This past summer Long Island celebrated Fifty Years of wine making. Of all the wine regions on the east coast, I feel that Long Island is still home to one of the best winemaking communities on the entire coast. It is the most mature and has developed an identity as well as producing tremendous quality vinifera wine. There are some wonderful quality producers on the Island, and some wonderful winemakers.
This post is a little late, but as we head into the spring and summer seasons soon (Punxatawney Phil has told us winter is almost done - if you trust rodents), then these are some wonderful wines to be on the look out for. You might only be able to find them in the
I attended with my good friend Lenn Thompson, who originally started out with his Long Island blog Lenndevours.com. He "discovered" me in the blogger witness protection program, and plucked me from obscurity. He is now The Cork Report. I had already written my book EAST COAST WINERIES, and was then writing my blog. We both followed in the footsteps of the New York Times writer Howard G. Goldberg in those days (though neither if us would admit it then...LOL). Lenn's been blogging for 20 years (yes, he's really old), and my book came out in 2003. While we've both been covering east coast wines for more than two decades, Lenn is definitely older. We've had many adventures and have shared many, many bottles of wine. Especially a lot of Long Island wine.
The event celebrating the region was a gorgeous one. It was held on a beautiful night, with tents, and tables, and many of the illuminati of the region were in attendance. Winemakers, owners, writers, and local politicians were all on the scene.
Long Island had garnered a solid enological literary legacy. If one wants to read about the region, these are the four best books currently available. Chief among them would be the newest Richard Olsen-Harbich's SUN, SEA, SOIL, WINE from the pre-eminent winemaker of the region (who also wrote the region's AVAs and who spear headed a substantial sustainable program on the Island); Elieen Duffy's BENIND THE BOTTLE (a series of profiles of the winemakers and owners of the region and their best bottles); Louisa Hargraves THE VINEYARD which tells the story how the Hargraves planted the first commercial vineyard on the island and created a region; and Jose Moreno-LaCalle's THE WINES OF LONG ISALND which is the most complete information of all the estates making wine on the Island today. A slightly older book, still popular, though partially out of date, is Long Island Wine Country: Award-Winning Vineyards of the North Fork and the Hamptons by Jane Taylor Starwood (Author), Bruce Curtis (Photographer).
The biggest surprise truly, was not that there tasty sparkling wines there. Long Island has made wonderful sparkling wines. But that were so many of them. So many classic sparklers and roses. And one very good pet nat. Surely, Sparkling pointe is one of the best sparkling houses on the entire east coast, and Lenz's Cuvee's have long been one of the highlights of super fine, aged, reserve sparkling as well. Paumanok has joined the upper ranks as well. But there were other lovely surprises like Lieb, Harbes, and Pindar, or the rose's from Borghese, Sannino, Croteaux, and if' gratitude pet nat. All were tasty and impressive!
Long Island has long had a wonderful reputation for Chardonnay, from lean, bright, zippy stainless steel versions, to the more reserved, barrel aged versions known for their hints of toasted oak and creamy middle palates. There's lots of very drinkable Chardonnay on Long Island, from quaffable to those that should be savored. The event showed Long Island Chardonnay in all its forms.
There were some lovely Chardonnays, but not from the usual suspects. I was thrilled to taste some new wines that impressed. The Peconic Bay Chardonnay, the Lieb Cellars, the Saltbird were certainly among my favorites. The Osprey's Dominion and the Borghese were also very drinkable.
And there were some excellent 'Other Whites'. I especially loved the Channing Daughters Tocai Friulano, the Palmer Albarino, the Paumoanok Chenin Blanc, Peconic Bay Sauvignon Blanc, the Old Fields Charging Goose, and Wolffer Estate Semillon. Also quite nice were the Jamesport Sauvignon Blanc, Scielio NY Sparkling Riesling, Channing Daughters Romato, and the Rose Hill Coalescence.
Three impressive rose's included the Coffee Pot, Harbes Vineyards, and EV&EM Rose'. All had good fruit and nice acid. Refreshing. Lovely.
It was a hot night, and we didn't drink too much red. As always I loved the light Channing Daughters Rosso Fresco, the SURU Teroldego is fantastic, and among the most unde-rated, and best wines on the east coast, the Paumonok Cabernet Sauvignon and the very drinkable Firefly Red from Lenz.
It was a great night! Saw a lot of folks. Tasted great food and great wines. A wonderful celebration of Long Island wine and how far east coast wine has come in general over the last 20 years!
