We enjoyed a Napa Rose (2005 Allison by Steltzner Vineyards) this evening with ribs and potato salad. Ambrosial. The wine was thick but dry (relatively speaking) with lots of notes of fresh strawberries and raspberries, with peach and vanilla underneath. Nicole noted the color as "strawberry juice." Great with ribs BBQ-ed on the grill. Below is the sauce I engineered to go with the wine if one is interested.
Apple cider vinegar
BBQ sauce (just a bit to add thickness, and go with the basic model)
Bourbon
Fresh Rosemary and Thyme (no Parsley and Sage)
Cumin
Onion Powder
Paprika
Curry Powder
Worcestershire Sauce
Ginger flavored Soy Sauce
Frank's Red Hot
Simmer the above for a while, then put in a blender with Frozen Raspberries. Return to heat and continue simmering while ribs are cooking, apply twice to each side during the last 15 minutes of grilling (consult google for instructions on ribs on the grill if you need to).
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Another opinion on rosé?
Wine Enthusiast has a couple of pro-rosé articles this month...though author A. Strum concludes with the statement that people "who are discovering rosés and Rieslings today will be the drinkers of Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon tomorrow"...which sounds a bit like a backhanded insult? The second article has recommendations, which includes a selection from Wolffer Estates (which we visited in Long Island and reviewed in an earlier post).
Friday, July 20, 2007
Well, that was fast
Apparently the rosé resurgence is coming to an end. Glad we got in on that while it lasted.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
You've got a Long Island, baby
The following is an account of our trip to Long Island, NY to taste wine, witness the graduation of Nicole’s niece, Kayla, who managed NOT to faint at this ceremony, and generally putter around the Montauk Yacht club with the in-laws.
Thursday, June 21:
The plan was to drop Gatsby off at the Barczis’, pick up Nicole on the way, and be on the road by 3 in the p.m. Running late as I usually do, we didn’t make 93 south until 3:45ish, which meant a very great deal of moving very slowly through the hoards of people exiting Boston. Looking forward to a weekend of testing the rumors of the quality of Long Island Merlot, even the gridlock was tolerable. The whole trip to New London was actually pleasurable, Jimmy Buffett on the stereo, the weather cooperative, etc. The only hiccup in an otherwise enjoyable ride occurred when I was forced to make a last minute lane change to avoid taking an unwanted exit in Providence. Not that this nearly caused a wreck, but a card carrying New England motorist in a hideous gold Rav-4 copped a case of tunnel vision and refused to let me in. I know, this is a daily occurrence in New England, but here was an especially egregious case. This driver willfully did not see me, despite a responsibly early signal and Nicole throwing her arms up at him, for what must have been a quarter-mile. Nonetheless, we reached New London, CT well in time for the 7pm ferry. At the ferry site, while Nicole went in to get our ferry tickets, I experienced the only pleasurable sit-and-wait experience I have known to date. If you recall, the Rockies had just beaten Clemens and the Yankees 3-2 (or maybe it was 5-4) to sweep the Yanks. Waiting for Nicole’s return, I stumbled upon a New York sports radio station and enjoyed 15 minutes of panicked Yankee fans calling in utter desperation. The frantic note of sadness in the voices was familiar, but sounded wonderfully queer coming from the devotees of the Empire for once. I drank in their despair like ambrosia, and it was almost too soon when Nicole returned and we boarded the ferry.
The Cross Sound Ferry was our first experience with the imported and incompetent Long Island service industry. The food stand and bar on this particular ferry were run by a team of former Soviets who apparently took up employment in the food service industry sometime just after this past Memorial Day. Communicating an order was adventurous to say the least, but the best part of this trip was when I ordered a Budweiser draft from the former Kiev munitions manufacturer behind the bar. He grabbed a plastic cup, put it under the tap, and ran a glass full of foam. This appeared to confuse him mightily. Undaunted, though, he set it aside, grabbed a second cup, and did the same thing. (At this point, I seem to remember him scratching his head, but my memory might be embellishing.) In any case, apparently hearing somewhere that the third time’s a charm, he proceeded to fill a third plastic cup with foam. Finally, he returned from the pull to tell me that they must be out of Bud. I thought about telling him that if he just let it run for a minute, it would clear up, but I’m not a confrontational sort, so when he asked me if Bud Light would be OK, I assented. Relieved, he placed a new plastic cup under the Bud Light tap……and drew a cup full of foam. After the third cup of Bud Light foam, I could see him wondering whether he could really get away with telling me that the bar had no beer. Luckily for him – and me – he happened to notice that one of the 6 cups of foam had settled to being about 2/3 full of beer. Grabbing this, he messed around with the pull for another few minutes, and after a total of 10 minutes and half a sleeve of Solo plastic cups, I had what I think was a mixture of Bud and Bud Light. (I swear I am not making this up, and if you think my experience was rather extraordinary, you should have seen the guy next to me who wanted two scotch and sodas.) In addition to the benefit of a rather amusing show, this beer ordering experience turned out to be a really great value. Nicole sort of half wanted a beer, so she decided to use her feminine wiles and ask the Trotskian tapster if he was just going to throw the additional 5 half full beer glasses away. He said, “Yeah, do you want them?” She told him she only really wanted 1, but he brought them all. So, the upshot of the matter was that Thursday was 3.5 for 1 beer night on the cross sound ferry.
