Ornamental cherry trees line the road to the tasting room.
Cherries for the win? Have I been playing slot machines? Nope, just going to a winery during cherry blossom season. As we walked towards the entrance to McCall’s winery with our friends, the winery aficionados, we paused to admire the blooms on some ornamental cherry trees, noting that the Greenport cherry blossom festival was scheduled for Saturday. Then, as a nosh with our tastings, we got the fruit and nut tray, on which the star was definitely the juicy dried cherries. (At $10 I thought it was a bit overpriced.) And, as we were leaving, I commented that those dried cherries were the star of the day. Were the wines bad? No, just underwhelming.
We had already made some inroads in the nut and fruit tray, but it was still a small serving.
We were headed to a tasting for the second time this week to take advantage of Locals Week. About twenty-two wineries were offering two for the price of one tastings, with some also featuring 10-15% off bottles of wine. It seems that no one checks your id, by the way, so even if you are not local you can probably safely enjoy these deals next spring.
Miguel behind the bar, with a photo of Theodore Roosevelt over his shoulder.
McCall has a cool little tasting room that began life as a stable, and still has stalls, repurposed as nooks for tables, with all sorts of farming bric-a-brac decorating the walls. We also noted a display of articles about Theodore Roosevelt, and wondered about the connection. Miguel, the general manager, was manning the bar, and he explained that Russ McCall admired President Roosevelt for his dedication to conservation, a cause Mr. McCall also champions.
This is just a small sample of all the “stuff” on the walls.
The room was also cool in temperature, and we kept our jackets on, even after Miguel turned on a little stove heater next to us.
We ordered two tastings, with each couple sharing one, and Miguel brought us the wine in little carafes, plus glasses. He also brought us a bottle of chilled water and some cups, always a nice touch. We decided to both get the Rouge Flight, of three wines for $25, so we could compare notes as we sipped and chatted.
2016 Estate Pinot Noir $30
“I much prefer pinot noir from Oregon,” our friend, who has been to several wineries in Oregon, noted. This wine has the sweet aroma of Cheracol, a cough medicine much favored by my mother when I was little, but is dry, with slight tannins. It has a bit of a cherry taste, but is not very interesting. “Okay, but not spectacular,” opined my tasting buddy.
This may look like a lot of wine for one tasting. That’s because our server misunderstood when we ordered, and thought we wanted four flights, not two. Very nicely, he only charged us for what we had ordered.
2016 Estate Merlot $24
This was our favorite of the day, a fairly typical North Fork merlot, dry, with some taste of not quite ripe plums. We discussed the prevalence of merlot and chardonnay on the North Fork, figuring they grew well here. Perhaps the pinot noir grapes are not as happy here as in Oregon?
2018 Field Blend $26
I assume “Field Blend” means all the grapes for this blend are grown in the same field. According to their website, this is a blend of 75% merlot, 14% cabernet sauvignon, 6% petit verdot, and 5% cabernet franc. It has lots of red fruit taste and a slightly funky aroma. It’s fine, but, again, not exciting.
One of the cozy nooks created by the old stable configuration.
Reasons to visit: pleasant, quiet tasting room; dogs allowed; burger night, which will recommence on May 16th “and continue every Thursday and Friday 4-8 pm through the summer”; the Estate Merlot. Burger night features delicious burgers made with beef from the Charolais cattle the McCalls raise, and has become quite popular. Make reservations if you want to go! I wrote about it in my blog on August 3, 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.
What a winning combination–prize winning wine and prize-winning jam.
I’ve learned so much over the years of going to wineries, from the differences between steel-fermented chardonnay and barrel-fermented chardonnay to how varied wines made from the same grape on the same terroir can taste. I’ve also learned a lot from my visits to Coffee Pot Cellars—about wine, yes, but also about all sorts of other topics, from bees to butterflies. Why? Because Laura Klahr, who owns Coffee Pot with her husband, Adam Suprenant, is always happy to share her latest enthusiasms with visitors. Her cheery, chatty personality is part of what makes a visit to this tiny winery fun.
Laura and Anna, with half of the monarch image painted on the wall behind them. Visitors are welcome to pose as butterflies.
On this visit, we learned about Sphinx moths, the part moths play in pollination, and about how certain caterpillars fluoresce under black light. This fall, said Laura, I want to put black lights in the broom closet and have a rave with caterpillars. We also admired the “snail art” hanging on the wall, art produced by snails crawling over paper. Though she no longer raises bees and makes honey, she does make jam, which has won prizes, as have the wines. The 2015 merlot won best merlot in New York State. We tried the 2016, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it won awards, too.
The name Coffee Pot comes from the North Fork lighthouse, which is shaped like a coffee pot.
Now that Adam has retired from being the winemaker at Osprey’s Dominion, he has more time to devote to Coffee Pot, and they now have seven wines, all of which one can taste for $21. As we sipped, we also chatted about her new dog, Anna, a black pug who has, not replaced, but fills the role, of Beasley, also a black pug, who gave his name to a red blend. Anna is featured on their Facebook page, in a very cute little video, wearing a tutu.
On a technical note, they source their grapes from Mccullough’s vineyard, and use the facilities at Lenz for fermentation.
2020 Sauvignon Blanc $23.99
Fermented in steel for six months, this is exactly what you want a sauvignon blanc to be—light, lemony, with some nice fruit tastes and a lovely floral aroma.
Chardonnay $17.99
You might notice the lack of a vintage year. That is because this white is a blend of the 2016 barrel-fermented chard and the 2022 steel fermented. I’m not a fan of barrel-fermented chards, especially if they are very oaky and buttery. This is not, though it still has some of that woody taste I don’t care for. However, the wine is quite drinkable, and is a good compromise between the two styles of chard, with some nice lemon and pear notes.
