Kontokosta: For the Sophisticated

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with Field Blend, Kontokosta, menu of snacks available, merlot, no dogs, no outside snacks, North Fork, Orient Chardonnay, rose, viognier, white merlot, wine tasting April 23, 2022

April 20, 2022

This time, our guests were a pair of sophisticated Manhattanites, who spend weeks at a time in Italy, where they often visit wineries, so we knew we needed to find a winery that was equally sophisticated. We also needed a place where we could offer them lunch with their tasting, plus they had almost never been to the North Fork, and we wanted to give them a bit of a tour. After some cogitation, we decided Kontokosta, just a little bit past Greenport’s Main Street, fit the bill in all particulars.

*You can see the Long Island Sound in the distance.*

They arrived before noon, giving us plenty of time before our reservation—which is required, and is held with a fee of $5 per person—to have a leisurely drive east. (Reservations are via Tock, which seems to work about the same as Open Table, etc.) As I drove, I pointed out the various wineries and other sites along Sound Avenue, giving a bit of information about each, feeling very much like a tour guide. Our guests noted how rural it is out here, and admired the beginnings of spring blooms.

*The inside is quite modern and sophisticated.*

One aspect of Kontokosta I appreciate is their eco-consciousness. They use a windmill to generate electricity, and serve their wines in those corn-based “non-plastic plastic” cups, also used by Old Field. Snacks are served on bamboo plates, with bamboo utensils (though the bamboo knife did not do a great job of slicing the cheese). They say they farm “sustainably,” whatever that means.

The outside of the tasting room is deceptively rural, looking like an old barn, while the inside is sleek and modern, in stark black and white. We were greeted at the door, where our reservation was confirmed, and we were each given a wine glass to keep. So I guess each glass cost $5! We were directed to the bar, at the far end of the room, where a friendly server guided us to a snack menu and a tasting menu. We ordered two cheeses, some crackers, and a plate of sliced salami while we perused the wines.

A tasting consists of three wines for $18, but on this day they added either of the rosés for free, since they are having a special sale on the rosés. It was hard to choose from the menu of thirteen wines, but my husband and I and our guests decided each couple would share one tasting, and mostly got the same wines so we could discuss. I may go back some time to try more of their wines. Our tastings were delivered to our table in small cups, in a wooden holder, with each cup labeled as to the wine in it. The taste is rather small.

We spent a pleasant afternoon sipping and tasting, and the snacks proved more than adequate for lunch. Afterwards, we took our guests for a brief stroll around Greenport, and then drove home via Main Road, so they could see the towns of Southold and Cutchogue and Mattituck.

2020 Orient Chardonnay $22

We all liked this interesting chard, with its lovely flowery aroma and tastes of peach and citrus. I mentioned that I thought it went very well with the cheddar and salami. I used to think that cheese and charcuterie demanded red wines, but I have come to prefer whites. My friend called it “vibrant.” Nice description.

2020 Viognier $29

We differed on our second white, since they got the Field Blend. I liked the viognier, too. It has some taste of nectarine, and smells flowery. It has a touch of lime at the end, and I think it would be good to have with seafood in a cream sauce.

2020 Field Blend $25

Our guests described this as “light and summery.”

2020 White Merlot $29 (half off if you buy six bottles)

We were somewhat disappointed in this wine, since white merlots are often quite tasty. This was extremely light, and, as my tasting buddy noted, “monochromatic,” one of his favorite wine description words for wines he finds boring. It tasted more like a white than a rosé, and even with a 50% discount, neither of us was interested in buying it.

2016 Merlot $29

Since merlot is the most characteristic red wine on the North Fork, we decided to have that as our final taste. This is a fairly typical NoFo merlot, with cherry taste and aroma, dry, with a touch of oak/tobacco. One guest called it “chewy.”

2020 Rosé $29

*This is the glass of rose, which, unlike the white merlot, at least looks like a rose.*

Since this rosé is also half off if you buy six, our guest decided to try a glass of it, pouring off a sip for us to taste. We liked it better than the white merlot, as it has more strawberry taste and aroma, but not enough to get six bottles.

Reasons to Visit: you want a winery close to Greenport; you want to have some snacks with your tasting; the Orient Chardonnay, the Viognier, and the Merlot; the property overlooks the Sound, and you can stroll down to a bluff overlooking the water.