The ferry ride was smooth and pleasurable. We arrived on Long Island around 8:30 drove to Nicole’s ex-sister in law’s, and after looking through some old family albums, crashed.
Friday, June 22:
I awoke feeling ill rested after spending the night on one of the harder floors in the greater Northeast – I chivalrously gave Nicole the child’s twin in our room. Still, I wasn’t working on a dissertation that day, so despite the palpable taint on the air that comes with being within 100 miles of Yankee Stadium, the day was glorious. I attended only the second high-school graduation of my life. I have to say, though, Kayla’s was more enjoyable than mine, for having no ticket to be in the stands or on the football field where the ceremony was actually held, I was free to sit behind the stands and read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Fabulous book.
Apparently, Kayla graduated without incident. We had a reception at her mom’s catered by her work – side note: The Quizno’s steakhouse sub with raspberry chipotle dressing is to die for. Following the reception, we headed to the Montauk Yacht Club way at the end of the Southern Fork of east Long Island.
Saturday, June 23:
We had gotten in late and slept accordingly late on Saturday morning. Huck would be proud; I don’t think we stirred until 10ish. By the time everyone was dressed, the first order of actual business was lunch with Nicole’s family at the Club’s second tier restaurant. Here was our second encounter with Long Island’s imported F&B industry. Our waitress had just arrived from Ireland the day before and was only marginally familiar with the following parts of the restaurant: 1) the menu/prices and 2) the fact that she was expected to take orders and deliver food to patrons. (I hate to bag on her, she was a sweet gal and seemed a bit harried.) Lunch took over 2 hours. One might think that after this experience we all might have eschewed this little patio cafe, but one would be wrong. Lured by a $9 rib special, we returned for dinner. This also took over 2 hours. Quick math will no doubt have led you to the inference that adding a couple of hours at the beach, this was the day. The best part of Saturday, though, was still to come: karaoke at O’Sullivan’s pub. The karaoke pubbing was unmitigatedly a good time. Nicole’s brother did some Sinatra, I did some Mellencamp, Nicole and I performed a tolerable version of “Picture” by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. The highlight of this outing, however, was without doubt a brother and sister duo whose combined age was no more than 18 – seriously, these were small kids: 10 and 8, I would guess – bringing the house down with a good (really) rendition of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man.” It was peaches.
Sunday, June 23 (finally, some wine):
Sunday morning, we flirted with the idea of having breakfast at the Club’s café, but after sitting at a table unnoticed for 15 minutes, we bagged it and hit the road. We hit the 3 South Fork wineries on Sunday.
The first we went to was Channing Daughters, a quaint little central CA coast style winery off of route 27. Like Paso Robles wineries, the tasting bar was small, manned (or womanned in this case) by a single person, and casual. Tasting fee here was $5 per (seemed like it might be waived with a purchase, though we didn’t purchase, so I can’t be sure), but the portions were generous and the staff was knowledgable and friendly. At Channing daughters, like all of the south fork wineries, we found the whites to be better than the reds. The following is a quick run through the offerings at Channing Daughters:
2006 Scuttlehole Chardonnay – I tasted lime and minerals here. This is an unoaked Chard that would be likely to make me think it was Sauvignon Blanc at a blind tasting. Very light, clean and acidic. I forgot to write down prices here, but I think this was around $15.
2005 Vino Bianco – “Inspired by the Super Friulian white blends of Northeast Italy this is comprised of” 22% Sauv. Blanc, 44% Chard (2 different types), 16% Pinot Grigio, and 18% Tocai Friulano. This was reminiscent to me of Italian whites I had while in the Veneto – like Masianco by Masi, which one can get here at Martignettis. Tasted almost of not quite ripe strawberries (I mean that in a pleasant way). I believe it was under $20. However, Masianco is better, and usually under $15.
2005 L’Enfant Sauvage Chardonnay -- Snap. This is a good one. Tasted rather like the Chablis Dave brought to the Chard tasting, but with a bit more oak and roundness. The makers say “baked apples and pears, brioche and brown spice, a touch of lemon, nuts and a whiff of smoke and vanilla.” That’s pretty accurate. This was one of the best wines we tasted on Long Island, but Channing Daughters appears to know this; it’s $37 a bottle. It’s an oaked Chard, really well balanced.
2006 Rosato Merlot – “Watermelon” is listed in the winery’s description, and that is the dominant impression I got here. Confection and watermelon. It was fun. “Fun” seems to be the compliment roses often get. It’s rather like being a “cute” person, I suppose. Everybody politely appreciates a rose, talks up its good features, (“It’s got good color.” Rather like, “He has an interesting hairdo.”), smiles kindly and sips, but the bottom line is that Rose, like a “cute” friend, is never going to be seen out on a date on Saturday night. But I digress. This wine, like a lot of Long Island Roses, was really pretty tasty. They seem to put effort into them, and they – I think – are rewarded for it.