2022 Rosé $17.99
While we were at Coffee Pot, a couple came in and bought two bottles of this rosé, plus several jars of jam. I can see why, as this is a lovely example of rosé, with strawberry and cherry tastes and aromas. It’s made from a combination of merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes. We buy a bottle to take home.
2016 Merlot $17.99
Buy a bottle of merlot, help save a monarch butterfly. How? For every bottle of merlot bought, Blossom Meadow farm plants a milkweed plant, essential nutrition for monarch caterpillars. In addition, this is a very good merlot, with the typical North Fork cherry taste and aroma. It has some tannins, and could probably even age a bit, but we buy two bottles for current consumption.
There’s Beasley, standing on the lighthouse.
2017 Beasley’s Blend $23.99
Gone, but not forgotten, Beasley will continue to give his name to this Bordeaux-style blend, of 52% cabernet franc, 40% merlot, and 8% petit verdot. Anna can’t give her name to a wine yet, Laura explained, because she is not old enough to drink! This iteration is a new release, with enough tannins that I think it could age quite a few years yet. There’s a touch of funky forest floor in the aroma, which also has lots of dark fruit notes. It also has some delicious brambly dark fruit tastes.
2019 Cabernet Franc $29.99
Here’s where I learned something about wine. Adam, says Laura, asserts that every wine tells a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. He felt this cab franc had a rather “flabby” middle, so he added 12% merlot to give it more structure. I’d say he built a fine structure, as this is a red strong enough to stand up to a steak. Yummy tastes of blackberries, and more.
Half of the room, with snail art on the wall. The stools are not very comfortable.
2017 Meritage $28.99
Another delicious red! This one is 70% merlot, 20% petit verdot, and 10% cabernet sauvignon, with a distinct cherry aroma from the merlot, but more complex tastes from the other two grapes. Mouth-watering, my husband and I agree.
Reasons to visit: intimate tasting room where you can talk with Laura and/or Adam (Laura told us that Monday is usually Adam’s day) and meet little Anna; all seven of their wines, but especially the rosé, the merlot, and the cabernet franc; the possibility of learning something new from Laura. One note: the bar stools are still not comfortable, though they do have tables on the front porch and out back with better seating.
One can sit in the yard, but then one wouldn’t get to chat with Laura.
Our flight in progress. Note that every tasting comes with a little bag of oyster crackers, useful for clearing the palate between tastes.
In New Orleans, “lagniappe” refers to a little something extra, which this blog post is. I don’t usually do two blogs in such quick succession, but it was time to pick up our wine club shipment at Pellegrini, and we decided to do a quick tasting. I didn’t even bring my notebook! But as we sipped, I started to take a few sketchy notes, and before I knew it, I had decided to do a short blog post.
On this Tuesday afternoon, we had the tasting room to ourselves. We were greeted cheerily by Ryan, who was delighted to serve us. After acquiring our shipment, we circled on the tasting menu the three wines we were already buying, plus a few others that seemed of interest. When Ryan saw that I had circled the gewürztraminer, he suggested that I add a new wine, the BBQ white, which includes gewürztraminer grapes, thinking that we would like it. He was not wrong.
So here are a few notes on the wines we sampled. If you want to know more about the tasting room, check out my past posts on Pellegrini!
We went home with three boxes like this: our wine club selections, the roses, and North Fork Project merlot (Three bottles for $36).
2021 Rosé $24.99
I wanted a bottle of rosé to bring to a party, so I knew I wanted to try this. Plus, it’s on sale! A blend of 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% Merlot 181 (the number refers to the merlot clone they used), this is a many-faceted rosé, and is quite tasty. We buy some for ourselves and some to give away.
2020 Gewürztraminer $24.99
I wanted to try this because it is also on sale, and we love One Woman’s gewürztraminer. This is nice, but I don’t like it as much as hers, though it is fruity and delicious. It just seems a bit one-note-ish.
2022 East End Select BBQ White $26.99
As much as I like a bargain, I also like to buy what I like, and we both like this one. It is 46% gewürztraminer and 54% stainless steel chardonnay, a winning combination. Ryan’s suggestion that we try this pans out, as we buy a bottle. Yummy, with the sweetness of the gewürztraminer tamed by the citrus of the chardonnay.
Steakhouse Red $21.99
This is their basic table red, and indeed it is a good hamburger/pasta red, light but with nice tannins and a bit of a funky aroma. “It has an edge,” says my tasting pal.
2017 Cabernet Franc $32.99
A blend of 95% cabernet franc plus 5% merlot, aged 18 months in French oak, this is a somewhat light but very pleasant red.
2015 Regalo $49.99
Regalo means gift, and this is a gifted wine, a Bordeaux-style blend of 50% petit verdot, 30% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot, and 5% cabernet franc. So good. Complex, with lots of varied fruit flavors. We put our wine club bottle in the cellar to age.
Reasons to visit: join the wine club! We joined for reds only, and have never regretted it. We liked all the wines we tried, but especially the BBQ White and the Regalo.
The day was gray and chilly, but we had a good time anyway.
Pindar is proud of being one of the early vineyards on the North Fork, with their vines planted over 40 years ago. I came by this bit of knowledge on a free tour and tasting at Pindar, part of an effort by a number of vineyards to attract locals to come and taste their wines. Friends of ours had noted this program and invited us to join them at Pindar, whose perks seemed the best (other places offered such bargains to locals as ten percent off bottles or two for one). Good move! We had a good time, learned a lot, and got to taste some wines we then bought and took home.
Nancy is showing us a gewurztraminer vine, one of the original ones planted at Pindar. The roots can go very deep.
Nancy, our tour guide, started us off by the vines, and then took us through all the steps of making wine, from the crush pad to the stainless steel tanks to the French oak barrels to the warehouse, and then back to the tasting room where we got to try five wines.
