Coffee Pot Cellars: It’s the Bees Knees July 9, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with Adam Suprenant, Beasley's Blend, chardonnay, Coffee Pot Cellars, Cyser, gewurztraminer, Laura Klahr, Meritage, merlot, North Fork wine tasting, sauvignon blanc July 14, 2016

http://www.coffeepotcellars.com/

Bees feeding on honey

“Watch what happens when I pour some honey in here,” says Laura Klahr, leading a group of fascinated wine tasters over to the glass-fronted bee hive set into the wall of the Coffee Pot Cellars tasting room. As we watch, the bees gather around the stream of honey, licking it up with their tiny tongues. They seem to be enjoying their snack just as much as we enjoyed our tasting.

Laura waiting on a group

What, you may wonder, do bees have to do with wine? More than you probably think, but here the fact is that Laura is a beekeeper who happens to be married to wine maker Adam Suprenant, and Coffee Pot (named for the distinctively shaped lighthouse just off Orient Point—they don’t serve coffee) is their joint venture, where you can find his wines and her honey and beeswax products, plus one item that combines both their passions. More about that later.

As we stand at the bar in the cozy tasting room, we are treated to Laura’s stories about the wines, bees, and their adorable dog named Beasley and his opinions about wine. More about that later, too. Her lively presence makes us glad that we chose to bring our son and his fiancée with us on this tasting.

Laura consults with Beasley on his favorite blends.

The menu offers several tasting options, but I recommend you go for all six wines for $12. You won’t be disappointed. Between tastes you may want to browse the bee or wine-related gift items.

2013 Sauvignon Blanc $19.99

This is a steel-fermented white with a metal/mineral aroma, and tastes of citrus and melon with a touch of white peach. There’s a bit of top of the mouth sweetness, but overall this is dry, and would go beautifully with seafood. We imagine it would complement the oysters we had earlier at the rustic oyster bar in Greenport.

2013 Chardonnay $19.99

“The grapes work so hard to grow,” says Laura, “that we just want to celebrate them.” In order not to interfere too much with the natural flavor of the grapes, they age these in eleven-year-old oak barrels, so if you don’t care for oaked chards you may like this one. We smell fermented pineapple, with just a touch of vanilla, and taste green apple. Lovely summer sipper. Our guests opine it would go well with shrimp, or maybe brie.

Cyser $14.99

What, you may be wondering, is Cyser, and how did it get into the middle of this tasting? Cyser is Laura and Adam’s fusion of their interests, a bubbly hard cider made with honey, like a mead. I have tasted mead, and this reminds me of it a little, but it is much tarter than you would think from the ingredients and has only half a percent of residual sugar, says Laura. Our son wants to know if malolactic fermentation has taken place, so Laura gets Adam on the phone so they can chat about this possibility. Laura tells us that her bees helped pollinate the apple orchard where the apples were grown, and then a different type of bee contributed the honey. Fascinating. We enjoy it, and imagine its apple and honey taste would have gone well with the excellent pulled pork sandwich we had at First and Main—or maybe latkes! We buy a bottle as a gift. By the way, the Cyser was not listed on the menu as part of the tasting, but everyone in the room gets a taste.

2013 Gewürztraminer $21.99

So I’ve been saying for a while now that this or that wine tastes like gooseberries, and my husband kept saying, “I don’t know what gooseberries taste like.” Saturday I found gooseberries at Briermere (just before I bought the obligatory pie) and brought them home so we could all taste them. Fruit that tastes a bit like a vegetable, we decided, tart and green, but with a touch of sweetness. And…that describes this steel-fermented Gewürztraminer.

Beasley standing guard on the Coffee Pot lighthouse.

Beasley’s Blend $15.99

According to Laura, the name for this wine arose from a discussion about what kind of wine Beasley, their cute friendly dog, would go for. The label features Beasley standing guard on the Coffee Pot lighthouse balcony, and the wine inside is a good pre-dinner sipper, easy to drink with pasta dishes, for example. We smell black cherry, plum, licorice, and taste a good balance of fruit with a touch of earthiness. Good work, Beasley! Nice touch—she rinsed our glasses with a bit of red wine before moving from the whites to the reds.

2011 Merlot $19.99

These merlot grapes, we are informed, come from McCullough’s vineyard. Our son detects an aroma of blueberry, and his fiancée adds pomegranate. The taste is typically cherry, nicely dry. Perhaps if we get some pork belly from Eight Hands Farm this would go well with it.

2010 Meritage $25.99

59% merlot, 23% petit verdot, 14% cabernet franc, and 4% cabernet sauvignon; 90 points from Wine Spectator: but statistics only tell you so much. 2010 was a good year on Long Island, and this is a lovely example of a wine from that year. Delicious, we all agree, with lots of dark fruit, nice tannins, and a bit of a coffee aroma to add to the usual Bordeaux blend smells. It is getting close to time to go home and cook dinner, and we must be hungry as we start to speculate about what this wine would go well with. Lamb shish-ka-bob? Steak? Oh yes. And we buy a bottle for the cellar.

Beeswax candles

Reasons to visit: where else can you taste wine and learn everything you ever wanted to know about bees?; Laura and Adam, still wine country’s cutest couple; all the wines but especially the chardonnay, the Cyser, and the Meritage; lots of bee-related gifts (I’ve had the honey and it is excellent.).

The Old Field: Pleasant Day in the Country June 18, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with barrel chardonnay, Blush de Noir, cabernet franc, Charging Goose Sauvignon Blanc, Commodore Perry, merlot, Mostly Steel Chardonnay, North Fork, rooster tail, The Old Field Vineyards, wine tasting June 21, 2016

http://www.theoldfield.com/

The pretty porch at Old Field.

