Monthly Archives: September 2023

Meadowlark:  Pizza Night!

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

September 8, 2023

Just one part of the capacious grounds.

It had been hot all day, but by 5 o’clock it had cooled off enough to sit outside, which we were glad to notice, since that had been our plan.  With our friends the winery aficionados, we headed to Meadowlark for pizza night.  The last time we had been to that property, many years ago, it had belonged to a different winery.  Then Macari took it over, at first running it as simply a second location for tastings, but now they had rebranded it as a somewhat different type of winery.  The emphasis here is on a few wines not available at Macari, as their website says, “limited wines, and innovative winemaking techniques available only at the Meadowlark property.”  In addition, they promote the property as an ideal place for weddings and other events, with two renovated barn-like buildings and extensive beautifully landscaped lawns and gardens.  It is only open to the public Friday afternoons, Saturdays, and Sundays. 

Have rolling pizza oven, will bake!
The comfortable table where we settled in for our evening.

We pulled into the parking lot and strolled up a slight rise to where a pizza oven roared, and then checked out one building, where an oyster bar offered freshly shucked oysters, and then the wine bar, before settling at a table on the deck outside the wine bar.  Music from speakers in the shrubbery included a few Grateful Dead songs.  Inside the wine bar, we acquired four glasses of wine from the limited menu of seven, deciding on two glasses of malbec, one of cabernet franc, and one of a grüner veltliner pet-nat (No flights on Friday nights.). 

Then we ambled over to the pizza oven, operated by pizza makers from The Rolling Gold, a shop with a “brick and mortar” site in Huntington.  There were five pies on offer, and we decided on one Margherita ($18) and one White ($20).  They gave us a buzzer, and only a few sips of wine later the buzzer went off. 

The pizzas were tasty, the Margherita with a fresh-tasting red sauce and fresh mozzarella, the white with plenty of garlic and melty stracciatella cheese, the crust appropriately slightly charred.  We thought there’d be leftovers, but we only took home one slice.  We had the patio to ourselves, though there were plenty of couples and small groups scattered over the lawns, and we sat and chatted until it began to get dark. 

Yummy pies. However, we would have liked it if plates were included, instead of just napkins.

Only a few notes on the wines:

  •  Grüner Veltliner Pét-Nat 2022                   $35

I’ve never seen a grüner veltliner made into a sparkling wine, so that’s something new to me.  I didn’t get to taste it, but one friend quite enjoyed it.  Meadowlark’s tasting notes describe it as “fresh” and “lively.”

Though it had cooled off enough to make sitting outside pleasant, it was still quite humid, as you can see by the condensation on this glass.
  • 2020 Malbec      $50

Our friend and I both chose this as a good red to go with a pizza, and it was.  Dry and pleasant, with more tannins than fruit, it was a very nice wine, though not a $50 bottle.  We discussed value versus price for a while, since, we agreed, it is perfectly possible to enjoy wines that are not all that expensive, though great wines are something special.

  • Cabernet Franc “Life Force” 2020              $30

“Life Force” is the way Macari characterizes the wines they make using a concrete “egg” for aging.  Their Life Force Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorites of their wines.  This red is rather light, with tastes of red fruit and herbs.  It also went well with the pizza, and my husband was happy with this choice.

Those are oysters in the “boat.”

Reasons to visit:  excellent pizzas; relaxed, laid-back vibe on a Friday night; beautiful grounds; dogs allowed; some interesting wines to try.  I may go back some time on a Saturday or Sunday so I can try a flight, which they serve in test tubes (!). 

The staff was busy prepping these “test tubes” for Saturday’s wine tastings.

Old Field Vineyards: A Family Affair

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 2, 2023

Why do I title this “A Family Affair”?  Two reasons:  I went there with a number of family members, and the winery is very emphatically family owned.  Perry, who greeted us cheerfully at the sign-in desk, and her mother are the winemakers and owners.  In addition, this is a good place to come with a family, as there is room for children to roam about the lawn and they can buy a little container of mealworms to feed the chickens.  In fact, Perry started our visit by warning us that someone had left the door to the chicken coop open, and they were wandering the lawn, just in case any member of our party had chicken-phobia (Well, she didn’t quite put it that way.)  Sounds more like a feature than a cause for a warning, I replied.