“Viticulture is farming for masochists,” she informed us, as she explained the work involved in pruning the vines, which she characterized as “an art and a science,” and the perils faced by grape growers. There are migrating birds who will peck at the grapes, so they look fine but then shrivel into nothing; there are hurricanes on Long Island, whose arrival coincides with harvest season; and there is the lack of crop insurance, because how can you insure for their current value vines that have been growing for over 40 years. In addition, you have to wait four years after you plant those vines before you can expect to harvest the grapes. The issue of birds has been taken care of, through an ingenious system of nets, which you can see in many vineyards, which remain furled up below the vines and are then raised when the grapes ripen. As to the other issues…not much one can do about them!
Despite these problems, Pindar has 325 acres of vines, resulting in 60 to 70,000 cases of wine every year. At first, Dr. Dan Damianos, the visionary who started Pindar (named, like one of his sons, for the classic Greek poet, in homage to their Greek heritage), planted gewürztraminer grapes, judging that the climate and soil would work well for this varietal. Now they grow twenty-four varietals, and they list twenty-nine different wines on their tasting menu, which includes a number of blends.
The bottling machine, which is about to be replaced by an even better one.
They bottle these wines with their own bottling line, which can do 3,000 a day. Not every winery has their own bottling facility, with many using Premium Wine Group for this. Nancy gave a brief lecture on the issue of corks vs. screw caps, with corks reading as “better” wines, and screw caps okay for more casual, cheaper wines. Screw caps work just fine, though corks have the advantage of being biodegradable.
I never knew why the vats have this dimpled jacket.
We then walked into a huge room filled with vast stainless steel vats, where Nancy explained something I’d always wondered about. The vats are partially encases in a dimpled steel jacket. It is a glycol jacket, containing polyglycol, used to help regulate the temperature in the vats, and the dimples keep the polyglycol from settling to the bottom. Too hot or too cold, and the wine is ruined. They use a windmill to provide about 60% of the energy needed in the warehouse and wine “cellar”—not a cellar, because…polyglycol. We also learned about another hazard of viticulture—carbon dioxide. As the juice ferments into wine, carbon dioxide rises to the top of the tanks, where the solid matter must be pushed down into the liquid. Catwalks provide access to the tops of the tanks, and open doors help dissipate the CO2.
Part of the filtration system.
She showed us their filtration system, and we learned, by the way, that Guinness Stout used isinglass, obtained from the bladders of sturgeon, to filter their brew. I like Guinness, but I also like caviar!
She also took us outside to see the crush pad, where a machine crushes the grapes. Because Pindar is so big, a lot of the work is done by machines.
The crush pad.
The huge space where red wine ages in French oak barrels smelled enticingly like a forest or lumberyard. We found out that there are different tastes imparted to wines by French and American oak, with some adding notes of vanilla and others cinnamon, etc. Pindar now uses only French oak, buying 300 barrels a year, and has phased out their American oak barrels, which they sometimes sell to breweries or to people who want to use them in their gardens. We also learn about the “angel’s share,” the wine which evaporates from the barrels, meaning they need to be constantly watched and topped up, so that too much oxygen doesn’t turn the wine into vinegar. The angels must reserve a special place in heaven for wine makers!
Despite the bung stopper, some evaporation is unavoidable.
Finally, our last stop before the tasting room, we saw the warehouse where cases of wine are stacked high. Nancy held up a four-pack of cans of Winter White, and explained that Dr. Dan, noting the American taste for soda and other sweet drinks, decided to make some sweeter wines, like Winter White, which is the most popular white on Long Island. More recently, the decision was made to offer it in cans; again, to attract those who might otherwise opt for soda or beer.
Cans of Winter White, ready to go.
Now it was time to taste the fruits of their labor! The group of about thirty locals lined up around the bar, where glasses stood ready. Here are my tasting notes:
Nice sized pour.
2020 Dr. Dan’s Selection White Blend $24.99
Our first taste is a blend of, this vintage, of 53% viognier, plus pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, and riesling. The percentages may vary year to year. This is a very drinkable white, with aromas of pineapple and citrus, and tropical fruit flavors like guava and pineapple.
2021 Dr. Dan’s Selection Gewürztraminer $24.99
We are quite interested to taste this, after learning the history of the vines, and we quite like it. In fact, we and our friends each buy a bottle to take home. It is not too sweet, which can happen with gewürztraminers, with an aroma of peaches and tastes that include tangerine and apricot. “Yummy,” we and our friends agree.
At the tasting, I turned over my menu to see the events list.
2019 Mythology $42.99
A Bordeaux blend called Meritage, this includes malbec, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot, and cabernet franc. Delicious. Lots of dark fruit taste and enough tannins that one could probably age it.
2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve $34.99
Nancy, who is still informing us about the wines, explains that cabernet sauvignon used to be harder to grow on Long Island, since it needs a longer growing season to mature. However, with climate change, the growing season on Long Island has gotten longer. I guess that’s an upside to global warming! This is another very good red, with tastes of blackberry and other fruits, and an aroma of cedar and tobacco.
Pindar Damianos chatting with a guest.
2015 Cabernet Port $28.99 for 750 ml, $16.99 for 375 ml
I’m not sure if this was in the original tasting or if it was included after our friend shared his enthusiasm for the port with Nancy and with Pindar Damianos, who was hanging around and talking to the guests. He discovered that Pindar makes award-winning port in an old issue of a wine magazine shortly after moving to the North Fork, and was happily buying and drinking it. I can see why. This is a dessert wine—in English novels, they are always sipping it after dinner while they crack walnuts and chat—but it is not too sweet, with an appealing depth of flavor. It is made 100% from cabernet franc. We each buy a bottle to take home.