*They have plenty of outdoor tables, though it was a bit too chilly to sit outside when we were there. The Sound is in the distance.*

Terre Vite: New Name, New Look, Mostly New Wines

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with BobbySue's nuts, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, Diliberto, have snacks, Lumber+ Salt, Mercato, merlot, sauvignon blanc, Sole Chardonnay, Terre Vite, Tre, white merlot November 21, 2021

November 17, 2021

We used to love to go to Diliberto, and went so often that Sal Diliberto greeted us as friends. But, as is increasingly common on the North Fork, at some point he decided to sell his beloved vineyard, and it was bought by Jacqui Fusco and Greg Goodale, North Fork natives. One aspect of the tasting room we loved was the trompe l’oeil mural that made you feel as though you were sitting in an Italian piazza. Well, that is gone, but the room is beautifully re-done, decorated by one of the owners of Lumber + Salt, a salvage and antique store that specializes in reclaimed and repurposed items. For example, the shelving behind the bar, which itself includes part of a gate, is made of hardware pieces from the 1940s. A gigantic lamp is made from the top of a windmill.

Giant lamp made from the top of a windmill!

As more and more wineries and restaurants are doing, they put their menu online, accessed through a QR code.

Is Sal’s pizza oven still in the kitchen, we asked, and our server said it was, but they were not currently offering pizza, though, she noted, Sal was very generous as he helped them take over his place. Instead, they offer fairly standard cheese and charcuterie platters and a few other snacks. We decided to try BobbySue’s nuts, which turned out to be a variety called “Nuts Over Olives,” but which we did not particularly like. After we discussed the taste of them—a somewhat sweet amalgam of nuts and bits of olive—and admitted we did not care for them, she kindly offered us plain nuts, and then, when we declined, took the $5 bag of nuts off our bill.

We had the tasting room mostly to ourselves on this chilly November Thursday, but we noted that the renovation meant they have more seats, plus more tables and chairs on the porch and out on the lawn. Cute touch—the chairs around the porch table were draped with cozy-looking blankets. By the way, if you check out their web site you will see quite a few Italian words, honoring the new owners’ love of Italian culture, food, and wines. They even have an espresso machine behind the bar.

Wanting to try the full array of their wines, we opted for two flights, one of whites and one of reds, for $22 and $24, respectively. The tastes came to the table in sturdy wooden boxes, four round-bottomed glasses in each, filled with a generous amount of wine. We didn’t finish most of them, not because we didn’t like them, but because it was more wine than we wanted to have. Our server noted that the merlot and the Tre are still Diliberto’s wines, but the rest are their own. Overall, we felt that the wines were pleasant, but not exciting.

2020 Sauvignon Blanc $32

The tasting notes mention “white peach,” and I agree, plus lemon. This is a light, dry, refreshing white, good to have with oysters (which I hear are offered here on weekends).

2020 Sole Chardonnay $35

Our server noted that the name is Italian for sun—not fish, though it would be good with a nice filet of sole. It is a light, steel-fermented chard, with a slightly piney aroma, some citrus, and what the tasting notes call “apple and guava.” I would say, green apple.

2020 White Merlot $40

This category of wines—whites made from red grapes, with minimal skin contact, but not categorized as rosés—seems to be getting more popular. This one is a pretty pale pink, with an aroma of cherries, a touch sweet, and easy to drink.

2018 Reserve Chardonnay $40

I’m often not fond of oaked chardonnays, but this one is not too oaky, so I don’t mind it. The aroma is slightly funky and woodsy, and so is the taste. My tasting buddy says it is “nice,” which is pretty much what we’ve sa;id of all the wines so far.

2017 Cabernet Franc $33

I smell peppercorns, and my tasting buddy agrees. This is a light red, a bit peppery but mild, dry, a red one could drink with roast chicken.

The array of wines, including a couple of holdovers from Diliberto’s.

2017 Mercato $35

A 50/50 blend of cabernet franc and merlot, we again categorize this wine as nice. I know, not a very expressive term, but it seems apropos. We taste some cherry from the merlot, and some spice from the cab franc, but, as my husband says, “there’s not much to it.”

2015 Merlot $42

This wine is still Diliberto’s bottling, and, in contrast to the above, my pal says “there’s something to it.” I agree, that it is the most interesting wine so far today, with lots of typical merlot cherry aroma and taste, plus purple plum.