2004 Fresh Merlot – At first sip, I thought I was going to be back in Virginia. There simply wasn’t the fruity potency of a CA or French Merlot. Thankfully though, Channing Daughters didn’t (like VA) attempt to replace the lack of fruit with oaky tannins. Fresh is the right word here. Think Merlot Light. Actually, it tastes a lot like a Beaujolais.
2004 Mudd – A blend of Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, Blaufrankisch, and Dornfelder that is reminiscent of a middling Bordeaux. This wine showed some tannins, and some idiosyncrasies that I’m told are a result of the German grapes (those would be the last 2 in case it doesn’t go without saying). All in all, it isn’t bad, but overpriced at $40.
(Author’s note: at this point, I’m refraining from reviewing every wine we tasted in the interest of finishing this blog and saving the sanity of my already unfortunate readers.)
From Channing Daughters, it was on to Duckwalk Vineyards home of the fastest wine tasting in the east. They don’t actually boast this, but it’s true. Once inside, you belly up to a bar, find a menu of the near 2 dozen wines that they make, and attempt to find where you are in the rotation (they cycle through the menu from beginning to end, then start over). While the number of wines they let you taste (all of them) is generous, the portions are small, and as one might expect, the wine quality is not top notch. However, they do a good job at producing some unpretentious kitschy wines on the sweeter side, and – most importantly – they attach unpretentious price tags to them. The wines are cheap and priced accordingly, and in my opinion, the cheaper wines are better: the semi-sweet white blends and desert wines were their strong suit. A couple of highlights: The Gatsby Red (NV) is an entirely unique little “semi-sweet” red that couples well with shrimp on the barbie. The Windmill White (NV), also a sweet one, tastes a bit like a Vouvray, though I don’t think there’s any Chenin Blanc in it, and would be a good cheap alternative to pair with spicy Thai. They do also make a Meritage according to French rules for the cuvee (I’m attempting to use that word correctly, and almost assuredly not doing so). It’s good, but not worth the $34, in my opinion. (Side Note: The Meritage, as well as their Pinot Noir {which they’re very proud of} are on a reserve tasting menu that costs extra, but if one has a smoking hot wife who can ask in the right tone of voice “how the paying extra works,” one can taste them for free.) The highlight here though is the Blueberry Port, which is just good. It tastes like you would imagine Blueberry Port would. My great regret for the trip is not getting the accompanying Blueberry Port soaked Cigar. Port - $18, Cigar - $10, tasting fee - $5 per (I think; we got a deal with the ferry ticket, so it was free; to be honest, given the McDonalds-like tasting operation they run here, you could probably safely drink and dash 9 out of 10 times anyway.)
Next was Wolffer Estates, where the servers spend most of their lives pouring in a Tuscan’s paradise. The tasting here is an experience, and the prices reflect that fact. A regular tasting, including 7 wines is $6. A premium tasting, including 7 slightly better wines, is $10. However, the wine is served by a waitress at a table on a patio outside the Tuscan-style tasting room
overlooking the vineyards. Atmosphere isn’t everything, though, they are also generous with the wine, giving pretty much half-glasses with each wine tasted. As the accountants, engineers, and economists among us will attest to, that’s a good 3.5 glasses for a complete tasting. I recommend bringing a lunch in with you, and not just because the patio’s a nice place to eat. The wines at Wolffer are all good. This winery had a nice write-up in a spring Wine Spectator, and they deserve it. The Chardonnays are especially wonderful. We tasted 3 – the 2004 La Ferme Martin ($14), the 2003 Reserve ($18), and the 2003 Estate Selection ($29) – and they were all delicious. I actually preferred the Reserve to the Estate Selection, but both were good examples of oaked Chardonnay that retains a light pear and apple flavor without just showcasing toast and butterscotch. The reds here lack the body of CA wine, but their Merlot and Cab Franc compare well with lighter bodied French Merlots, having some earthiness and mushroom undertones to subtle red berry flavors. All in all, this is the best tasting experience on Long Island, and for the price, probably the best winery – at least in my humble opinion.
Following our trips to the wineries, I played “golf” (My game was so poor it deserves the ironic tone of quotation marks) with Nicole’s dad and brother and later had really good fish tacos at a place called 669 The Gig Shack. The imported help here was remarkably good, as well.
Monday, June 24:
This day passed almost entirely without incident, though I made something of a scene when I was deaf-eared by a seagull at the Gosman’s clam bar. Sucker dove right in over my right shoulder and attempted to land on my tray as I was carrying our food to the table. My fries were really all that was lost, but the folks at Gosman’s replaced all of my order, giving me essentially 2 for 1 fried clams (talk about everything coming up Milhouse).