Cases filled with awards Pindar wines have won.
Reasons to visit: roomy tasting room with two outside areas; a wide variety of wines for every taste, from sweet to dry, and price, from $14.99 (Winter White and others) to $42.99; all the wines we tasted—White Blend, Gewürztraminer, Mythology, and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve—plus the port; our friends had also tasted the Gamay Noir before we went on the tour, and bought a bottle of that light red to take home; they have a refrigerated case full of cheeses, etc., to consume there; they have a variety of special events.
The day was gray and chilly, but we had a good time anyway.
Pindar is proud of being one of the early vineyards on the North Fork, with their vines planted over 40 years ago. I came by this bit of knowledge on a free tour and tasting at Pindar, part of an effort by a number of vineyards to attract locals to come and taste their wines. Friends of ours had noted this program and invited us to join them at Pindar, whose perks seemed the best (other places offered such bargains to locals as ten percent off bottles or two for one). Good move! We had a good time, learned a lot, and got to taste some wines we then bought and took home.
Nancy is showing us a gewurztraminer vine, one of the original ones planted at Pindar. The roots can go very deep.
Nancy, our tour guide, started us off by the vines, and then took us through all the steps of making wine, from the crush pad to the stainless steel tanks to the French oak barrels to the warehouse, and then back to the tasting room where we got to try five wines.
“Viticulture is farming for masochists,” she informed us, as she explained the work involved in pruning the vines, which she characterized as “an art and a science,” and the perils faced by grape growers. There are migrating birds who will peck at the grapes, so they look fine but then shrivel into nothing; there are hurricanes on Long Island, whose arrival coincides with harvest season; and there is the lack of crop insurance, because how can you insure for their current value vines that have been growing for over 40 years. In addition, you have to wait four years after you plant those vines before you can expect to harvest the grapes. The issue of birds has been taken care of, through an ingenious system of nets, which you can see in many vineyards, which remain furled up below the vines and are then raised when the grapes ripen. As to the other issues…not much one can do about them!
Despite these problems, Pindar has 325 acres of vines, resulting in 60 to 70,000 cases of wine every year. At first, Dr. Dan Damianos, the visionary who started Pindar (named, like one of his sons, for the classic Greek poet, in homage to their Greek heritage), planted gewürztraminer grapes, judging that the climate and soil would work well for this varietal. Now they grow twenty-four varietals, and they list twenty-nine different wines on their tasting menu, which includes a number of blends.
The bottling machine, which is about to be replaced by an even better one.
They bottle these wines with their own bottling line, which can do 3,000 a day. Not every winery has their own bottling facility, with many using Premium Wine Group for this. Nancy gave a brief lecture on the issue of corks vs. screw caps, with corks reading as “better” wines, and screw caps okay for more casual, cheaper wines. Screw caps work just fine, though corks have the advantage of being biodegradable.
I never knew why the vats have this dimpled jacket.
We then walked into a huge room filled with vast stainless steel vats, where Nancy explained something I’d always wondered about. The vats are partially encases in a dimpled steel jacket. It is a glycol jacket, containing polyglycol, used to help regulate the temperature in the vats, and the dimples keep the polyglycol from settling to the bottom. Too hot or too cold, and the wine is ruined. They use a windmill to provide about 60% of the energy needed in the warehouse and wine “cellar”—not a cellar, because…polyglycol. We also learned about another hazard of viticulture—carbon dioxide. As the juice ferments into wine, carbon dioxide rises to the top of the tanks, where the solid matter must be pushed down into the liquid. Catwalks provide access to the tops of the tanks, and open doors help dissipate the CO2.
Part of the filtration system.
She showed us their filtration system, and we learned, by the way, that Guinness Stout used isinglass, obtained from the bladders of sturgeon, to filter their brew. I like Guinness, but I also like caviar!
She also took us outside to see the crush pad, where a machine crushes the grapes. Because Pindar is so big, a lot of the work is done by machines.
The crush pad.
The huge space where red wine ages in French oak barrels smelled enticingly like a forest or lumberyard. We found out that there are different tastes imparted to wines by French and American oak, with some adding notes of vanilla and others cinnamon, etc. Pindar now uses only French oak, buying 300 barrels a year, and has phased out their American oak barrels, which they sometimes sell to breweries or to people who want to use them in their gardens. We also learn about the “angel’s share,” the wine which evaporates from the barrels, meaning they need to be constantly watched and topped up, so that too much oxygen doesn’t turn the wine into vinegar. The angels must reserve a special place in heaven for wine makers!
Despite the bung stopper, some evaporation is unavoidable.
Finally, our last stop before the tasting room, we saw the warehouse where cases of wine are stacked high. Nancy held up a four-pack of cans of Winter White, and explained that Dr. Dan, noting the American taste for soda and other sweet drinks, decided to make some sweeter wines, like Winter White, which is the most popular white on Long Island. More recently, the decision was made to offer it in cans; again, to attract those who might otherwise opt for soda or beer.
Cans of Winter White, ready to go.
Now it was time to taste the fruits of their labor! The group of about thirty locals lined up around the bar, where glasses stood ready. Here are my tasting notes:
Nice sized pour.
2020 Dr. Dan’s Selection White Blend $24.99
Our first taste is a blend of, this vintage, of 53% viognier, plus pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc, and riesling. The percentages may vary year to year. This is a very drinkable white, with aromas of pineapple and citrus, and tropical fruit flavors like guava and pineapple.
2021 Dr. Dan’s Selection Gewürztraminer $24.99
We are quite interested to taste this, after learning the history of the vines, and we quite like it. In fact, we and our friends each buy a bottle to take home. It is not too sweet, which can happen with gewürztraminers, with an aroma of peaches and tastes that include tangerine and apricot. “Yummy,” we and our friends agree.