Tre Blend $45

As the name suggests, this is a Bordeaux-type blend of three wines—65% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon, and 15% cabernet franc. This is actually one of the few wines we finish, as it is very pleasant to drink, and would go well with a cheese tray, if we had ordered one. I don’t know how much longer this will be available, since it is another one of Diliberto’s wines.

Reasons to visit: fascinating décor, worth examining; intimate room; all the wines are easy to drink, though none are outstanding, but my favorites were the sauvignon blanc and the Tre; generous pour.

RGNY: Many Changes

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with cabernet franc, chicken tacos, Martha Clara, menu of snacks, Mexican PB&J, North Fork, paletas, RGNY, Sparkling Rose, viognier, white merlot, wine tasting November 5, 2021

November 3, 2021

From the outside, the winery that used to be called Martha Clara looks much the same, but as soon as we stepped inside, we saw that it looks very different. And once we tasted the wines, made by winemaker Lilia Perez, we knew that it was not at all the same. I find it so interesting that the same grapes, grown in the same vineyard, can yield such different-tasting wines. Martha Clara’s wines, for example, definitely tended to feature some sweetness, while the RG wines (named for the Rivero Gonzàlez family) we tasted were dry.

The shop inside the entrance used to have all sorts of items, including snacks, while now it is much simpler, with just the RG wines and a few Mexican items, such as baskets. Then we walked into the large tasting room, which used to feature a huge bar, which more or less snaked through the entire room. Now the bar is only on one side, with the rest of the space taken up by some small round tables with comfy chairs and some couches. The walls are bare, and the overall effect is rather stark. I think they could do more to warm up the space, and suggested to my husband that a pot-bellied stove would be a nice focal point. He looked skeptical. The side room (where the restrooms are located) is still pretty similar, filled with tables and chairs.

We were greeted by a friendly server who asked us if we had a reservation. We looked around the large room, empty except for one other couple, and asked in mock concern, “Oh no, should we have made one? Will you have room for us?” She laughed, as did we, and explained that she actually had three reservations for that afternoon, and so wanted to be sure that she honored the process. (Quite a few wineries are continuing their pandemic-caused practice of requiring reservations, so be sure you check websites before you go.) Then she presented us with a QR code to scan in order to read the menu.

We had intended to sit at the bar, but found the chairs there not comfortable, and so moved to a table, where we liked the chairs very much. We recently had been shopping for new dining room chairs, and my husband commented that these would have worked nicely. The menu features three different flights, labelled Scielo, White, and RG. The RG flight, for $22, seemed the most varied, so we opted to share it. We were glad we were sharing, since the pour, of four wines, is quite generous, and we actually left over some wine! There’s also a short but creative menu of food items, including chicken tacos, a Mexican PB&J, and paletas, which, Google informed me, are a kind of Mexican ice pop.

With our flight she brought a bottle of water and two cups, a nice touch, and asked if there was anything else we wanted. We asked her to turn down the very loud music, which she immediately did. Whew. Then later, I asked about the vintages of the wines, since that information was not anywhere to be seen.

2019 Sparkling Rosé $30

Sometimes sparkling rosés are too sweet, but this one is just right, with a refreshing taste of strawberries and pink grapefruit and moderate bubbles. We like this, and decide that if we wanted a celebratory pink wine, we might get this one.

2018 Viognier $33

Many of the wineries on the North Fork that grow viognier use it in blends, so I don’t often see it on its own. Again, this is a dry wine, mouth-watering, with tastes of spice and pears. The aroma is a bit funky, with some scent of stewed pears. We like it.

2018 White Merlot $32

White merlot? You may ask, I thought merlot was a red wine grape. And so it is. But if you ferment it without the skins, you get a white wine. Anthony Nappa used to make a wine called Anomaly, a white pinot noir, which we liked very much. This is also good, and is a nice, light, good sipping white, though not very interesting. I say it tastes like gooseberries. Some day I will buy gooseberries again and see if the taste I remember is correct…

2019 Cabernet Franc $37

Lovely aroma—chocolate covered cherries! This is another easy to drink wine, with soft tannins, dry, and a flavor that makes me think of dried fruit compote, or maybe stewed prunes (which I happen to like very much).

Reasons to visit: large venue with plenty of room for groups, including outside areas; pleasant wines and a large pour; the sparkling rosé and the viognier, though all the wines were easy to drink; an interesting food menu.

