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Story and photography by Manos Angelakis
Long Island Wineries
The Long Island wine industry has been improving their offerings, and adding in the last 5 years different grape cultivars to the diverse grape varieties they have been growing. Many are starting to produce serious white wines or white blends from such varietals as Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Grigio, Malvasia, and more are cultivating Rieslings in addition to the overused Chardonnay. We took a day trip through Long Island’s Eastern End, both North and South Forks, to taste some of these wines that are finally coming of age.
I have to admit that I have not tried any Long Island wines for the last two years; I used to visit the wineries in the late summer, but because I’ve been traveling so much to other parts of the wine-producing world, I have neglected the Island.
Our first stop was at Channing Daughters in Bridgeport, a winery that grows vines in all of Long Island’s AVAs and is known for its better than usual Chardonnays. We were met by Steven Bate, the executive director of the Long Island Wine Council, who introduced us to Christopher Tracy, the winemaker at Channing Daughters, and Roman Roth, the winemaker at nearby Wölffer Estate. Roman is now also creating his own wines under the label “The Grapes of Roth”. I have known Mr. Roth’s wines for a number of years and have been an aficionado of both his red wines at Wölffer, and his Riesling under his own label (see the Riesling Foundation story in the Oeno File section).
We tasted numerous wines, both monovarietals and blends, and a number of them really caught my attention. I found especially appealing four of the Channing Daughters blends. The very aromatic 2007 Meditazione that was much drier than the nose would indicate; the 2008 Sylvanus, a field blend of 43% Muscat, 44% Pinot Grigio, 13% Pinot Blanc; the very dry Channing Daughters Sauvignon, a 95% Sauvignon Blanc and 5% Chardonnay; and the 2007 Envelope, a blend of Chardonnay, Malvasia, and Gewürztraminer; they were the most remarkable. Of the monovarietal wines, I thought that the 2008 Tocai Friulano of the Mudd West Vineyard vinified by Channing Daughters, the 2008 Wölffer Estate Pinot Gris with its high acidity and slightly salty finish, the Wölffer Perle – a very traditional Chardonnay, and the 2008 Grapes of Roth Riesling, were all very special. The Channing Daughters winery uses only the equivalent of the Tête de Cuvée to produce their exceptional wines. In the last couple of years, most of the labels at Channing Daughters have been replaced with a simpler, more contemporary design, and the winery name has been removed from its very prominent banner position above the label.
 We proceeded to Southold and The Old Field Winery for lunch and a continuation of the tasting here exclusively with Sauvignon Blanc monovarietals. The lunch started with trays of oysters from the Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program, that Kim Tetrault was kind enough to bring over. A number of the wines were a perfect match to the luscious bivalves with the Raphael Vineyards 2008 First Label, the Shinn Estate 2008 First Fruit, and the 2008 Palmer Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc being very well suited to pair with the oysters. I normally don’t like oysters, especially the very large kind, laden with cocktail sauce, that many of my friends enjoy. But, these oysters were smaller, briny, and a squeeze of lemon made them just right to wash down with the Sauvignon Blanc.
A traditional clambake followed the mollusk extravaganza, with steamers, mussels, clams, boiled corn and potatoes, and lobsters from the local waters. The Jamesport Vineyards 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, though very shy on the nose and a rather atypical Sauvignon Blanc wine, was nevertheless as well suited to the clambake as its other, much more aromatic cousins. Other noticeable bottles were the 2008 Castello di Borghese Sauvignon Blanc, the 2008 Macari Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Katherine’s Field, the 2008 Channing Daughters Sauvignon Blanc from the Mudd Vineyard, and the 2008 Martha Clara Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. They were all eminently drinkable with the clambake and I tried them all. In addition, the Old Field wines that Christian Baiz had set on the tables were very appropriate to the clambake, and we all took advantage. At the end, Mr. Baiz was kind enough to bring out samples of his blanc de noir sparkling wines made from Pinot Noir grapes, and we finished lunch with that refreshing libation.
After a two-ferry transit through Shelter Island, we moved to Long Island’s North Fork. Here is where the majority of the Island’s wineries are located.
 The next stop was Pelligrini Vineyards in Cutchogue. The theme here was Long Island Chardonnay, and numerous samples both traditionally oaked and unoaked awaited us. In the unoaked category, the bottles from Channing Daughters, Macari Vineyards, and Raphael were outstanding. From the oaked wines, Bedell Cellars, Palmer Vineyards, Pellegrini Vineyards, Wölfer Estate Perle, Jamesport Vineyards, and Castello di Borghese stood out. Most of the oaked offerings with the exception of two were from the 2007 vintage, a vintage that was impressive because early weather conditions were warm and dry with temperatures cooling down slightly beginning in August, allowing producers to stretch the harvest. Many producers were harvesting grapes at over 24 Brix, rare for this cool region.
Finally, dessert time came and we moved to the Macari Vineyards and Winery’s new facility in Cutchogue next door to Pellegrini, where sparkling wines and dessert wines accompanied offerings of thin milk- black- and white chocolate squares, a delightful apple strudel, local blue cheese, and ice-cream.
Here the stars were the Sparkling Pointe Brut 2004, and Sparkling Pointe Brut Seduction 2000, and also from Sparkling Pointe the 2004 Topaz Imperial, a light rosé colored in the classic “eye of the partridge” color. The 2005 Wölffer Estate Blanc de Blanc and 2006 Onabay Vineyards Blanc de Blanc were also impressive, but had a little more fizz than I like.
The Dessert wines were extremely likeable, although – to be honest - overpriced. Top on my list was the 2005 Macari Block E Sauvignon Blanc, a wine made from grapes that if naturally frozen could be called an “Ice Wine”. But since nature does not cooperate on the Island, the producer freezes the clusters and then presses them, for an unctuous, highly aromatic, very sweet result. I thought that the Sauvignon Blanc had enough acidity to comfortably compete with other similar dessert wines. Two other Macari dessert wines, 2005 Block E Viognier and 2007 Block E Cabernet Franc were not as successful, especially the Cabernet Franc that was cloyingly sweet with very little accompanying acidity. Water Crest’s 2007 Night Watch, and Wölffer Estate’s Late Harvest Chardonnay were typical late harvest wines; if they were made in Germany they could be labeled as Beerenauslese. The only real disappointment was Pindar’s 2008 Late Harvest Riesling, that was cloyingly sweet.
As far as my comment about pricing. As I said also in the past, I understand that production and land costs and taxes are very high in Long Island. As a matter of fact, a number of the now vintners, had bought the land initially as an investment, not as a wine producing proposition. But considering the cost of top level wines from other parts of the world now available in the US market, I don’t think that Long Island producers should try to compare themselves pricewise with these top priced producers, because their quality is not yet at that level. If I can get an Ice Riesling from the Doctor vineyard, at the same price as the Block E Viognier, for example, why would I pay the high price demanded at the vineyard? Please be realistic about pricing and realize that the competition is now coming from around the world, not just the other wineries on the Island.
During this visit I discovered a number of wineries I did not know about, like Sparkling Pointe, Waters Crest, Clovis Point, Old Field Winery, and Scarola Vineyards. Before I decide whether their product is good or not, they deserve further exploration. I will do that later on then report.
À votre santé!
© September 2009 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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