“I don’t want to leave,” I complained, but our friends had somewhere to go and we had errands to run before our dinner reservation, so reluctantly I left our comfy seats on the prettily rustic porch of the Old Field Vineyards. Old Field is a great place if you want a quiet country setting where you can see ducks and chickens and the occasional goose wander by. You can stand at the bar covered by mismatched tablecloths or go for a picnic table under the trees. We had opted for a nice round table at the shady end of the porch, where our friends set out the snacks they had brought so we munched as we tasted.

Our table in the shade

The tasting menu offers four options: four whites for $9, four reds for $10, four mixed for $8, or four “Weekend Gold” selections for $10. Both couples opted to share a white and then a red, so we could discuss our opinions as we sipped. One improvement over the last time we were here: tastes are now served in proper wine glasses, instead of the little plastic cups they used to use.

2014 Blush de Noir $16

“We had an event last week,” our friends said, “and served this out on the deck. It was great.” I can see that, as this is a very light, crisp almost white rosé with a “slatey strawberry” smell and a touch of citrus.

2013 Mostly Steel Chardonnay $20

Although our friend thought it seemed “tame” after the Blush de Noir, I quite liked this very slightly oaked chard, with just a touch of vanilla and lots of lemon flavor. It has just enough oak to take the edge off the sometimes too acid lemon flavor a steel chard can have.

2013 Barrel Chardonnay $28

The menu informs us that this is a new release, and spends seven months in French oak. You can definitely smell that vanilla aroma of an oaked chard, but this again is not overly oaked. No one, we decided, would complain if you served this. “It’s a people’s wine,” asserts our friend, who I begin to suspect is angling to be quoted in this review. Though I like it, I have to agree that it has no finish, and the taste does not linger.

Charging Goose Sauvignon Blanc $25

The menu had listed Cacklin’ Rosé as the last of the whites, but instead they’ve changed their selections to this new release. That’s fine with me, since I wanted to try this one anyway, and I never think anyone’s rosés measure up to Croteaux. We get into a rather involved discussion of the smell, which we like, and compare to hay, Meyer lemon, berries, and butter. We also like the taste, which combines berries and a mellow citrus. When I suggest it would go well with oysters, we start to plan for our next outing to include oysters, perhaps at Old Mill during Happy Hour or at Jamesport.

Rooster Tail $18

This is their un-dated merlot all-purpose pizza and pasta red, which we have bought by the case in the past. It is still good, especially for the price, with plenty of cherry tastes and an aroma of blackberries. Dry. New glasses for the reds, by the way.

2012 Cabernet Franc $36

We decide we like the smell of this one better than the taste. Not that it is bad, just that it lacks the depth the delicious aroma would seem to promise. It has lots of dark fruit taste, and we agree that if it were less expensive we would happily buy it.

Did you ever notice how many sheds and barns farms have?

2010 Merlot $26

“It blankets you with flavor and then gets out of town,” opines our friend, happy to see me writing down his words. Well, he’s right. After a slightly funky forest floor, peat mossy aroma, the taste is pleasantly cherry and other fruit, but has no staying power. Again, like the other wines, this is a drinkable but not distinguished wine.

2010 Commodore Perry $38

This one is more distinguished. Named for the illustrious ancestor of the owners, they only make this wine in good years, and 2010 was pretty universally considered to have been a very good year for Long Island wines, especially the reds, as we had a nice long warm growing season. We had bought and cellared the 2007 the last time we were here. The smell is delicious, like “a leather tobacco pouch dipped in red wine,” says our eloquent friend. Though it is a merlot, like the Rooster Tail, it has much more depth and interest. You could have it with steak or lamb chops and it would stand up to those strong meat tastes. It’s my favorite of the day.

One of the houses on the property

Reasons to visit: calm rustically bucolic setting with lots of trees and lawn space; the Blush de Noir and the Commodore Perry; a vineyard with a history worth learning about (check their web site) and admirable bio-dynamic methods.

Osprey’s Dominion: Attention Was Paid June 10, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with cabernet franc, Carmenere, chardonnay, Cuvee Osprey Sparkling, Fume Blanc, gewurztraminer, Long Island wine, Malbec, merlot, North Fork, Osprey's Dominion, Petite Verdot, Pinot Gris, pinot noir, Richmond Creek Red Blend, White Flight Edelzwicker, wine tasting June 12, 2016

https://ospreysdominion.com/

One of the three servers who were quick to wait on us.

“Have you decided which wine you want to start your tasting with?” we were asked by the third server in about 10 minutes as we studied the lengthy menu. We had not, though we welcomed the attention because on our last two visits we had felt rather neglected. This time the tasting room was practically empty, most likely because we had decided to come on a Friday rather than a weekend day. The last time we tried to come to Osprey’s we couldn’t even find a place to park.

The large airy tasting room

It’s not hard to see why Osprey’s is popular. The tasting room is large and airy, with ample outdoor seating where you can bring a picnic or buy a snack from their limited menu. Mellow music of the Frank Sinatra type was on the sound system, but they often have live music. In fact, for the summer they have live music on Friday nights from 5-8, and they suggest you “pack your dinner or snack.” In addition, they offer many different wines at reasonable prices with varying taste profiles. The tasting menu lists ten whites, nine reds, and five “reserve” wines. A flight consists of three tastes for $8 or five for $12. We decided to do two consecutive tastings, one of whites and then one of reds, of five tastes each.

Line up of bottles on the bar

Though the servers were pleasant and attentive, they offered only minimal comments on the wines, even when we engaged them in conversation, though one of them had more extensive discussions with us about wine preferences. We did get some help on where to start our tasting, since we wanted to try the Pinot Gris from the Reserve menu. She advised we start there, so we did, and she was correct.

2014 Pinot Gris Reserve $20

The aroma is lovely and flowery, like honeysuckle and orange blossom. We taste crisp pineapple and tangerine. The menu informs us that the wine is aged six months “sur lies,” so we expect a bit more depth, but this is a light wine and an easy summer sipper. (Sur lies—or lees—means the wine sits on the sediment that falls out of the juice, I’ve been told, and should lead to a more complex taste.) It was a good place to start our tasting.