Bridge Lane: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting, Uncategorized and tagged with Ali Katz Kitchen, Bridge Lane, channing daughters, chardonnay, dogs allowed, Lieb Cellars, Pizza Rita, Red Blend, rose, sauvignon blanc, snacks allowed, Wendy's Deli, white merlot September 8, 2021

September 3, 2021

As though to compensate for all the heat and rain we encountered this summer, September is starting out pleasantly warm and dry. It was a perfect day to go to a winery and sit outside, and, after some discussion and viewing of websites, we and our visitors decided to go to a winery in our immediate neighborhood, Bridge Lane. Though we had all been there several times in the past, we hadn’t visited in a few years, and notably not since they did a lovely renovation of their outdoor area, with rainbow-striped tables, a pebbled surface, comfy Adirondack chairs, and a couple of shuffleboard courts. A wooden wall and evergreen trees help screen the area from the cars whizzing past on Sound Avenue.

Bridge Lane has several aspects that made it a good choice for us, besides its proximity. It welcomes children, at least during the week, and has ample outdoor space for them to roam, and it also allows you to bring your own snacks. By the way, it is right across Cox Neck Lane from a little shopping center which includes Wendy’s Deli, Pizza Rita (which has fantastic thin-crust gourmet pizzas, but is only open Thursday-Sunday—and not always then, check their Facebook page to be sure they’re not off doing a catering job), and Ali Katz Kitchen, which also has limited hours but has delicious baked goods as well as other interesting foods, such as quiche. I think all of those places should work out a deal with Bridge Lane to offer coupons worth something off their food if you are doing a tasting or sitting there with a glass or bottle or can of wine!

Yes, I did say can. In what is becoming something of a trend out here, a number of wineries are offering their wines in cans, which hold about two glasses. Bridge Lane goes further, and also offers boxes and even kegs of their wine. This fits with their overall philosophy, which is that wine should be a fun, casual, inexpensive drink; all the bottles are $20 each. Interestingly, they are affiliated with Lieb Cellars, which takes their wine very seriously.

A few more comments—our visit was enhanced by the presence of Bunker, a sweet and friendly little white poodle, property of our server, who noted that they do allow dogs on the property, unlike many other wineries. The children in our party fell in love with Bunker. And in a nice touch, the server brought out to the tables bottles of water with paper cups. They do have live music on weekends, but this afternoon recorded music of the Billy Joel type provided some background sounds.

If you look over the fence at the back of the tasting room and see huge metal vats, know they are not just there for Bridge Lane wines (though our server did inform us that they sell more wine than most other wineries on the North Fork). The site also houses Premium Wine Group, which does the winemaking for a number of the smaller vineyards who don’t have their own winemaking equipment.

A tasting consists of all five of their wines for $15, and the pour is quite generous, so my tasting buddy and I were glad we had opted to share. Our guests bought boxes of the white merlot, the chardonnay, and the red blend to take home.

*White Merlot

I liked this the best of the wines. It is a light, citrusy, floral white, a good summer sipper, and would have gone well with the oysters from Braun’s we had the night before.

*Sauvignon Blanc

The aroma of this wine is one I don’t care for, as it has hints of kerosene. Also a scent of cut grass. Otherwise, this is a pleasantly dry white, which would go well with scallops or a fish in a creamy sauce.

*Chardonnay

This wine gave me the opportunity to teach some of the party the word petrichor, which is the scent of earth after rain—or that smell you get in the City when you walk past an apartment building on a hot day and the doorman is out there washing off the sidewalk. One guest and I agreed that the taste of this was like a not-quite-ripe nectarine or yellow plum, with some pleasant minerality. Again, this is a light, dry wine.

*Rosé

A couple of days ago we had local duck breast and drank a Channing Daughters rosé made from syrah grapes with it. This rosé is not nearly as tasty. It has a slight strawberry aroma, and is extremely light and dry, without much fruit flavor. “It would be good in a kir,” observed one guest.

*Red Blend

So if you got a pizza from Pizza Rita, this would be the perfect wine to drink with it. Like all the other wines, it is light and dry and easy to drink; it’s a good pizza/pasta wine. It’s a good red for non-red-wine drinkers.

Reasons to visit: pleasant outdoor seating areas; reasonably priced wine and tasting, with a generous pour; the white merlot, the chardonnay, and the red blend; snacks are allowed; dogs are allowed; children are allowed; Bunker!