Two other things to mention for the benefit of those traveling in Long Island: DO go to Napeague State beach; it’s huge and secluded. The only drawback is it’s a long way from the highway and there’s no parking; you have to leave your car in a small turnout. DO NOT pay to go into the lighthouse. Well, OK, you can if you want to, but I don’t think it’s good value.
Tuesday, June 25:
This day we hit the north fork on our way back. The north fork is the older and more populous wine region, with several million wineries dotting routes 25 and 48. We did not get to visit all several million of them, but I’ll give some details on the ones we did stop at.
Pellegrini Vineyards – Here it first appeared that Long Island could really make a serious red to compete with CA varietals. Both their Merlots and their Cabs were good. Their 2001 Cab was particularly memorable, displaying good body, soft tannins, and even some of the green pepper qualities of Napa Cabs. The pourer let me have a shot of their 1997 reserve Cab, just to show the aging potential. It was good, but I preferred the youth of the 2001. At $17, it may have been the best value we didn’t take advantage of on the island. Tasting room here was similar to Channing Daughters, as was the fee: small tasting bar, lots of wood paneling and barrels to decorate the interior, etc. There was the addition of a nice courtyard, and wines are available by the glass, so this is a good lunch spot as well.
Pindar Vineyards – I would call this Duckwalk North, but there is actually a Duckwalk North.
In any case, Pindar is supposed to be the upscale, older, and better version. The two wineries are owned by the same people, and they make similar wines. As I say, Pindar is supposed to be better – their tasting room is more reminiscent of Applebees than McDonalds, but the wines aren’t really much better. I heard some people talking up the Summer Blush Rose, but I suspect these are the same people who have been buying Gallo White Zin for years. The 2005 Peacock Label Chard was immensely buttery. Nothing remarkable, though I really wanted to like the Pythagoras. Still, the wines aren’t bad, and they are still cheap. The winery is supposed to be one of the old originals or something like that, so it’s worth stopping at. No wine by the glass here, and it’s not a good lunch spot anyway.
Pugliese Vinyards – This is a great lunch spot. We stopped at a cheese shop (I can’t remember the name of it, but if you ask at Pellegrini, they will direct you there; it’s terrific – a Shropshire blue to die for), grabbed some cheese, and ate here, splitting a glass of their Pinot Grigio (which was like a typical PG but sweeter, pleasantly so, I thought) underneath a vine-canopy that covers their picnic area. If you fit this into the middle of your tasting day, as we did, you probably won’t find much memorable here. The wines are good, but not great, and the prices are good, but not so good as Duckwalk. They do have a couple of things worth mentioning. They make a Sangiovese – the only one I saw on Long Island – and a Bordeaux blend that has a nose of chokecherries, a tiny, bitter little berry native to MT my mom makes pancake syrup out of. Cozy tasting room, friendly staff, and reasonable tasting fee. Definitely worth a stop.
Borghese Vineyards – For those of you with the misfortune to have had to sit through any of The Bachelor Rome, you may recognize this as the surname of Lorenzo, Prince of New Jersey. Well, it is the same family. His royal lowness is the nephew of the proprietors of this winery, but the family apparently produces much better wines than they do reality TV stars. This winery compared with Wolffer on the south fork, to me, meaning that they make a lot of good, mid-price-range wines. Here, though, the reds are better. Highlights were their 2002 Estate Merlot and the 2001 Cab Franc, which tasted like figgy pudding. I’ve never actually had figgy pudding, but I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t taste like the Borghese 2001 Cab Franc. Best CF I’ve ever had, which isn’t saying much, but this was one of my favorite wines of the trip. Also, we learned here that 2001 was apparently a good year on Long Island – for wine, that is. The Merlot shows Long Island Merlot well, balancing red fruits (Nicole even noted strawberries in the bouquet) with soft tannins. The unoaked 2005 Chardonnay manages to show some creamy roundness to balance the green apple crispness. The Reserve Cab and Merlot are really quite good wines, but they are pricey. The tasting room is a quaint quasi-medieval room, and the staff is friendly and unassuming. The fee for tasting is higher than some, but includes a generous amount of wines, and if you show interest and a bit of savvy, they’ll pour more than is on the prescribed menu.
Waters Crest – Ever seen a winery in a strip mall? Then you’ve never been to Water’s Crest. Despite its inauspicious front, this little one man show makes some good stuff. To me the best was the 2006 Rose, which had a unique taste that the vintner describes as “hay”. Nicole preferred the 2003 Merlot which was jammy and youthful with notes of blueberry and chocolate. These aren’t prototype wines, and are slightly expensive for what they are, but the tasting experience – despite the fact you’re in a strip mall – is very pleasant. We had the winery to ourselves, the lady pouring poured everything that she had on hand, and was super-friendly.