At the tasting, I turned over my menu to see the events list.
2019 Mythology $42.99
A Bordeaux blend called Meritage, this includes malbec, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot, and cabernet franc. Delicious. Lots of dark fruit taste and enough tannins that one could probably age it.
2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve $34.99
Nancy, who is still informing us about the wines, explains that cabernet sauvignon used to be harder to grow on Long Island, since it needs a longer growing season to mature. However, with climate change, the growing season on Long Island has gotten longer. I guess that’s an upside to global warming! This is another very good red, with tastes of blackberry and other fruits, and an aroma of cedar and tobacco.
Pindar Damianos chatting with a guest.
2015 Cabernet Port $28.99 for 750 ml, $16.99 for 375 ml
I’m not sure if this was in the original tasting or if it was included after our friend shared his enthusiasm for the port with Nancy and with Pindar Damianos, who was hanging around and talking to the guests. He discovered that Pindar makes award-winning port in an old issue of a wine magazine shortly after moving to the North Fork, and was happily buying and drinking it. I can see why. This is a dessert wine—in English novels, they are always sipping it after dinner while they crack walnuts and chat—but it is not too sweet, with an appealing depth of flavor. It is made 100% from cabernet franc. We each buy a bottle to take home.
Cases filled with awards Pindar wines have won.
Reasons to visit: roomy tasting room with two outside areas; a wide variety of wines for every taste, from sweet to dry, and price, from $14.99 (Winter White and others) to $42.99; all the wines we tasted—White Blend, Gewürztraminer, Mythology, and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve—plus the port; our friends had also tasted the Gamay Noir before we went on the tour, and bought a bottle of that light red to take home; they have a refrigerated case full of cheeses, etc., to consume there; they have a variety of special events.
Perhaps because everyone else was elsewhere drinking green beer, we had the tasting room to ourselves.
No St. Patrick Day parades for us and our friends; instead, we were off to do a wine tasting at Pellegrini, where we are members of the wine club. Many wineries offer clubs, with varying perks and policies. We have only opted for two: Pellegrini and Channing Daughters. Both of them offer special prices for their wines, quarterly releases of wines for club members, special events, and free tastings. Our friends are members of some wine clubs, but not Pellegrini, so they were curious about what would be on offer.
Unlike more and more local wineries, Pellegrini does not offer much in the way of snacks (You can buy NOFO potato chips.), though a little bag of oyster crackers comes with each tasting. However, the advantage is you can bring your own snacks, and I offered to supply some. Well, I got a bit carried away, but we all enjoyed the cheese, crackers, prosciutto, and Marcona almonds from Village Cheese Shop and the charcuterie from 8 Hands Farm. Since I brought a nice slab of 8 Hands pâté, I felt obliged to also pack Dijon mustard and cornichons. To continue the theme of local goodies, I also opened a bag of North Fork potato chips. Lunch accomplished!
Most of the goodies I brought, including a little jar of truffled honey. The cheeses are an aged gouda, Village Cheese Shop’s homemade truffled brie (So good!), and Humboldt Fog.
We had so much fun eating and talking that my wine notes are a bit sketchy, but I will say we all liked every taste, though to different degrees. We got four tastings, of four wines each, with some overlap. The tasting room felt like our own private space, since the only party that entered quickly decided to sit up in the little balcony. I also recommended that our friends try the North Fork Project Merlot, a bargain at three one liter bottles for $30, which we both bought before we left, sated and happy.
In no particular order (though our lovely server Kasey carefully informed us of the recommended order of tastes for each flight), here are the wines I took at least a note or two on, some based on the flights my husband and I got, and others on the flights our friends chose.
This flight includes the ice wine, the almost orange wine on the right.
2020 Stainless Steel Chardonnay $22.99
This was my first taste, and I quite enjoyed it. In the car on the way to the winery we had discussed the merits of steel vs. oaked chardonnays, with one friend very much preferring oaked, and me…not. As they say, in wine there are no wrong answers. This is a light, fruity, minerally wine, with tastes of pear and apple.
2019 Vintner’s Pride Chardonnay $34.99
Our friend ordered this, and characterized it as smooth and buttery, but not overly oaky—the latter a term he actually refuses to use, since he denies tasting oak in any oaked chard. This one is aged 100% in French oak puncheons for 18 months, and for contrast his wife ordered the next chard on this list.
2019 Pellegrini Vineyards Chardonnay $24.99
Not that different from the VP chard, opined our friend, though this one is aged 90% in oak barrels and 10% in stainless steel, 9 months in French oak puncheons. Is stainless steel chardonnay a plot by wine makers to make less expensive wine they can sell for a higher price, or is it a way to accommodate differing tastes? The world may never know…
2021 Pellegrini Vineyards Rosé $24.99
If you like a very light, almost tasteless rosé, this is the rosé for you. I continue to prefer Croteaux rosés.
2017 PV Cabernet Franc $32.99
Although this is simply called cab franc, it is actually a blend: 85% cab franc, 4% cab sauvignon, 8% merlot, and 2% petit verdot. In any event, it is a rather light red—Kasey had recommended we drink this before the other reds—with some cherry and spice flavors. Our friend thinks one might even serve this lightly chilled, like in the summer. It goes well with the charcuterie.
PV Steakhouse Red $21.99
One feature of Pellegrini we like is that they have some reds that are not too pricy yet drink very well, and this is one of them. A blend of 72% cabernet sauvignon and 28% merlot, this has a nice minerality with soft tannins and some dark fruit tastes, and would, indeed, go well with a steak.
2017 Merlot $32.99
Another blend, this is 85% merlot, plus 10% cabernet sauvignon and 5% petit verdot, though it basically tastes like a merlot. It’s fine, but I actually prefer the—much cheaper—North Fork Project Merlot. This, however, could be characterized as more sophisticated.