2014 Fumé Blanc $15

This is actually 100% sauvignon blanc, fermented in oak, so you get that vanilla aroma from the wood. I also taste a bit of vanilla. Again, this is a light white, with less of the citrus you get from a steel-fermented sauvignon blanc.

2014 “White Flight” Edelzwicker $15

I’m not sure why the menu calls this White Flight, but I bet it’s so that people don’t have to try to pronounce Edelzwicker! In any event, people should try this blend of 87% pinot gris, 8% gewürztraminer, and 5% riesling. The menu describes it as an Alsatian blend; I describe it as delicious. The aroma includes bread dough or yeast and spice—perhaps nutmeg. The wine has all sorts of interesting flavors, with nice fruit and just a slight touch of sweetness. In need of whites for summer meals, we buy two bottles.

2012 Gewürztraminer $17

Although our server describes this wine as dry, I find it a bit sweet for me, though that sweetness would make it a good match for spicy food. The aroma is intriguing, and after saying apple, ginger, and “heavy,” we settle on apple cider doughnut. The taste is quite fruity, and not exactly what we expected in a gewürztraminer.

Cuvée Osprey Sparkling $25

For our last white we decide to try their sparkling wine, made from 70% chardonnay and 30% pinot noir, using the “Méthode Champenoise,” and served in a proper champagne flute. “Candy wine,” says my husband. I agree. Dump.

They were excited about their new sparkler. We were not.

Richmond Creek Red Blend $12

We get a clean glass for the reds, and I clear my palate with some crackers sitting in a basket on the bar. 42% cabernet sauvignon, 11% pinot noir, 26% cabernet franc, and 23% merlot: in other words, a Left Bank Bordeaux blend. We’re always on the lookout for inexpensive reds for our frequent pasta dinners, so we decide to begin our red tasting by trying one of their line of less-expensive wines. It smells good, of dark fruits and plums, and tastes quite nice, too. I would buy this one, though I have to say it has no depth or tannins. Still, it is a pleasant sipper and would go with a simple pasta dinner, and is quite a bargain for Long Island reds–and I do like to support the local wineries!

It’s a measured pour.

2010 Cabernet Franc $20

Like many Long Island wines, this one blends merlot with the dominant grape, in this case 88% cabernet franc plus 12% merlot. The aroma combines spice, pepper, and a mellow tobacco, and the taste has lots of dark fruits plus a touch of black olive. It would go well with, for example, lamb chops with fresh herbs.

2012 Carménère $24

We get another clean glass to try this wine, the only Carménère on the North Fork. I’m always interested to try new tastes. 2012 was a pretty good year, and this is a pretty good wine. The menu describes it as “jammy”; though I’m not sure I agree, it is a rich red with some nice tannins that could stand up to steak.

2012 Malbec $24

So here is a perfect illustration of the necessity of trying different vintages. The last time we were at Osprey’s in February of 2015 we bought two bottles of the 2010 Malbec, which we quite enjoyed. This time, though the wine is not bad, we are not moved to buy it. It has nice blueberry and pepper aromas and is a pleasantly dry red, but lacks the depth of the 2010.

2012 Petite Verdot $35

Even though Petite (or often petit) Verdot is most often used as a part of a blend, I find I tend to like it by itself. It has a beautiful dark color and tends to be fruity and jammy and big. This one does not disappoint, though I think it might get better with age, as it is mouth-puckering dry. (I know, I don’t like sweet wines; now I’m complaining about dry. As the Greeks say, moderation in all things.)

Nice day for sitting outside.

Reasons to visit: wide variety of wines at reasonable prices; large pleasant tasting room and outdoor area; the Edelzwicker, the Gewürztraminer, the Cabernet Franc, the Carménère, the Petite Verdot; small selection of wine-related gifts; Friday night live music and BYO food. However, be aware that in season on the weekends it can get very crowded.

Roses are in bloom all around the grounds.

Laurel Lake: The Personal Touch May 14, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, chardonnay, chardonnay estate reserve, CJ's America Grill, gewurztraminer, Juan, Laurel Lake, merlot, NoFo, North Fork, Pinot Gris, pinot noir reserve, syrah, Wind Song Red, wine tasting May 16, 2016

http://www.llwines.com/

Juan sat down next to us at the bar and explained his ideas about winemaking. Although there were several large groups at Laurel Lake, and Juan was actively helping to serve them, he and the servers behind the bar also took the time to answer our questions and solicit our opinions about the wines—which were largely favorable except for one, which I will discuss later. Introduced to us as “our winemaker from Chile,” Juan told us that he enjoys talking to customers and finding out what they do and do not like about his wines. “The wines reflect the personality of the winemaker,” he told us, including whether the winemaker is a man or a woman. If so, then Laurel Lake’s wines should be outgoing and friendly and easy to like.

The main tasting room manages to be both spacious and cozy.

The menu offers flights of four tastes for $15, of a fairly generous pour, out of seven whites and nine reds. We opted to share a flight of whites and a flight of reds, skipping, for example, the rosé and the moscato. We also skipped the riesling, which we noticed comes in a pretty blue bottle. That price has actually gone down from our last visit, in 2014, when it was three tastes for $15. In general, the prices for the wines are quite reasonable. We noticed people eating snacks brought from home, although once their food truck arrives Laurel Lake no longer permits outside snacks.

The music group on the porch, with a view of a group enjoying the warm weather outside.

As we sipped, a music group set up in the large porch to one side of the attractive tasting room. The large groups also headed outside, so the main room remained relatively calm. We also noted a small but amusing collection of wine-related gifts.