RG/NY: A Shared Aesthetic January 17, 2020

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, dogs allowed outside, Malbec, Martha Clara, merlot, no outside food, North Fork, petit verdot, RG/NY, Scielo Chardonnay, Scielo Riesling, Scielo Rose, Tinto, white merlot, wine tasting January 19, 2020

https://rgnywine.com/

Don’t be fooled by that blue sky–it was cold!

The starkly simple sign outside leads you into an entry area that is almost Zen-like in its simplicity. The tasting room is similarly pared down to essentials, as are the wines. Even the bottles share this aesthetic, looking like examples of modern art. Our friendly and well-informed server, Tina, tells us that an attractive stair-step design on the labels has a symbolic meaning. The wines are named “Scielo,” which a neon sign, the only décor in the tasting room, informs us means Heaven. The steps are a route to the heaven you find in the bottle.

The Rivero González family bought this winery and vineyard from Martha Clara in 2018, but they have been winemakers in Mexico since 1998. We had waited to check them out until we figured they had time to make their own wines, which they have. The only hold-overs from Martha Clara are some of the reds—and Tina herself, who greets arriving wine club members like old friends. She tells us that the new owners want to keep the family-friendly atmosphere of Martha Clara, while putting their own stamp on the wines and décor. For example, dogs will be allowed outside on the grounds (though today there is one in the tasting room! Well, it is certainly too cold to hang around outside.).

This pooch was so well-behaved we didn’t even realize she was there until someone greeted her.

I ask Tina about snacks, and she shows me a menu which is available on weekends in the winter, and every day in season. (No outside food.) Meanwhile, there is a refrigerated case and various snack items in the shop area, so you can make a DIY snack. We decide we are not that hungry, and anyway, each tasting comes with a little dish of very tasty crackers.

The snack menu, which is available on weekends in the winter.

You can make a DIY snack.

The tasting menu offers a choice of three different flights: the Scielo selection of four wines for $17, four whites for $20, or RG Selection of higher-level wines, four for $22. The final choice on that menu is a Martha Clara red, but Tina, noting that we have been to Martha Clara, says she could substitute the RG Tinto if we prefer. We decide to go with the Scielo flight.

2018 Scielo Chardonnay $25

I am happy to learn that this is a primarily steel-fermented chard, with just 2% oaked. I find in general that I prefer steel chards, but a little bit of oak adds depth and a nice mouth feel. It has an aroma of ripe apples and flowers, and tastes like a Granny Smith apple as well. There’s also a touch of lime. My tasting buddy insists that it is slightly sweet, but after some discussion we realize that his taste is influenced by some residual sweetness from the cracker he munched. He says this would be a good seafood wine, and I agree, though I think a seafood in cream dish would go best.

2018 Riesling $24

Before we opted for this flight, I asked if the riesling was sweet or dry, and Tina reassured me that it was dry. She wasn’t kidding. It is bone dry, and very light. The aroma is of honeysuckle and metal, and there’s a touch of metal in the taste as well. Like touching your tongue to a pole? Well, I’m not that dumb. I also taste pears. We get into a discussion about how the new wines are very dry, whereas the Martha Clara wines tended to be more on the sweet side. Some former customers are unhappy with the new taste, while we prefer it.

The stair step pattern on the label has a symbolic meaning.

2018 Scielo Rosé $22

Yum. This is a blend of 48% merlot, 32% malbec, and 20% cabernet franc, and the complexity of that blend shows up in the flavor, which is more interesting than a standard rosé. Tasty, says my husband. It has the strawberry aroma one would expect, and in addition to some strawberry flavor a definite note of lychee. We decide to get a bottle to go with the scallops we bought earlier at Braun’s.

2018 White Merlot $32

Power of the book—she was pouring this for someone else, so she offered us a taste of this white wine made from merlot grapes. Nice. It tastes like a cross between red and white, light and drinkable, with an aroma of wood and leather and white cherry taste.

2018 Tinto $30

Our server compares this to a Beaujolais, and it is light like a Beaujolais, though it is made from a Bordeaux blend: 43% merlot, 37% cabernet sauvignon, 10% petit verdot, and 10% cabernet franc. I would guess that they were in a hurry to get out a red of their own, because we think this could benefit from more aging. It has a nice cherry aroma and taste, but no depth and some tannins. It is very young, and I could see drinking it with meatloaf or hamburgers.

