September 17, 2024

This is the Nofowineaux blog, but one of my favorite wineries, Channing Daughters, is on the South Fork.  Why do I like it?  For a small winery, Channing Daughters has an amazing variety of wines.  The menu of flights lists about twenty-eight different wines, plus you can do a tasting of their five vermouths.  Each flight consists of five wines, with a fairly generous pour, for $28.  We are wine club members, and part of the fun of being in their wine club is you never know what you are going to get in your shipments.  They are also very generous with wine club members, and we are often treated to an extra taste or two. 

We had visitors who shared with us a love for the town of Sag Harbor, where both of us had had family connections, so we drove onto the ferry in Greenport, sashayed across Shelter Island, and boarded the South Ferry for the short crossing to Sag Harbor.  After a leisurely stroll down Main Street, noting what had changed and what hadn’t—the Wharf Shop, the hardware store, the Variety Store (with signs still saying 5 cents, etc.), the theater with its Art Deco sign, and Blooming Shells were still there, but there were more fancy boutiques and restaurants than in the past—we headed to Scuttlehole Road and turned onto the pebbled driveway that led to Channing.

We were greeted and shown to a shaded picnic table on the lawn and began to peruse the menu.  We decided that my husband and I would share the Spectrum Wine Flight, which offers (duh) a spectrum of their offerings, and one guest would do the same, while the other, a fan of chardonnay, chose the chardonnay flight.  Did she prefer oaked or steel chardonnays, the server asked.  Oaked.  Good, because three of the five were oaked. 

Our stroll around Sag Harbor had worked up an appetite, so we also ordered cheese and crackers from the limited menu of snacks.  We would have liked to get the smoked bluefish dip, but they were out of it, so we settled on Mecox Bay Dairy’s offering of three slices of cheese ($20), plus a package of Mini Toasts ($6), which turned out to be plenty.

The flights arrived on unique tiered holders, the stem of each glass inserted into a circular holder.  As we admired the presentation, we noted that an advantage of this was that they did not take up much room on the table. 

We enjoyed the wines, the bucolic setting, the beautiful warm day, and the company of each other as we sipped and munched.

•  2021 Heart White Blend             $20

A flowery aroma like honeysuckle is the first thing I sense.  The wine has a taste that reminds me of some thyme honey I once tasted, which was not sweet, but a touch minerally.  “Very clean on the tongue,” opined our guest, and “refreshing,” said my tasting buddy.  We like it, and our guest thought it would pair well with halibut.

• 2021 Rosato Syrah         $24

In typical Channing fashion, they have five rosés, not the usual one or two.  This one is very light, and I generally prefer fruitier rosés, but it is nicely dry, and would pair well with oysters, like the ones we plan to get from Braun’s Wednesday night.  (We got Peconic Bay Gold, and they were wonderful!)

• 2018 Meditazione          $42

Is it the power of suggestion, or does this orange colored wine actually smell like oranges?  Orange wine is made by fermenting white wine grapes with the skins on, as though you were making red wine, and is very tasty, with notes of citrus and herb tea.  We think this would be excellent with charcuterie.  Or as my friend puts it, sometimes 1+1=3, when you find just the right combination.

• 2020 Heart Artist Series              $25

This is a red blend, of 48% merlot, 22% dornfelder, 11% refosco, 10% syrah, and 9% petit verdot—a blend you won’t find anywhere on the North Fork!  This is a light red, with an aroma of berries and some nice fruit tastes, and goes well with the cheddar cheese on our plates. 

• 2021 Moscato Petillant Naturel               $29

Aaand how many sparkling wines to you think they make?  I don’t even know, but this one is 100% muscat ottonel.  The aroma reminds me of lemonade, and the taste is light, with lots of tiny bubbles.  Most flights will have you start with the sparkling wine, but ending with it works well, too. 

Extras:  We get a little taste of Envelope, another of the orange wines, to compare with Meditazione.  It has “lots of body,” opines our guest, and is “unusual,” with notes of lychee and butterscotch.  It would go great with duck, like the duck breasts with blackberry sauce I had made the night before.

Did the chardonnay flight please?  Yes indeed.  In fact, our friend was pleasantly surprised by how much she liked the steel fermented wines, finding the 2022 Chardonnay a “refreshing sipping wine.”  She buys a bottle of it and another of L’Enfant Sauvage to have with the lobsters we are planning on for Wednesday night (after the oysters).

Then we get into a discussion with the server about their vermouths, and she brings us small tastes of numbers one and two.  One is fairly traditional, and would certainly go well in a martini, but two is really interesting, with spicy notes.  I decide to get a bottle of each, and try number two with tomato juice, in a lower alcohol take on a Bloody Mary.

Reasons to visit:  you fancy a jaunt to the South Fork; the incredible array of choices; an intimate space with cheerful service; all the wines, but I especially like the Scuttlehole Chardonnay and the Meditazione; the vermouths.