Some of the gift items

We don’t need a mouse pad, but if we did…

2015 Pinot Gris $21.99

Pinot Gris is the French equivalent of Pinot Grigio, one of my frequent choices when opting for a glass of house white, as it tends to be reliably dry. I would be perfectly happy if I had gotten this as a glass of house wine, as it is dry and mineral-y, with a touch of sweet fruit. It smells a bit like asparagus, we decide, wondering if our current diet of local asparagus has influenced that thought. Lobster bisque, we decide, would be a perfect pairing.

2014 Chardonnay $18.99

This is their steel fermented chard, with an aroma of not-quite-ripe pineapple and some mineral. The taste is again a combination of dry and a touch of sweetness, and fades quickly. Evanescent, we say. As the wine warms a bit in the glass we also taste a hint of pineapple or tropical fruit. We note that people coming to the bar are quite insistent about wanting their wines really cold. We prefer wines not quite as cold, so you can really taste them. I decide that chicken cordon bleu would be a good accompaniment.

The pour is fairly generous.

2013 Chardonnay Estate Reserve $23.99

The tasting notes inform us that this spends 12 months in oak, and we have a discussion with one of our servers about preferences for oaked vs. non-oaked chards. “Which do you like?” she asks, and we realize that it depends. In general, we don’t like the really heavy buttery taste and texture of a heavily oaked chard, but a bit of oakiness is often quite pleasant. As is this wine. If you like Long Island chardonnays you should like this one, with its slightly vanilla smell and touch of citrus and tropical fruit taste. Nice long finish, too.

2014 Gewürztraminer $22.99

It could be an aperitif wine, or a dessert wine, or a wine to have with blue cheese and charcuterie, we decide, but it is a bit too sweet to enjoy just by itself. The tasting notes say to have this with spicy food, a frequent recommendation for sweeter wines, but we feel you’d lose some of the subtlety of this wine if you did. The aroma is complex, as is the taste.

Wind Song Red $17.99

The tasting notes say this is “like a nice Chianti.” I don’t think so! We feel quite misled by the note, which is an issue we take up with Juan, who sheepishly admits they were written for a previous iteration of this blend. They needed an inexpensive red crowd pleaser for the menu, hence this wine, the only one that has us looking around for a dump bucket. A blend of merlot, syrah and a “mystery ingredient,” which, after a guessing game, Juan admits is chardonnay (!), this is quite a sweet red. We compare it to red candy or fruit salad. Fresh glasses with most tastes, by the way.

2012 Pinot Noir Reserve $29.99

We’ve been on a raspberry pie kick at Briermere recently, with raspberry peach last week and raspberry plum this, and the wine smells to us like those pies. With 18 months in oak, this has some tannins at the end, and is a fairly light red. I could see it with veal chops.

2011 Syrah $19.99

My husband refrains from singing “Que sera, sera” when we choose this wine, for which I am grateful. This is our favorite of the day, with delicious aromas of dark fruit and rich tastes of dried plum (a.k.a. prune) and other fruits. It would go well with pastas and meats, and we decide to buy a bottle.

One cabernet

And the other cab

2011 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve $25.99

Our server, having engaged us in various discussions of our choices, asks if we would like to divide our final taste between the steel fermented cab sauv and the oaked one. Sure, we’re always up for that sort of interesting comparison. The steel cab has a funky aroma and is very dry and tannic, really rather austere. The Reserve is interesting and complex, also dry and tannic, with tastes of black raspberry and maybe a few other flavors. We buy a bottle of that, too.

Reasons to visit: an intimate space that also has ample room on the porch and outside for groups; the chance to chat with Juan or the very friendly and knowledgeable servers; the Pinot Gris, the Syrah, and the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve; reasonably priced wines for Long Island. While we were there, the owner of CJ’s American Grill came in and we noted that we like their wine policy, which is to feature local wines at a moderate price. Oh, and yes, the wines are outgoing and friendly and easy to like.

Nice decor

We liked the syrah.

We indeed felt welcome.

Sign of spring!

Diliberto Winery: Sal’s Place April 16, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, Campania, Cantina, chardonnay, Diliberto Winery, Italy, merlot, North Fork, Sal Diliberto, sauvignon blanc, Tre, wine tasting April 18, 2016

http://dilibertowinery.com/

A view to the vines, still pretty bare.

Hang out in Diliberto’s tasting room for more than about ten minutes and you are likely to meet Mr. Salvatore Diliberto himself. He may emerge from the kitchen with a dusting of flour on his shirt from the thin-crust pizza he makes or enter from the cellar, where he has been guiding a barrel tasting. We’ve been there enough times that he recognizes us, so he sat down at our table to chat for a few minutes. He’s a friendly guy, and passionate about his wine-making.

The room feels like a piazza in Tuscany–almost.

He also loves Italy, as you can tell from the moment you enter the cozy tasting room (augmented by a semi-enclosed outdoor patio) with its trompe l’oeil murals of a “Tuscan hill town” and its sound track of Italian pop music or opera. Scenes from an aerial film of Italy are projected on a flat screen TV over the piano which is sometimes used for performances of live opera, on occasion sung by Sal himself. In addition, he guides tours of the Campania region of Italy. We think it might be fun to go on one of his tours, as we have enjoyed several cooking demos he has given in the tasting room.

It's fun to look over at the video and try to identify which town is being shown. Oh look, that's Siena!

It’s fun to look over at the video and try to identify which town is being shown. Oh look, that’s Sienna! A marble quarry? Pisa and its Leaning Tower!

Your wine tasting, which is brought to your table in attractive round-bottomed glasses, is accompanied by a snack of your choice from the menu. We had olives and cheese and crackers. You can choose three wines for $13 or five for $21. There are six wines on the menu, so we opted to share a tasting of five, which today did not include the rosé. We also noted that glasses of wine are $10, so if you wanted to come for a lunch of pizza and a glass of wine you could have lunch for $37—which we saw two twenty-something couples doing (note that the winery is adults-only, no children allowed). Not a bad deal for the North Fork.

Snack!