Bedell Cellars – Bedell to me is like the girl you hear about when you’re new to a social circle back in undergrad and everyone tells you how hot so-and-so is, and just to be different and go against the flow, you predetermine to find something glaringly wrong with her so that you won’t be drawn in like everyone else, then you see her, and you have to admit, “Wow, she’s really hot.” Before going to Long Island, I had read good things about this winery and when I went to their website, I found it pretty, but slightly pretentious. Then, once inside the modish tasting room (which is really cool), I noticed the inflated tasting fees and the aloof quality of the pourer, and was bound and determined not to really like their wine, but the Merlot here is just glorious. I’m talking Duckhorn quality. The estate Merlot is actually less expensive than Duckhorn by a bit, I think around $35 a bottle, maybe less. We didn’t spring for the Reserve tasting, but it might have been worth it. The other wines here were good too, but when people talk about the competitive quality of Long Island Merlot, this must be what they’re talking about. It’s just that good.
Thursday, June 21:
The plan was to drop Gatsby off at the Barczis’, pick up Nicole on the way, and be on the road by 3 in the p.m. Running late as I usually do, we didn’t make 93 south until 3:45ish, which meant a very great deal of moving very slowly through the hoards of people exiting Boston. Looking forward to a weekend of testing the rumors of the quality of Long Island Merlot, even the gridlock was tolerable. The whole trip to New London was actually pleasurable, Jimmy Buffett on the stereo, the weather cooperative, etc. The only hiccup in an otherwise enjoyable ride occurred when I was forced to make a last minute lane change to avoid taking an unwanted exit in Providence. Not that this nearly caused a wreck, but a card carrying New England motorist in a hideous gold Rav-4 copped a case of tunnel vision and refused to let me in. I know, this is a daily occurrence in New England, but here was an especially egregious case. This driver willfully did not see me, despite a responsibly early signal and Nicole throwing her arms up at him, for what must have been a quarter-mile. Nonetheless, we reached New London, CT well in time for the 7pm ferry. At the ferry site, while Nicole went in to get our ferry tickets, I experienced the only pleasurable sit-and-wait experience I have known to date. If you recall, the Rockies had just beaten Clemens and the Yankees 3-2 (or maybe it was 5-4) to sweep the Yanks. Waiting for Nicole’s return, I stumbled upon a New York sports radio station and enjoyed 15 minutes of panicked Yankee fans calling in utter desperation. The frantic note of sadness in the voices was familiar, but sounded wonderfully queer coming from the devotees of the Empire for once. I drank in their despair like ambrosia, and it was almost too soon when Nicole returned and we boarded the ferry.
The Cross Sound Ferry was our first experience with the imported and incompetent Long Island service industry. The food stand and bar on this particular ferry were run by a team of former Soviets who apparently took up employment in the food service industry sometime just after this past Memorial Day. Communicating an order was adventurous to say the least, but the best part of this trip was when I ordered a Budweiser draft from the former Kiev munitions manufacturer behind the bar. He grabbed a plastic cup, put it under the tap, and ran a glass full of foam. This appeared to confuse him mightily. Undaunted, though, he set it aside, grabbed a second cup, and did the same thing. (At this point, I seem to remember him scratching his head, but my memory might be embellishing.) In any case, apparently hearing somewhere that the third time’s a charm, he proceeded to fill a third plastic cup with foam. Finally, he returned from the pull to tell me that they must be out of Bud. I thought about telling him that if he just let it run for a minute, it would clear up, but I’m not a confrontational sort, so when he asked me if Bud Light would be OK, I assented. Relieved, he placed a new plastic cup under the Bud Light tap……and drew a cup full of foam. After the third cup of Bud Light foam, I could see him wondering whether he could really get away with telling me that the bar had no beer. Luckily for him – and me – he happened to notice that one of the 6 cups of foam had settled to being about 2/3 full of beer. Grabbing this, he messed around with the pull for another few minutes, and after a total of 10 minutes and half a sleeve of Solo plastic cups, I had what I think was a mixture of Bud and Bud Light. (I swear I am not making this up, and if you think my experience was rather extraordinary, you should have seen the guy next to me who wanted two scotch and sodas.) In addition to the benefit of a rather amusing show, this beer ordering experience turned out to be a really great value. Nicole sort of half wanted a beer, so she decided to use her feminine wiles and ask the Trotskian tapster if he was just going to throw the additional 5 half full beer glasses away. He said, “Yeah, do you want them?” She told him she only really wanted 1, but he brought them all. So, the upshot of the matter was that Thursday was 3.5 for 1 beer night on the cross sound ferry.
The ferry ride was smooth and pleasurable. We arrived on Long Island around 8:30 drove to Nicole’s ex-sister in law’s, and after looking through some old family albums, crashed.
Friday, June 22:
I awoke feeling ill rested after spending the night on one of the harder floors in the greater Northeast – I chivalrously gave Nicole the child’s twin in our room. Still, I wasn’t working on a dissertation that day, so despite the palpable taint on the air that comes with being within 100 miles of Yankee Stadium, the day was glorious. I attended only the second high-school graduation of my life. I have to say, though, Kayla’s was more enjoyable than mine, for having no ticket to be in the stands or on the football field where the ceremony was actually held, I was free to sit behind the stands and read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Fabulous book.
