolutely comes through – she is a wine geek, and
proud of it! And her pride, zeal, and excitement are infectious!
While I was there, I tasted two examples from Macari
Vineyards. The tasting notes were incredibly rich, and detailed.
The first was Sauvignon Blanc No. 1 2012. According to the
tasting notes, “For this wine, the Sauvignon Blanc grape juice was skin
fermented, a technique used normally to extract color, flavor and tannins for
red wine making. Half the batch was skin
fermented in a 500L Barrel and the other half, left on the skins for one night
in a stainless steel tank.” That’s geek talk right there….and I love it!!!!!!
The wine? Oh yeah, it was awesome! Big, huge citrus notes of lemon and lime,
with hints of honeydew, mango, and cantaloupe. Very round and full and fruity
up front, with a nice big yellow grapefruit ending. A nice, zippy, refreshing
white wine. Elegant, balanced. Delicious!!!!
The next was a 2010 Bergen Road. This is Macari’s flagship
red blend made only in premium vintages. This is a big tasty Meritage which
they have been making at Macari for some time now. It is one of the stalwart
classic Meritages of Long Island, and has long been one of my favorites. The 2010 vintage is made from 56% Merlot, 26%
Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot. This is
an exceptional wine. Blends, to my mind, almost always are! This is no exception.
Big notes of dark red fruits of raspberry, black berry, and cherry in a deep,
purple stew. Hints of spices, cocoa, and vanilla. This is a complex wine, with
excellent balance. The fruit is almost overwhelming at first, but balanced by
nice tannins and a good long finish by acidity that has not been over powered.
The finish on the palate is rounded by oak and time in the bottle. Elegant.
Intense. Beautiful. Impressive.
Macari has been one of the back bones of wine making on Long
Island since the mid-1990s. So that why I am so interested in this marriage. But
the marriage I am interested in is of Kelly and Macari – I am hoping will have
one of those fairytale endings where they are together a good long time and
make lots of beautiful little babies just like these two little bottles...they
lived happily ever after.
There is no doubt that Kelly has joined the upper echelon of winemakers in the North Fork.
There is no doubt that Kelly has joined the upper echelon of winemakers in the North Fork.
After that…sorry Rob, you’re on your own! Congrats to Kelly,
her crew, and the Macari’s! Here’s to a happy ending.