2014 Sauvignon Blanc $29

We like the pleasantly flowery aroma and dryness of this steel-fermented wine. It is lemony with nice acidity, and tastes better once our snack arrives and we drink it with the provolone and crackers.

The line-up

2014 Chardonnay $30

This oaked chard is described on the menu as “buttery,” and we agree. In general I prefer un-oaked chards, but this one is nice. You can smell the vanilla from the oak casks, and the wine is a bit sweet, so we think lots of people would like it. I would not advise eating olives with it, however, as the two tastes do not enhance each other.

2013 Merlot $29

Soft, is the first word I think of to describe the aroma of this rather typical merlot, and green is what I think of the taste. It’s a bit thin, a bit tannic, and overall just okay. We notice some sediment in the glass, and would like to ask Sal about it, but he has disappeared into the kitchen from which two freshly baked pizzas soon emerge.

2014 Cantina $27

If you think of a casual red and white checked tablecloth Italian restaurant, you will be right on track for the taste of this wine. We like it, and think it would pair beautifully with pizza or pasta. The aroma has a slight note of hay or grass, the taste of this mixture of half merlot, half cabernet franc is more rounded than the merlot by itself. My husband says “balanced,” and I agree, though he disputes my thought of sweet stewed prunes for the taste. It goes great with the cheese. We buy a bottle.

2013 TRE $37

Tre means three, and there are three grapes in this Right Bank Bordeaux-style wine: 65% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon, and 15% cabernet franc. At first we’re not bowled over, but actually as the wine sits we like it better. Perhaps it needs more aging, as the menu suggests. We smell black cherry, but the taste lacks depth. Not bad, but not worth the price.

Array of bottles

Reasons to visit: a calm, pretty room in which to sip wine or enjoy lunch; the sauvignon blanc and the Cantina; the pizza; snacks; you can pretend you’re in Italy; Sal.

View to the patio

The Winemaker Studio: Moment of Fame March 26, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with A Mano, Anomaly, Bordo, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, La Strega, Malbec, Mattituck, merlot, North Fork, pinot noir, Sciardonne, The Winemaker Studio, Tredici, Wine Press, wine tasting March 29, 2016

http://anthonynappawines.com/tws_home.html

“We’re going to Nappa’s tasting room,” I said to our guests, who, having recently returned from a tour of California’s wine country, wondered why we weren’t heading to JFK rather than further east. I clarified, “N-a-p-p-a; it’s his name.” Ah. We further explained that although Anthony Nappa owns and operates The Winemaker Studio, it earns its name as a studio because it is a showcase for a variety of wines produced in small quantities under their own labels or names by winemakers who also work for larger vineyards. Just as an artist may do commercial work but also produce his or her own creations, these winemakers have the artistic freedom to experiment and express their own ideas about wine production. A good example of this is Nappa’s Anomaly, about which more in a moment.

We were particularly interested in visiting this tasting room because we had just read an interesting article about one of their wines in the most recent issue of Wine Press magazine.

The menu varies from time to time, and today’s menu offered a choice between four of Nappa’s wines for $12 or five of Russell Hearn’s wines for $12. We also could have opted for a local beer on tap or coffee, and the Provisions shop connected to the tasting room offers a variety of sandwiches and other edibles. However, having just had a delicious and very satisfying brunch/lunch at A Mano in Mattituck, we were happy just to taste some wines. In order to facilitate our conversations about the wines, we decided that each couple would share one tasting of the Nappa wines, choosing four out of the menu of six varieties. Both couples opted to skip the riesling, made from Upstate grapes, when the server informed us that it was on the somewhat sweet side. Our server, by the way, was very informative and friendly, and we had some nice chats with him about wine.

Our server did a great job.

2014 Anomaly $19

Anomaly is a good illustration of what happens when a winemaker decides to experiment. It is a white-ish wine made from red pinot noir grapes, and each time I’ve had it it has been different. A couple of years ago it was a very light pink and I liked it very much. The last time it was definitely white, though a somewhat darker yellow than many whites, and I didn’t care for it. This year it was almost orange, and we all liked it! The aroma included peach and spice, and we tasted citrus and boysenberry with nice tartness and acidity, with still some fruit on the finish. As we speculated on what it would go with, we decided it would make a nice aperitif. One friend speculated that it would go well with “odds and ends from the refrigerator.” Hers must be well stocked, as she began to muse on eggplant dip and bits of charcuterie. Or with a salade niçoise, she continued, and it would make terrific vinegar. They bought a bottle.

Pretty color

2013 Sciardonné $20

Because it is made from chardonnay grapes, steel fermented but allowed to go through malolactic fermentation, this wine can be drunk on its own, as it is less tartly citrusy than other chards. It would be great, we agree, with lobster, or with mussels cooked with bacon or sausage. We are still full from lunch, but I guess food is on our minds. Before we move on to the reds, we’d like some water, but before our friend can pull a bottle from her bag our observant server offers us all glasses of chilled water. Many H2O jokes ensue. One can drink it chilled or at room temperature; recent vintage; crisp and light; no residual alcohol. I’ll spare you the rest…

The 2016 H2O vintage…

2014 Bordo $20

We were particularly curious to try this wine since it was featured in an article in Wine Press magazine, a very useful free publication you can pick up at many restaurants and wineries on the North Fork. You would think from the name that this is a Bordeaux-style wine, but “bordo” is in fact the Italian name for cabernet franc (which is an ingredient in Bordeaux wines). We sniffed and noted an aroma of cherry, but also something metallic. “Burnished copper,” said my husband; “Like a wet penny,” opined one guest. The taste was somewhat peppery, a touch earthy, with some cherry, and rather light. You could drink it with cheese or pizza, but it is not a wine you would want to sip by itself.