Apparently, Kayla graduated without incident. We had a reception at her mom’s catered by her work – side note: The Quizno’s steakhouse sub with raspberry chipotle dressing is to die for. Following the reception, we headed to the Montauk Yacht Club way at the end of the Southern Fork of east Long Island.Saturday, June 23:
We had gotten in late and slept accordingly late on Saturday morning. Huck would be proud; I don’t think we stirred until 10ish. By the time everyone was dressed, the first order of actual business was lunch with Nicole’s family at the Club’s second tier restaurant. Here was our second encounter with Long Island’s imported F&B industry. Our waitress had just arrived from Ireland the day before and was only marginally familiar with the following parts of the restaurant: 1) the menu/prices and 2) the fact that she was expected to take orders and deliver food to patrons. (I hate to bag on her, she was a sweet gal and seemed a bit harried.) Lunch took over 2 hours. One might think that after this experience we all might have eschewed this little patio cafe, but one would be wrong. Lured by a $9 rib special, we returned for dinner. This also took over 2 hours. Quick math will no doubt have led you to the inference that adding a couple of hours at the beach, this was the day. The best part of Saturday, though, was still to come: karaoke at O’Sullivan’s pub. The karaoke pubbing was unmitigatedly a good time. Nicole’s brother did some Sinatra, I did some Mellencamp, Nicole and I performed a tolerable version of “Picture” by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. The highlight of this outing, however, was without doubt a brother and sister duo whose combined age was no more than 18 – seriously, these were small kids: 10 and 8, I would guess – bringing the house down with a good (really) rendition of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man.” It was peaches.
Sunday, June 23 (finally, some wine):
Sunday morning, we flirted with the idea of having breakfast at the Club’s café, but after sitting at a table unnoticed for 15 minutes, we bagged it and hit the road. We hit the 3 South Fork wineries on Sunday.
The first we went to was Channing Daughters, a quaint little central CA coast style winery off of route 27. Like Paso Robles wineries, the tasting bar was small, manned (or womanned in this case) by a single person, and casual. Tasting fee here was $5 per (seemed like it might be waived with a purchase, though we didn’t purchase, so I can’t be sure), but the portions were generous and the staff was knowledgable and friendly. At Channing daughters, like all of the south fork wineries, we found the whites to be better than the reds. The following is a quick run through the offerings at Channing Daughters:
2006 Scuttlehole Chardonnay – I tasted lime and minerals here. This is an unoaked Chard that would be likely to make me think it was Sauvignon Blanc at a blind tasting. Very light, clean and acidic. I forgot to write down prices here, but I think this was around $15.
2005 Vino Bianco – “Inspired by the Super Friulian white blends of Northeast Italy this is comprised of” 22% Sauv. Blanc, 44% Chard (2 different types), 16% Pinot Grigio, and 18% Tocai Friulano. This was reminiscent to me of Italian whites I had while in the Veneto – like Masianco by Masi, which one can get here at Martignettis. Tasted almost of not quite ripe strawberries (I mean that in a pleasant way). I believe it was under $20. However, Masianco is better, and usually under $15.
2005 L’Enfant Sauvage Chardonnay -- Snap. This is a good one. Tasted rather like the Chablis Dave brought to the Chard tasting, but with a bit more oak and roundness. The makers say “baked apples and pears, brioche and brown spice, a touch of lemon, nuts and a whiff of smoke and vanilla.” That’s pretty accurate. This was one of the best wines we tasted on Long Island, but Channing Daughters appears to know this; it’s $37 a bottle. It’s an oaked Chard, really well balanced.
2006 Rosato Merlot – “Watermelon” is listed in the winery’s description, and that is the dominant impression I got here. Confection and watermelon. It was fun. “Fun” seems to be the compliment roses often get. It’s rather like being a “cute” person, I suppose. Everybody politely appreciates a rose, talks up its good features, (“It’s got good color.” Rather like, “He has an interesting hairdo.”), smiles kindly and sips, but the bottom line is that Rose, like a “cute” friend, is never going to be seen out on a date on Saturday night. But I digress. This wine, like a lot of Long Island Roses, was really pretty tasty. They seem to put effort into them, and they – I think – are rewarded for it.
2004 Fresh Merlot – At first sip, I thought I was going to be back in Virginia. There simply wasn’t the fruity potency of a CA or French Merlot. Thankfully though, Channing Daughters didn’t (like VA) attempt to replace the lack of fruit with oaky tannins. Fresh is the right word here. Think Merlot Light. Actually, it tastes a lot like a Beaujolais.
2004 Mudd – A blend of Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, Blaufrankisch, and Dornfelder that is reminiscent of a middling Bordeaux. This wine showed some tannins, and some idiosyncrasies that I’m told are a result of the German grapes (those would be the last 2 in case it doesn’t go without saying). All in all, it isn’t bad, but overpriced at $40.
(Author’s note: at this point, I’m refraining from reviewing every wine we tasted in the interest of finishing this blog and saving the sanity of my already unfortunate readers.)