2020 PV Gewürztraminer $24.99
My recollection from past tastings is that the gewürztraminer is not overly sweet, and our amiga confirms that this is so. Easy to drink.
2018 Cabernet Sauvignon $24.99
Our friend likes this blend of 94% cabernet sauvignon, 4% merlot, and 2% cabernet franc better than the merlot.
2015 Regalo $49.99
Pricey, but really good, is my verdict on this wine, which is the last in my tasting. Regalo means gift, and this is a gift reserved for wine club members. A blend of 50% petit verdot, 30% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot, and 5% cabernet franc, this is a complex, delicious wine, with lots of blackberry, plum, and other dark fruit flavors and aromas.
2021 East End Select BBQ Red $26.99
Although this doesn’t have a varietal designation, this iteration of their steel-fermented red is 100% petit verdot. I have a sip, as it is in my husband’s tasting, and note that it has more sweetness than, say, the Steakhouse Red. I guess it would go well with ribs or pulled pork, though my wine of choice with barbeque (like from Meats Meat) is beer.
Finale Ice Wine $39.99 (375 ml)
Time for dessert! A blend of gewürztraminer and sauvignon blanc, ice wine is made by freezing and then pressing the grapes, resulting in a sweet taste. The vineyard web site notes it pairs well with nuts, so I am glad I provided Marcona almonds for our friend. She likes it, and compares it to savoring one’s platonic ideal of a fruity sucking candy, with some notes of honey.
I love the comfy chairs!
Reasons to visit: pleasant tasting room where buses and limos are verboten; you can bring your own snacks; dogs are allowed; the comfy chairs are conducive to lingering; with fourteen wines to choose from (twelve of which I’ve mentioned), there are wines for every taste; my favorites are the steel chardonnay, the Steakhouse Red, and Regalo; one friend likes the gewürztraminer and the ice wine, the other the VP chardonnay and the cabernet sauvignon, plus the North Fork Project Merlot.
The last time we were at Chronicle Wines—back in 2019, when it was still called Peconic Cellar Door—the five-year-old daughter of one of the owners put in an appearance with her nanny, so it seemed like a good place to visit with a couple of granddaughters in tow. And indeed it was.
The bar is a holdover from the Winemaker’s Studio.
Since our pre-Covid visit, Chronicle, helmed by Robin Epperson-McCarthy and Alie Shaper (both of whom were in the tasting room when we arrived, and gave us a warm welcome), has expanded into the next-door shop-front space previously occupied by Anthony Nappa’s Winemaker’s Studio. Alie assured us that Anthony, who is the winemaker for Raphael, is still very much in the winemaking business, and continues to runs his wine club for the wines he makes separate from Raphael. This new room is outfitted more like a lounge, with cushioned seats and small tables, plus the bar, while their original space has bigger tables. Since there were six in our party (counting the two youngsters) we opted for the big table, promising Robin that we would ignore the stacked boxes of a recent delivery—which they soon began putting away.
The lounge area.
The tasting menu offers two options, a white and orange flight of five wines for $25, or a red and rosé flight of five tastes, also $25. Since we wanted to try the full panoply of their wines, we decided to share one of each flight amongst the four of us, which turned out to work beautifully. Alie brought to our table a chilled bottle of water plus a tray of empty glasses so we could share the wines without sharing a glass. We also ordered a few snacks for the girls and ourselves—a box of cranberry almond crisps, a bag of North Fork potato chips, and a jar of olives—plus lemonades for the girls, and settled in.
Snacks!
While we waited for our flights to arrive, we examined the art on the walls, as Alie and Robin make a point of featuring local artists. Today’s paintings are by Cherryl K. Bradley. The granddaughters were quick to observe that “Queen of the Scrambled Brain” contained both a crown and some hearts, and wondered whether it showed the state of mind of someone who had difficulty with love.
The Queen of the Scrambled BrainFollow the Sun
Both Robin and Alie stopped by our table from time to time to see if we had any questions and make sure we had everything we needed. Although they work together, they each have their own brands of wines: As If, Brooklyn Oenology (BOE), Chronicle, Haywater Cove, and Saltbird Cellars. The tasting included some from each brand.
2024 Chronicle Chardonnay Pét-Nat $30
Sparkling wines are always a nice way to start a tasting, as they get one in a celebratory mood. This one was no exception, having a pleasantly yeasty aroma, nice carbonation, and a taste we discussed as either lemon verbena or lemon pie. One of our guests pronounced it “lively.”
2018 BOE Pinot Gris $15 (on sale)
Even though this one is on sale, we opted not to buy any, since we found it both thin and earthy, if that makes sense. I sensed a bit of a metallic taste, or maybe minerality would be a better term.
2019 Saltbird Cellar Sauvignon Blanc $25
We sensed an aroma of lemon and green apple, and one guest opined that “it has some sort of fruit taste, but not sure which.” We laughed over our shared tendency to guess gooseberry, though none of us is quite sure what a gooseberry tastes like. This might go nicely with some gravlax.
2014 As If Serendipity White Blend $15
Our favorite of the whites, this is a blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and viognier, lightly oaked. It has more body than the others, with a “nice roundness,” according to one guest, and a thyme honey taste, while still being tart. We each buy a bottle.
2020 BOE “Broken Land” orange wine $30
You may be wondering about how the granddaughters—ages eleven and eight—are occupying themselves as we sit and sip. They have their Kindles to read and snacks to munch, but they are also taking an interest in our discussions. They sniff the wines appreciatively, and agree or disagree with our descriptions of the aromas. Dad asks the eight-year-old, who, with her sister, has been helping him with some amateur basement winemaking, if she knows what an orange wine is. She confidently and immediately replies, “It’s a wine made with white wine grapes, fermented on the skins.” Overhearing this, Alie notes that if she were eighteen she’d hire her on the spot. Meanwhile, we sip this blend of gewürztraminer, sauvignon blanc, and pinot gris, and decide we like its aroma of orange blossoms or honeysuckle better than its flavor, which is a bit thin for us.