The famous Bordo

2014 La Strega $22

At this point we diverged for our last tastes. We opted for La Strega, partly because I wondered why name a wine “the witch.” “Malbec is not the easiest grape to work with,” chuckled our server. If you are expecting a big bold Argentinian malbec, this is not the wine for you. It is steel fermented, said the server, with a perfume-y smell, with perhaps a whiff of oatmeal, and is much lighter than most malbecs. Rather crisp and delicate, it is not our favorite.

The witch!

2013 Tredici $35

Meanwhile, our friends opted for the Bordeaux blend, of 67% merlot, 18% cabernet sauvignon, and 15% cabernet franc. This is another dry wine, with not a ton of fruit, with tastes of fig and tobacco. It is aged 18 months in oak. We sense something green about it, perhaps a bit of a taste of asparagus. Our friends think it would pair well with paella, with its blend of seafood and sausage and strong flavors.

You can see the next door food shop through this window.

Reasons to visit: The chance to taste some offbeat wines off the beaten track; a cute tasting room with colorful folding chairs; one can buy sandwiches, etc., next door, so they do ask you not to bring your own food; the Anomaly and the Sciardonné. We haven’t tried it, but they do a happy hour from 4-7 on weekends, which might be fun.

Pindar: Sunshine on a Cloudy Day February 20, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with Autumn Gold, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, Cayuga, chardonnay, Croteaux, Feisty Acres, Long Island, merlot, North Fork, Peacock Chardonnay, Pindar, proprietary blends, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Reserve Merlot, Riverhead Farmers Market, sauvignon blanc, seyval, Sunflower Chardonnay, wine tasting, Winter White February 22, 2016

http://www.pindar.net/

It was a cloudy day as we headed to Pindar.

A beautifully deep rich voice singing “sunshine on a cloudy day” greeted us as we entered Pindar’s large tasting room, and that seemed like an appropriate message. It was a cloudy day, and, as the French say, “A day without wine is like a day without sunshine.” Pindar often offers musical entertainment, and is often crowded. Today, however, there were only a few couples at the bar and the tables in a room that, according to their web site, can accommodate 3,000 (!). Because of the crowds, we hadn’t been there in a few years, but this visit reminded us that we like many of their wines, though not all. Their prices also are quite reasonable, which may have something to do with the economies of scale, as they say they are the largest vineyard on Long Island.

We quite enjoyed her singing.

The menu offers 5 tastes for $10, out of 14 choices, including four characterized as “sweeter” and two dessert wines, plus another list of three “limited” wines at $3 per taste, and a sparkling wine. The list is further divided into reds, whites, and “proprietary blends,” so it took us a while and some discussion to decide what to do. We finally decided to share two tastings, first the whites, including two of the proprietary blends (marked with an * in my review), and then five of the reds. We chose to skip the rosés, as we tend to find no one’s measure up to Croteaux’s. Since the pour is rather generous, we were glad we chose to share. They also offer a selection of cheeses and crackers, and do not allow outside foods.

One view of the bar–one of the bars!

2014 Sauvignon Blanc $14.99

In general, we feel Long Island sauvignon blancs tend to go better with food, as they tend to be too lemony to just sip, and that’s true of this one as well. The aroma is of mineral and peach. Very refreshing, I could see having this with lobster, as its tartness would offset the crustacean’s richness. My husband notes that the end is too lemony for too long for his liking, especially sans food.

*Autumn Gold $10.99

This is a blend of Cayuga, Seyval, and chardonnay grapes, our server informs us, as will be our next choice, though in different proportions and different residual sugar amounts. We ask if the Cayuga is from upstate, since it is an upstate grape, and are informed that they grow all their grapes in their own vineyards. We like this better than the first wine. It has a touch of sweetness and a bit of funkiness which are well balanced with green apple and citrus tastes. I also smell some minerality. This is a very buyable wine, and we get a bottle of it to take home.

*Winter White $10.99 for 750 ml., $17.99 for 150 ml.

“Our most popular white,” notes our server as he pours this blend. We smell tropical fruits, and are ready to like this one but find it much too sweet for our tastes. The menu describes it as “semi-dry,” which makes us wonder about the wines they categorize as “sweeter.” You could serve it to someone who actually would prefer soda—or maybe with Thai food. We dump it.

The mysterious peacock, which may be a reference to Hera’s favorite bird.

2013 Peacock Chardonnay $9.99

There’s a pretty peacock on the label, so we ask (as we did two years ago) about the name of the wine. Still no answer! This spends eight months in French oak, and we do smell a bit of that woody smell. We don’t really care for this one, either. The taste reminds me of over-ripe bananas plus a really tart grapefruit—they say “citrus rind”—and then too much sweetness. We don’t dump, but we also are not fans.

2013 Sunflower Chardonnay Special Reserve $18.99

Why sunflower? This time we get an answer—a sunflower appeared spontaneously in the midst of the vineyard. The menu describes this as “100% new barrel” fermented, from a “special 3.9 acre vineyard block.” Sniff—vanilla and grape juice. This has more body than any white so far. I say nice. My tasting buddy says it is “not offensive at the end.” One could sip this, and it would also be good with a seafood diavolo, since it has some sweetness to it, but not too much.

2013 Cabernet Franc $21.99

Now we switch to reds, and get a new glass. Our server tells us this was just released. Hmmm…smells good. Berries, forest floor, maybe wet leaves. Tastes light, more of a roast chicken or game bird red than a steak red. It would have gone well with the quail from Feisty Acres we bought at the Riverhead Farmer’s Market and had for Valentine’s Day dinner. But it is soft, pleasant, and quite drinkable.

2013 Cabernet Sauvignon $18.99

Another pretty label, this one with Pegasus, the flying horse, on it, reminds us that Pindar is named for the Greek poet and owned by the Damianos family, who are Greek. The wine spends two years in American oak barrels, and has just been out for six months. I like the aroma, which has a bit of a black olive smell. This is another fairly light red, dry, with some tannins and tastes of stewed prune and spice, maybe allspice. My husband thinks it could use more time.