2018 Cabernet Franc $37

There’s just a little bit left in this bottle, not enough to give anyone a regular taste, so Tina asks if we’d like a sip of this. Of course, we would. I get spice and leather, not much fruit. Again, I think this would benefit from more time, and we resolve to come back in a year or so to see how the wines have developed.

There’s a very large side room.

Reasons to visit: A chance to try a new place; very roomy surroundings, in case you are with a group; the rosé, the White Merlot. One note—the bar has almost no overhang, so there’s nowhere to put your knees when you sit there, and the stools are rather uncomfortable. Perhaps they will fix that in the future.

From the outside, you con’t tell that there are significant changes both inside the building and inside the bottles.

But there are still some Martha Clara wines available for purchase.

The gift shop has many fewer items than it used to have.

Sparkling Pointe: Sparkling Day May 24, 2019

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, Brut, chardonnay, Coach Farms Hudson Truffle, gewurztraminer, Hudson Valley camembert, methode champenoise, no dogs allowed, no outside food, North Fork, NV Cuvee Carneval Blanc, One Woman, Pinot Meunier, pinot noir, Reserve Blanc de Blancs, Sparkling Pointe, sparkling wines, white merlot, wine tasting May 26, 2019

https://www.sparklingpointe.com/

Finally a beautiful day!

Finally! After weeks of unseasonably chilly rainy weather, a beautiful day arrived. Following a pleasant stroll in Greenport to check out the new shops and restaurants (We’ll be back.), we headed to Sparkling Pointe, the sparkling-wines-only vineyard in Southold.

Over the past few years we’ve noted a consistent pattern of improvement in their wines, so we were interested to see how they have progressed. Since they have a French winemaker (Gilles Martin) and use the méthode champenoise, it is no surprise to discover that their wines have a definite French orientation, though a number of their options are sweetened to American tastes. What is a surprise is the Brazilian-Carnival-themed tasting room and wine labels, which, according to the website, stem from the owners’ love of Brazil. I suppose the festive nature of sparkling wines also entered into the choice.

A sign at the entrance cautions against outside food or drinks, and allows only service animals, but they do have a good menu of snacks. We ordered two cheeses, which came with two sleeves of crackers, and took home leftovers. They also have table service, and our server was very competent and well-informed, happily expounding on wines and winemaking when we asked any questions.

Our server explaining dosage.

On looking over the set menu, of four wines for $20, we noted that two of the options were described as rather sweet (Sugar cookie? Really?), so with our server’s help we chose four—and then a fifth—wine from the tasting list, totaling $30. That’s a bit pricey, but on the other hand we spent about an hour on their lovely terrace overlooking the grape vines, enjoying the pleasant breeze and sunshine, sipping champagne and munching on two very tasty cheeses (Hudson Valley camembert and Coach Farms Hudson Truffle). Not too shabby.

A few other notes: the tastes come in proper champagne flutes, very classy; a small gift shop features North Fork-made food items plus Brazilian-Carnival-themed décor; though we enjoyed several of the wines, they share the North Fork issue of being a bit too expensive compared to other options for sparkling wines, such as Italian Proseccos or Spanish Cavas; they charge an extra $15 over the per bottle cost if you want to order a bottle of wine to drink on the premises, though the fee is waived for wine club members.

1. 2016 Brut $30 ($4 per taste)
We started with the driest of their wines, a blend of 53% chardonnay, 31% pinot noir, and 16% pinot meunier. The smell is lovely, with floral notes plus roasted pear, and some depth and interest. I compared the taste to fresh apple juice with lemon, but my tasting buddy disagreed. However, we both agreed that it was a very pleasant, fairly dry sparkler, with nice little bubbles.

2. 2014 Blanc de Blancs $44 ($6 per taste)
Our server was quite enthusiastic about this one, naming it as a “staff favorite,” and I can see why. My husband described it as “very champagne-y,” which I first laughed at and then decided was rather apt. Though the aroma is only faintly yeasty—like walking along across the street from a bakery—the taste is crisp and clean and refreshing, with a nice balance between sweet and dry. Very drinkable on its own, and also good with our cheeses.

3. 2014 Reserve Blanc de Blancs $68 ($8 per taste)
This is another lovely choice, a delicious, well-balanced sparkler, only very slightly sweet, with aroma of honeysuckle and pear, plus a taste that combined Meyer lemon with apple pie and freshly baked bread. Our server pointed out the word “Séduction” on the label, and noted that they use that to indicate their higher end wines. I’d gladly drink this any time—if someone else bought the bottle!