NV Haywater Cove Rosé $15
Rosé makes a nice transition from whites to reds, since it is made from red wine grapes, but fermented with minimal skin contact. This one is a blend of merlot and cabernet franc, and is very much in the Provençal tradition of light, dry rosés. We note that it is a good wine for hot weather, and could see drinking a nice chilled glass of this on the porch. My tasting buddy likes its strawberry aroma and flavor.
2019 Saltbird Cellars “Red Skies” $30
Though we find this blend of syrah and cabernet sauvignon pleasant, we don’t feel it is a $30 bottle. The aroma is earthy, and the wine is light, with tastes of raisins and grapefruit peel.
2020 Saltbird Cellars Merlot $27
The aroma has a slight whiff of basement, and the wine is very dry and light, with a touch of cherry flavor. One of us suggests it would go well with roast chicken, to which I reply, “What doesn’t?” We have some difference of opinion over this one, which one guest pronounces sophisticated, but which I find unimpressive.
2017 Saltbird Cellars “Harbinger” $36
When a wine has a non-varietal name, that often means it is a blend, which this is: merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and petit verdot. The night before, we bought steaks at Center Cuts and cooked them on the barbeque, so we were wondering whether any of the reds we tasted today would stand up to such steaks. This one would not. It has some cherry and dark fruit taste, but is again rather light, though one guest notes it has “chewy tannins.”
2013 Chronicle Wines Red Blend, limited edition $40 (? Not sure)
Yummy aroma of dried fruits, delicious taste. And yes, this wine could stand up to a big steak. It has lots of dark fruit flavor, is dry, with a nice mouth feel. This is a Bordeaux blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, syrah, and petit verdot. We both buy a bottle.
Reasons to visit: Alie and Robin are eager to please, and will tell you all about their wines; pleasant small tasting room; the Pét-Nat, the As If Serendipity white blend, the Haywater Cove Rosé, and the Chronicle Red Blend; if you are interested in such things, they also sell canned wines and spritzers; dogs allowed outside.
If you check out the McCall wines web site and scroll down to the bottom of the shop page, you’ll see something unusual: ground beef, $15. Huh? Yes, the McCalls raise Charolais cattle and sell the grass-fed beef, some of which can be found in the winery shop. You might also spot the white cows in one of their fields as you drive along the Main Road. As I was paying our bill after our tasting, Mrs. McCall urged us to come back on a Thursday or Friday, from 4-8, when they serve burgers made from their beef. If I do, I’ll post about it! And I already know which wine I’ll get a glass of to go with that burger: Ben’s Blend.
The outdoor setting is quite pleasant.
The turn-off to the McCall winery is rather subtle, and easy to miss, but it is basically across the street from Pellegrini. You drive around back to a grassy parking area, where you see a lawn dotted with picnic tables and a rustic barn. Inside, there’s a new bar, which wasn’t there the last time we came in 2018, and a couple of stalls with cozy seating areas. Since it was a beautiful day, we opted to sit outside, and Mrs. McCall supplied us with menus. In a few minutes, a server came by with glasses and a bottle of water, a nice touch.
They have a fairly typical small menu of snacks, but we’d just had lunch, so we didn’t get anything. The rest of the menu listed four different flights, of three or four wines each, so we decided to share two flights, so we could try a range of their wines. Then we realized that there was some overlap, in that if we got the pinot flight ($23) and the reserve flight ($30), both included the “Hillside” pinot noir. Could we sub in the estate merlot instead? Sure. And the reserve flight includes a chardonnay aged in oak. Hmmm. A discussion ensued, in which we were assured that the chardonnay is “lightly oaked.” I really do not like those buttery, California-style oaked chards, so we shall see.
We enjoyed the dappled shade of the trees, but that might make this a bit hard to read!
Service is friendly and informative, and we chatted with one server about how they fared during the pandemic, since we had not been there since before it. “We were busier than ever,” she informed us. People just were grateful to have someplace to go, and were very respectful, masking if they got up from their tables, for example. She noted that the outside tables are well-spaced. The view is bucolic, as you look out onto the grape vines—though the sense of country peace was temporarily marred as a trimming machine was going up and down the rows. Fortunately, it finished well before we did.
The noisy machine…well. it is a working farm.
Overall, my husband commented, the place got plus marks for setting, but he was not overly impressed with the wines, which we found drinkable but not special. We did like the way the wines were served, especially since we were sharing the flights. We each got a wine glass, and then the tastes were brought to the table in little carafes, set down in the order in which they should be tasted.
Pinot Flight:
Our first flight.
2021 Whole Cluster Rosé $24
“Better than average,” opined my tasting buddy, as we sipped. This has lots of strawberry aroma, though the taste is more lemony and tart than some rosés. It definitely has some character. I said it was mouth-watering. Made from pinot noir grapes.
The warm day made our carafe of water quite welcome. We also used it to rinse our glasses between tastes.
2015 Pinot Noir Estate $30
This one had almost no aroma, and the taste was also somewhat thin. Very dry. I got some blackberry or sour cherry flavor. My husband said it was “simple, not sophisticated.” I think it would be fine with food, but it’s not a sipper.
2014 Pinot Noir “Hillside” $59
“Hillside” refers to the fact that this pinot is from a different area of the vineyard, with somewhat different terroir. We like it better than the previous one, as there is more body to it. The menu says “hibiscus,” but since I don’t know what that smells or tastes like, I can’t say if that’s accurate. I do get some berry taste, and it is very dry.