From Channing Daughters, it was on to Duckwalk Vineyards home of the fastest wine tasting in the east. They don’t actually boast this, but it’s true. Once inside, you belly up to a bar, find a menu of the near 2 dozen wines that they make, and attempt to find where you are in the rotation (they cycle through the menu from beginning to end, then start over). While the number of wines they let you taste (all of them) is generous, the portions are small, and as one might expect, the wine quality is not top notch. However, they do a good job at producing some unpretentious kitschy wines on the sweeter side, and – most importantly – they attach unpretentious price tags to them. The wines are cheap and priced accordingly, and in my opinion, the cheaper wines are better: the semi-sweet white blends and desert wines were their strong suit. A couple of highlights: The Gatsby Red (NV) is an entirely unique little “semi-sweet” red that couples well with shrimp on the barbie. The Windmill White (NV), also a sweet one, tastes a bit like a Vouvray, though I don’t think there’s any Chenin Blanc in it, and would be a good cheap alternative to pair with spicy Thai. They do also make a Meritage according to French rules for the cuvee (I’m attempting to use that word correctly, and almost assuredly not doing so). It’s good, but not worth the $34, in my opinion. (Side Note: The Meritage, as well as their Pinot Noir {which they’re very proud of} are on a reserve tasting menu that costs extra, but if one has a smoking hot wife who can ask in the right tone of voice “how the paying extra works,” one can taste them for free.) The highlight here though is the Blueberry Port, which is just good. It tastes like you would imagine Blueberry Port would. My great regret for the trip is not getting the accompanying Blueberry Port soaked Cigar. Port - $18, Cigar - $10, tasting fee - $5 per (I think; we got a deal with the ferry ticket, so it was free; to be honest, given the McDonalds-like tasting operation they run here, you could probably safely drink and dash 9 out of 10 times anyway.)
Next was Wolffer Estates, where the servers spend most of their lives pouring in a Tuscan’s paradise. The tasting here is an experience, and the prices reflect that fact. A regular tasting, including 7 wines is $6. A premium tasting, including 7 slightly better wines, is $10. However, the wine is served by a waitress at a table on a patio outside the Tuscan-style tasting room
overlooking the vineyards. Atmosphere isn’t everything, though, they are also generous with the wine, giving pretty much half-glasses with each wine tasted. As the accountants, engineers, and economists among us will attest to, that’s a good 3.5 glasses for a complete tasting. I recommend bringing a lunch in with you, and not just because the patio’s a nice place to eat. The wines at Wolffer are all good. This winery had a nice write-up in a spring Wine Spectator, and they deserve it. The Chardonnays are especially wonderful. We tasted 3 – the 2004 La Ferme Martin ($14), the 2003 Reserve ($18), and the 2003 Estate Selection ($29) – and they were all delicious. I actually preferred the Reserve to the Estate Selection, but both were good examples of oaked Chardonnay that retains a light pear and apple flavor without just showcasing toast and butterscotch. The reds here lack the body of CA wine, but their Merlot and Cab Franc compare well with lighter bodied French Merlots, having some earthiness and mushroom undertones to subtle red berry flavors. All in all, this is the best tasting experience on Long Island, and for the price, probably the best winery – at least in my humble opinion.Following our trips to the wineries, I played “golf” (My game was so poor it deserves the ironic tone of quotation marks) with Nicole’s dad and brother and later had really good fish tacos at a place called 669 The Gig Shack. The imported help here was remarkably good, as well.
Monday, June 24:
This day passed almost entirely without incident, though I made something of a scene when I was deaf-eared by a seagull at the Gosman’s clam bar. Sucker dove right in over my right shoulder and attempted to land on my tray as I was carrying our food to the table. My fries were really all that was lost, but the folks at Gosman’s replaced all of my order, giving me essentially 2 for 1 fried clams (talk about everything coming up Milhouse).
Two other things to mention for the benefit of those traveling in Long Island: DO go to Napeague State beach; it’s huge and secluded. The only drawback is it’s a long way from the highway and there’s no parking; you have to leave your car in a small turnout. DO NOT pay to go into the lighthouse. Well, OK, you can if you want to, but I don’t think it’s good value.
Tuesday, June 25:
This day we hit the north fork on our way back. The north fork is the older and more populous wine region, with several million wineries dotting routes 25 and 48. We did not get to visit all several million of them, but I’ll give some details on the ones we did stop at.
Pellegrini Vineyards – Here it first appeared that Long Island could really make a serious red to compete with CA varietals. Both their Merlots and their Cabs were good. Their 2001 Cab was particularly memorable, displaying good body, soft tannins, and even some of the green pepper qualities of Napa Cabs. The pourer let me have a shot of their 1997 reserve Cab, just to show the aging potential. It was good, but I preferred the youth of the 2001. At $17, it may have been the best value we didn’t take advantage of on the island. Tasting room here was similar to Channing Daughters, as was the fee: small tasting bar, lots of wood paneling and barrels to decorate the interior, etc. There was the addition of a nice courtyard, and wines are available by the glass, so this is a good lunch spot as well.