Pegasus, the flying horse

2013 Merlot $18.99

Merlot is the most popular red wine grape around here, and this is a fairly typical example of a merlot, though with more of a café au lait aroma than most. My tasting buddy says it reminds him of Hopjes candy. I’m thinking mocha. Again, nice and soft, dry at the end, with some nice fruit flavor, but not particularly interesting.

Another Greek reference--the Argo, Jason's chip.

Another Greek reference–the Argo, Jason’s ship.

2010 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon $34.99

“This,” says our server enthusiastically, “is my favorite!” Yes, I can see why. It is quite good. Oak (two years in French oak), cherry, and tobacco aromas, with lots of berry tastes, this would have gone well with the lamb chops we had last night. Very drinkable.

2010 Reserve Merlot $34.99

The menu informs us that these grapes were hand-picked and the wine spent two years in French oak. We smell black cherry and dark plum and taste lots of dark fruit tastes. Yes, it is better than their other merlot. Then again, everyone says 2010 was a very good year, especially for reds.

Lots of snacks

Reasons to visit: big room that accommodates a crowd (which might also be a reason not to go!); frequent music performances; good prices for Long Island; the Autumn Gold, Sunflower Chardonnay, 2010 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2010 Reserve Merlot; they sell cheese and crackers and other snacks; lots of choices; wines that non-wine drinkers may prefer.

Plenty of room at the bars

Pretty stained glass window

Clearly they’ve won lots of awards.

Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard: It Helps to be First January 30, 2016

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with Angel Chardonnay, Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, Farm house rescue and sanctuary, horse rescue, Long Island, merlot, Mirage, North Fork, Sweet Isis, White Satin, wine tasting February 1, 2016

http://www.baitinghollowfarmvineyard.com/

The first winery you come to on Sound Avenue, traveling west to east as most visitors do, is Baiting Hollow, and I can’t help but wonder if that has contributed to its popularity. To be fair, its tasting room is located in an attractive building that is based on what was originally a farmhouse built around 1861, it has an extensive food menu so you can easily have lunch there, and it has an attractive charity to which it donates the profits of certain wines. It also frequently features musical entertainment, welcomes limos and buses, and its wines are all crowd pleasers.

The band was warming up when we left.

The charity is interesting. They operate a horse rescue sanctuary, where they house horses which were destined for slaughter. If the day had been warmer, we might have gone out back to take a peek at them. We did spot one horse through a window. In the summer, they offer pony rides for children. A number of their wines are marked with a horse’s head on the menu. These wines are named for particular horses, and the profits from their sale are donated to their charity, as are the profits from the pony rides.

Considering their charity, this photo was not surprising. Note the clever use of a wine bottle, too.

The food menu, in addition to the expected snacks and cheese plates, also included today warm soups and chili, and such dishes as “merlot meatball sliders” for $12.99. We saw several family groups eating lunch when we were there, early in the day on Saturday.

We were glad we went early, since most of the time when we go past Baiting Hollow we are scared away by the crowds of cars and limos. Today it was nice and quiet, though a band warming up promised livelier times to come. Instead we had peace in which to savor the wines, and a server who seemed to know all about them.

The tasting menu offers several options for one ounce tastes: one taste for $4, three for $9, four for $11, or six for $16. We opted to share one six-taste flight, chosen from a menu of three whites, two rosés, four reds, and two dessert wines. Our server apologetically gave us tickets for the six, assuring us that he would remember where we were. We opted to sample our choices at a nearby table, returning to the bar for each new one.

One of the bars.

White Satin 2013 $27.99

This is a blend of a couple of different whites with an aroma of chalk or stone and peach pit. Happily, it tastes better than it smells. White Satin is a dry, fairly tart white with tastes of blood orange or tangelo and maybe kumquat, with some interest. My tasting buddy objects to the finish, saying, “I don’t want that taste in my mouth.” It would be better with food, maybe a nice fresh bluefish. I like to bake bluefish fillets on top of potatoes, with a few slices of bacon on top.

Angel Chardonnay 2013 $27.99

One of the horse charity wines, this is typical of those Long Island chardonnays which have spent some time in oak and some in stainless steel. When you smell it you can detect traces of the wood, plus some mineral and lemon aromas, and the taste includes both lots of lemony citrus and a touch of vanilla (from the oak). Nice. It would also go well with local fish, perhaps the blackfish I oven “fried” several times this fall.

2007 Merlot $26.99

We decide to skip the rosés and the riesling, thinking they might be too sweet for our tastes, and move on to the reds. No new glass. Sniff. “Gasoline?” says my husband, perhaps a bit influenced by all the time he spent last week behind our snow blower. I tilt more towards berries, but I get what he means. There is a sweet slightly chemical aroma. The taste is light and pleasant, with a touch of smoke but not enough to be unpleasant. While not for sipping, this would be fine with chicken or game birds.

Mirage $27.99

Another wine named for a horse, with proceeds going to the horse rescue, this is their Bordeaux blend, a mixture of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, and merlot. Again, this is a fairly light red, not complex, dry, with berry tastes, and is pleasant enough. Though it would not stand up to a steak, it would be fine with veal or lamb. The tasting notes say “bold.” I say not so much.

Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 $28.99

You can’t tell a wine by its smell, an adage I just made up, is certainly exemplified by this wine, which smells kind of funky but tastes quite good. It’s my favorite so far, with lots of mouth-watering acidity and fruit. It is easy to drink, either as a sipper or with food, and is just the right amount of dry.

Cabernet Franc 2012 $28.99

Just as my husband wonders whether one can actually tell one North Fork red from another, we try this one. The aroma is quite different from the cab sauv—somewhat reminiscent of Cheracol, that old cough syrup, with no funkiness—and so is the taste. Lots of blackberry, we decide simultaneously, nice and dry, and less fruity than you’d expect from the aroma. If I were having roasted Crescent Farms duck breast I’d pair this wine with them.

The glass of Sweet Isis.