This visit to Old Field, while still having that laid-back vibe, felt somewhat different.  First of all, there were many more people there than I have seen in the past, though that could be due to it being Saturday of Labor Day weekend.  Then, instead of moseying over to the deck and sitting at a calico-tableclothed table, we ordered at the sign-in desk and were directed to find a table on the lawn, and told our flights would be brought to us.  We picked up two bags of popcorn for the little ones and a small container of meal worms ($1 each) for the chickens. By the way, they still allow visitors to bring their own picnics, just requesting that one clean up after oneself.

After a very short wait, during which the youngsters in our group, accompanied by their mother, walked over to the icehouse and the little pond, our flights were set down on the table.  The tasting menu offered four options: four whites, four reds ($20), the everyday mixed flight of five wines ($24), or the special occasion mixed flight of five wines ($30).  We decided that each couple would share one of the mixed flights, so that in all we tasted ten wines.  The flights were served on a tray, in compostable plastic cups, with glasses for each of us, which made sharing easy and hygienic.  As we sipped and chatted, a curious chicken stopped by our table to check if we had any snacks, but we were not planning to share our popcorn, and the children had already fed the mealworms to some other fowl.

At the end of your tasting, you walk back past the sign-in desk, where you can pay and also get any bottles to take home.

One view of the capacious lawn. We are headed to the blue table, with its comfortable chairs.

The following notes are in more or less the order in which I tasted the wines, so you might want to refer to the menu to see which wine was in which flight.

Our two flights, with the glasses for each individual.
  •  Sparkling Brut   $50

Good, but not $50 good was the group assessment of this very nice, dry, yeasty sparkling wine, which started off the special occasion mixed flight.

  •  2021 Cracklin’ Rosé        $23  

Made from 100% merlot, this is an unusual rosé, with not much fruit and a slightly funky undertone, with some cherry taste.  This was the first wine in the everyday mixed flight.

Though these cups look like plastic, they are actually corn-based and can be composted.
  • 2018 Steel and Oak Chardonnay                $26

This is made from a combination of steel-aged and oak fermented chardonnay. The leftovers? joked my husband.  For a combined wine, this is surprisingly simple, noted one guest.  It is pleasant, but a bit oakier than I like.  It has some citrus taste but also a bit of that I chewed on my pencil flavor.

This is the one we brought home.
  • 2022 Winsome White     $18

A blend of 50% chardonnay, 35% sauvignon blanc, and 15% grüner veltliner, this very winsome white has a touch of effervescence and some lovely peach flavor.  We like it so much that we buy two bottles at checkout.

  • 2022 White Pinot Noir    $25

Another winner.  Our guests like this the best of their tasting, and find it delicious, with tastes of pears and honey and some depth.  We discuss how one makes white wine with red wine grapes with the children, who understand that if you take off the skins right away, you get white wine. 

  • 2020 Steel Chardonnay                  $22

Not my favorite of the day, as it has a somewhat metallic taste and some earthiness.  It is light and dry. 

  • 2019 Commodore Perry Merlot                 $40

What’s Commodore Perry’s name doing on a North Fork wine?  The famous seafarer, who opened up Japan to Western trade, is an ancestor of the owners of the winery, and this 100% merlot is named in his honor.  Aged in French oak, it is quite tannic, with tastes of black cherry and tobacco.  I could see aging it.

  • 2021 Dashing Duck          $22

A light red, we all agree, which would go well with roast chicken.  Then we get into a discussion of the “red-feathered” chickens raised by 8 Hands Farm, as opposed to the “rouge” chickens our guests get in a Queens green market.  “In Jackson Heights, we say ‘rouge,’” jokes a guest, in a mock-haughty accent.  In any event, this wine has a lovely aroma and tastes of cherry and cranberry, with “some brio,” notes a guest.

  • 2020 Maritime $35

“Oh, that is chewy,” says the same guest, reading the notes while sipping this Bordeaux blend of 33% merlot, 33% cabernet franc, 20% malbec, and 14% petit verdot.  Very tasty, with blackberry and other dark fruit flavors. 

Is this chicken annoyed because we won’t share our snack or because we’re drinking Rooster Tail?
  • 2020 Rooster Tail             $25

We have in the past bought this wine by the case, and we actually have a bottle in our wine cellar at the moment, brought to us by a dinner guest.  A blend of 67% merlot and 33% cabernet franc, this is a good everyday pizza and pasta red, with some cherry and spice tastes. 

Reasons to visit:  the bucolic, laid-back vibe; chickens!; you can bring a picnic and children (but not dogs, I think the chickens would object); we liked almost all the wines, but particularly the Winsome White, the White Pinot Noir, the Commodore Perry merlot, the Maritime, and the Rooster Tail; it is close to Greenport’s restaurants and shops.