Reserve Flight:
Our second flight, after we had poured the chardonnay back into the carafe and poured the merlot.
2018 Chardonnay Reserve $39
As I feared, we do not care for this. It smells and tastes very strongly of pineapple, and is too sweet for us. It does have a pretty golden color. We pour our tastes back into the carafe.
2015 Merlot Estate $24
This is our replacement for the Hillside pinot, and we like it better. It’s a fairly typical North Fork merlot, with cherry aroma and taste, dry, with some tannins.
This is about half of what was in the carafe.
2014 Merlot Reserve $30
I always find it instructional to taste various iterations of the same grape, especially from the same winery. This merlot is “more interesting,” according to my tasting pal, with aromas of cherry, leather, and tobacco. It has lots of tannins, and we discuss that it is the opposite of “fruit forward.” Fruit backward?
2014 Ben’s Blend $58
Named for their original winemaker, who sadly died too young, this is their Bordeaux blend, a mix of 30% each cabernet franc, pinot noir, and merlot, plus 10% petit verdot. We like it the best of the day, appreciating its aromas of berries, leather, and tobacco, plus some nice blackberry fruit tastes. It definitely needs food, however.
Our “extra” taste of the chardonnay, thoughtfully served with clean glasses.
Extra! Mrs. McCall stops by our table and sees the almost full carafe of chardonnay. You haven’t tried the chardonnay yet? She asks. No, we tell her, we tried it and didn’t care for it. “Would you like to try our unoaked chardonnay?” she asks. Sure! So she brings over a carafe of it. We like it much better. It is crisp and refreshing, with tastes of citrus and green apple, and we buy two bottles, at $20 each.
Reasons to visit: pleasant outdoor setting with a backdrop of the vines; cozy interior; they allow dogs, but call first to be sure there aren’t any other canine visitors; the Whole Cluster Rosé, the Unoaked Chardonnay, Ben’s Blend; no outside food Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so I assume it’s okay during the week; lovely service; Thursday and Friday burger nights, and you can buy the beef.
The trailer from which they serve burgers on Thursdays and Fridays.
You can enter through this archway or, if you’re feeling claustrophobic, go around it.
After days of rain, the sun came out and we decided to do our walk in Greenport, strolling up and down Front and Main Streets. As we did, we noted the crop of newer restaurants we had not yet tried, and vowed to return if the pandemic allows. On the way home, we stopped in to Lenz to do a tasting, and were glad we did. Founded in 1978, Lenz is the second oldest winery on the North Fork, and both the tasting room and the wines are classic.
The room has the barn-like country vibe of many North Fork tasting rooms, with several tables, plus a bunch of picnic tables in the outside courtyard. Though it felt too chilly to us to sit outside, there was one couple out there, sharing a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers. Inside, two groups talked quietly as they sipped their wines. The wines are, for the most part, good representatives of the local terroir. We liked several of them in particular.
Tastings used to be primarily stand-up, at the bar, but now they show you to a table. Lenz used to allow outside food, but now they have a menu of real foods, in addition to cheese and charcuterie items. We were not hungry, but some of the sandwiches sounded good. I almost went with the tasting menu of chocolates paired with wines…maybe next time.
The tasting menu offers four options: the Library Flight, of their most expensive wines, one taste for $20; the Spring Flight, of a variety of wines, five tastes for $25; the Grand Flight, of some of their higher end wines, five tastes for $30; and the aforementioned Chocolate Pairing, of five wines paired with five chocolates, for $35. We decided to share the Spring Flight, as it seemed to promise the most variety and wines we might buy. Our flight arrived on a well-labeled tray, and our server gave us her well-practiced spiel about the wines.
2016 Estate Selection Gewürztraminer $20
Right from the first sniff, I loved the delicate floral aroma of this wine—orange flowers? The taste is also delicious, not at all sweet but full of fruit flavor. A few weeks ago, I had a guava, a flavor I found here, as well as perhaps a touch of nutmeg. We liked it so much, we bought a bottle.
2020 Firefly Rosé $20
A blend of cabernet sauvignon and malbec, this is a really luscious rosé, with ripe melon and citrus flavors, dry. The aroma is so faint, I likened it to driving past a strawberry field with the windows open.
Another area of the tasting room.
2016 Estate Select Chardonnay $22
Our server went into some detail in her introduction to this wine, telling us how it is made from grapes half fermented in steel and half in medium French oak, and asserting it is her favorite white. I disagree. It has some pineapple taste, which is fine, but also something else I find unpleasant, sort of a chemical or metallic note. I also don’t like the smell, which reminds me of plastics. My tasting buddy thinks it is fine. Chacun à son goût…
2017 Cabernet Sauvignon $25
Well, this is pleasanter. I smell red lollipop, though my husband says, not that sweet. Our server noted that this is her go-to red to bring to parties, and I can see why. It is a soft, very unchallenging red, with fruity flavors of red plum and berries. It would be fine to sip on its own, but would not stand up to steak. A crowd pleaser.
There’s a small selection of gift items, primarily t-shirts.
2015 Estate Selection Select Merlot $35
Although this is called a merlot, it is blended with some cabernet franc and petit verdot, which gives it more depth and complexity than a simple merlot. It has some tannins, and I can taste the oak and some fruit. Nice.
The courtyard will be a good place for tasting when the weather gets warmer.
Reasons to visit: a classic old-school vineyard, with solid wines and no glitz; the gewürztraminer, the rosé, and the merlot; the cabernet sauvignon if you like soft, simple reds; reasonable prices but also some VERY high-end wines (as in $130 per bottle); nice menu of cheeses and also sandwiches. Note: my husband says the restroom is very small.
I appreciate it when bars have these hooks for one’s belongings.The vines are still bare–no bud break yet!
NoFo Wineaux 