Sweet Isis $32.99 (for 375 ml.)

No, we did not get a free taste! I decided I wanted to taste one of the dessert wines, and my husband accidentally came back to our table with a whole glass of Sweet Isis. A taste would have been $5. The last of the horse rescue wines (thus named for a horse, not a certain group), this is a white wine dessert wine, with lots of fresh pear and apple tastes. I was concerned that a whole glass of it with no food (blue cheese would have been perfect) would cloy, but somehow as we sat and chatted and sipped it all disappeared. It was sweet, but appropriately so, and could also go with charcuterie as well as with a cheese platter. Very likable.

Food was served at this bar.

Gift items

Reasons to visit: it’s the first winery you come to; horses!; lots of food options; music; you don’t mind crowds; lots of gift items; the Angel Chardonnay, the cabernet sauvignon, the cabernet franc, the Sweet Isis.

Their rules

Sherwood House: Cozy by the Fire November 22, 2015

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with Blanc de Blancs, cabernet franc, Cabernet Sauvingnon, chardonnay, merlot, North Fork, Oregon Road Chardonnay, Oregon Road Merlot, Sherwood House, white merlot, wine tasting December 2, 2015

http://www.sherwoodhousevineyards.com/About_Us.htm

A view of the fireplace plus musicians

It feels as though you are walking into someone’s living room, albeit one with a bar along one side and a couple of folk-ish singers in one corner. The fire in the stone fireplace surrounded by comfy couches is what you notice when you first enter in the winter. The welcome from the servers is equally warm, and they do a good job of keeping track of each customer and giving information about the wines.

Sherwood House offers two menus: the Premium Flight of four wines for $12 and the Top Reds Flight of 4 reds for $15. They also offer cheese and/or salumi plates for $15 or $20, prepared by Lombardi’s Market in Mattituck. We decide to share the Premium Flight, thinking we may stop back at some point to try the other one. The pour was generous enough that we decided we had made the right decision.

Array of bottles

White Merlot $19

We compared this to Anthony Nappa’s Anomaly and to various rosés we have tried, and found some similarities and some differences. Like a rosé it has a faint strawberry aroma, though we felt the smell was a bit funkier than most, and like Anomaly it was neither a red nor a white nor a rosé, but its own thing. The color is a very light pink, the taste is lemony and refreshingly dry (1-2% residual sugar, notes our server), and the aroma has a slight mushroomy tinge to it. Good for summertime barbequed chicken!

You can see the pink tinge of the White Merlot.

2013 Oregon Road Chardonnay $19

This is an unoaked chard, a bit on the sweet side for an unoaked chard, with a touch of overripe pineapple plus lemon flavors. “Not much to say,” opines my tasting buddy, as we swirl the wine to open up the flavors.

Generous pour.

2012 Chardonnay $30

“This wine spends 12 months in second year oak barrels,” our server tells us. I now know what this implies! As I’ve learned, the extent to which being aged in oak affects a wine depends on whether the wine was aged in new oak barrels (in which case the oak affects it more heavily) as well as how long it was aged. As expected, we can taste and smell some butterscotch, but not too much, and some toasty, pineappley flavors. My husband claims it reminds him of Reese’s peanut butter cups. It’s not sweet and has some interesting layers of flavor (once we warm up our too-cold taste). It would be great with lobster.

2012 Oregon Road Merlot $19

A combination of 80% merlot and 20% cabernet sauvignon, the wine spends 12 months in oak. Noting our seriousness, our server provides us with a clean glass for the red, something I always appreciate. The aroma reminds me of perfumed soap, but fortunately it doesn’t taste like that! We get blackberry, some cherry, some woody flavors, and no tannins. Soft, we decide, and just okay.

2011 Cabernet Franc $45

Wait, you cry, didn’t she say you get four tastes? Well, yes, but once again the fact that we take notes and discuss each wine seriously gets us an extra taste. And happily, this is the best of the bunch. Our enthusiastic server notes that the reds are “where we shine,” and I would agree as to this one. The aroma includes some scents of forest floor and dried herbs, the taste is very cherry berry, with some tannins and some interest to it. Not sure it is worth the price, but it is a lovely wine.

Reasons to visit: Good place to sit in winter with a glass of wine (I’d choose a red) and listen to music while contemplating a fire in the fireplace; the 2012 chardonnay, the 2011 cabernet franc. They also offer a blanc de blancs.

if you get bored with your tasting you can check out the funky objets at Material Objects next door.

Raphael: Serendipity November 15, 2015

Posted by nofowineaux in Uncategorized and tagged with cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, grappa, merlot, North Fork, Portico, Raphael, sauvignon blanc, wine tasting November 16, 2015

The last few times we drove past Raphael Winery thinking about going in for a tasting, we noted they were “Closed for a Private Event.” It’s no surprise that that happens there fairly frequently, since they have a beautiful facility with plenty of room for large parties. But instead of us going there, Raphael came to us! We walked into our favorite Nassau County wine store to find a manager from Raphael busily setting up a free tasting. The tiny sips and short time were not conducive to an in-depth review, so here are just a few quick notes. At some point this winter we hope to get there when the room is not being used for a wedding or other event to do a more in-depth assessment.

We tried the cabernet franc, the merlot, the sauvignon blanc, and the Portico, an unusual white port. We like all three wines, but we especially enjoyed the 2013 Portico, made from a combination of grappa and sauvignon blanc grapes. It is sweet without being at all cloying, and I could see it as going well with paté or dark chocolate—a little taste of which the manager was able to provide. Mmm…yes, it did go well. We bought a bottle, planning to offer it as an after dinner drink on Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The La Fontana fountain at Raphael the last time we were there.

P.S. The manager also gave us a schedule of their free concert series, scheduled for Sundays through January. Check their website to confirm: www.raphaelwine.com.

NoFo Wineaux

Wine notes from Long Island's North Fork

Tag Archives: merlot