Pindar Vineyards – I would call this Duckwalk North, but there is actually a Duckwalk North.
In any case, Pindar is supposed to be the upscale, older, and better version. The two wineries are owned by the same people, and they make similar wines. As I say, Pindar is supposed to be better – their tasting room is more reminiscent of Applebees than McDonalds, but the wines aren’t really much better. I heard some people talking up the Summer Blush Rose, but I suspect these are the same people who have been buying Gallo White Zin for years. The 2005 Peacock Label Chard was immensely buttery. Nothing remarkable, though I really wanted to like the Pythagoras. Still, the wines aren’t bad, and they are still cheap. The winery is supposed to be one of the old originals or something like that, so it’s worth stopping at. No wine by the glass here, and it’s not a good lunch spot anyway.Pugliese Vinyards – This is a great lunch spot. We stopped at a cheese shop (I can’t remember the name of it, but if you ask at Pellegrini, they will direct you there; it’s terrific – a Shropshire blue to die for), grabbed some cheese, and ate here, splitting a glass of their Pinot Grigio (which was like a typical PG but sweeter, pleasantly so, I thought) underneath a vine-canopy that covers their picnic area. If you fit this into the middle of your tasting day, as we did, you probably won’t find much memorable here. The wines are good, but not great, and the prices are good, but not so good as Duckwalk. They do have a couple of things worth mentioning. They make a Sangiovese – the only one I saw on Long Island – and a Bordeaux blend that has a nose of chokecherries, a tiny, bitter little berry native to MT my mom makes pancake syrup out of. Cozy tasting room, friendly staff, and reasonable tasting fee. Definitely worth a stop.
Borghese Vineyards – For those of you with the misfortune to have had to sit through any of The Bachelor Rome, you may recognize this as the surname of Lorenzo, Prince of New Jersey. Well, it is the same family. His royal lowness is the nephew of the proprietors of this winery, but the family apparently produces much better wines than they do reality TV stars. This winery compared with Wolffer on the south fork, to me, meaning that they make a lot of good, mid-price-range wines. Here, though, the reds are better. Highlights were their 2002 Estate Merlot and the 2001 Cab Franc, which tasted like figgy pudding. I’ve never actually had figgy pudding, but I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t taste like the Borghese 2001 Cab Franc. Best CF I’ve ever had, which isn’t saying much, but this was one of my favorite wines of the trip. Also, we learned here that 2001 was apparently a good year on Long Island – for wine, that is. The Merlot shows Long Island Merlot well, balancing red fruits (Nicole even noted strawberries in the bouquet) with soft tannins. The unoaked 2005 Chardonnay manages to show some creamy roundness to balance the green apple crispness. The Reserve Cab and Merlot are really quite good wines, but they are pricey. The tasting room is a quaint quasi-medieval room, and the staff is friendly and unassuming. The fee for tasting is higher than some, but includes a generous amount of wines, and if you show interest and a bit of savvy, they’ll pour more than is on the prescribed menu.
Waters Crest – Ever seen a winery in a strip mall? Then you’ve never been to Water’s Crest. Despite its inauspicious front, this little one man show makes some good stuff. To me the best was the 2006 Rose, which had a unique taste that the vintner describes as “hay”. Nicole preferred the 2003 Merlot which was jammy and youthful with notes of blueberry and chocolate. These aren’t prototype wines, and are slightly expensive for what they are, but the tasting experience – despite the fact you’re in a strip mall – is very pleasant. We had the winery to ourselves, the lady pouring poured everything that she had on hand, and was super-friendly.
Bedell Cellars – Bedell to me is like the girl you hear about when you’re new to a social circle back in undergrad and everyone tells you how hot so-and-so is, and just to be different and go against the flow, you predetermine to find something glaringly wrong with her so that you won’t be drawn in like everyone else, then you see her, and you have to admit, “Wow, she’s really hot.” Before going to Long Island, I had read good things about this winery and when I went to their website, I found it pretty, but slightly pretentious. Then, once inside the modish tasting room (which is really cool), I noticed the inflated tasting fees and the aloof quality of the pourer, and was bound and determined not to really like their wine, but the Merlot here is just glorious. I’m talking Duckhorn quality. The estate Merlot is actually less expensive than Duckhorn by a bit, I think around $35 a bottle, maybe less. We didn’t spring for the Reserve tasting, but it might have been worth it. The other wines here were good too, but when people talk about the competitive quality of Long Island Merlot, this must be what they’re talking about. It’s just that good.
Corey Creek – This is the little sister of Bedell. The tasting room is high-end suburban. Tasting is free with a receipt from Bedell. The wines are good, but like in most sibling relationships, Bedell doesn’t let Corey Creek have any of the really good stuff. Y’all tasted the Rose, so you can draw your own opinions about that. There was also a good Gewurtz, and a dynamite Raspberry dessert wine, that we would have purchased had we not already sprung for the Blueberry Port at Duckwalk. The raspberry flavor in the dessert wine was so intense, I kept checking my teeth for seeds.
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