If you look carefully, you can tell this has a faint tinge of pink.

4. Blanc de Noirs $68 ($8 per taste)
A very faint tinge of pink is the result of this wine spending a little time on the skins of the 50/50 combination of pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes. They don’t market this as a rosé, noted our server, which makes sense, since if you wanted a rosé you’d be disappointed, but we were pleased. Though the aroma has some notes of something slightly burnt, or chemical, the taste is pleasantly dry, with just a touch of strawberry.

Just for fun, I used a filter on this photo.

5. NV (non-vintage) Cuvée Carneval Blanc $30 ($4 per taste)
We were not ready to leave yet, and were still enjoying the day and our cheese, so we decided to try one more taste. The Carneval line seems to include the wines they feel will most appeal to a mass audience, and I can see why. We dubbed this one a “crowd pleaser,” which I had already written in my notes when my husband called it that. A blend of 47% chardonnay, 37% white merlot, and 16% pinot noir, it also has a “liquor de dosage” of gewürztraminer, the only grape they use that is not grown on site. I wondered if they got that from One Woman, which is quite nearby, but for once our server couldn’t answer a question. He did happily describe the process of dosage, however. Though this is not a sparkler I would choose to drink, it would be quite acceptable in a toast. The aroma is of yeast and a bit of lemon, and the taste includes some minerality and a bit of lychee flavor from the gewürztraminer.

Photos of the gift shop, including Carneval-themed décor:

Reasons to visit: beautiful setting, especially if you can sit outdoors on the terrace; tasty sparkling wines; table service that is efficient and friendly; nice menu of snacks; the Reserve Blanc de Blancs in particular, though we enjoyed all of the wines we sampled (though in the past we have had some of their sweeter wines which are just not for us).

We enjoyed our time on the lovely terrace, looking out over the vineyard.

Bridge Lane Wine: Cans and Boxes and Kegs, Oh My! September 23, 2018

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with Bridge Lane wine, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, dogs allowed, Lieb Cellars Reserve Petit Verdot, merlot, petit verdot, picnics allowed, Red Blend, rose, Russell Hearn, sauvignon blanc, SuHru, white merlot September 25, 2018

Bridge Lane Winery: Cans and Boxes and Kegs, Oh My!

http://bridgelanewine.com/

If you ever want to have a wine kegger, Bridge Lane is the winery for you. Or let’s say you want to take a can of wine to the beach. Yes, they have those. And boxes of wine. Oh yes, bottles, too. Bridge Lane is the less-expensive, more populist line of wines made by Lieb Cellars. Their wine maker, Russell Hearn, also has his own line-up of wines which you can sample at his tasting room in Cutchogue, Suhru Cellars. (https://www.suhruwines.com/ ) He must be a busy man!

Yes, wine in a can.

Also bottles and boxes.

Last September we went with friends to Lieb Cellars’ tasting room on Oregon Road, and tasted both the Lieb label wines and the Bridge Lane wines. We much preferred the Lieb wines. In June we went to the newly opened Suhru Cellars and liked their wines even better. However, there is nothing wrong with the Bridge Lane wines, if you want simple, light inexpensive wines. All of Bridge Lane’s wines cost $20 per bottle. (A keg holds 130 glasses for $240 and each can provides two glasses for $9.)

Fittingly, not only do all the wines cost the same, the taste profile is remarkably similar. In fact, my husband observed that he would be hard pressed to tell one white from another. They are all citrusy and minerally and light.

The differences among the wines of the three venues extend to the tasting rooms, as well. Bridge Lane’s is a simple square, with a bar along one wall and banquettes along two others, with brightly painted picnic tables outside. Lieb Cellars’ tasting room is more elegant, with table service and a deck overlooking rural Oregon Road. Suhru’s newly opened “tasting house” is in what had been a house, and is homey and beachy. Bridge Lane allows picnics and dogs, while the other two do not (except at Lieb on the outside patio). Suhru offers snacks from Touch of Venice restaurant across the street, and Lieb has an extensive menu of snacks, while Bridge Lane offers only a few snacks.

We arrived at Bridge Lane on a September Sunday afternoon, when many of the wineries were crowded and traffic clogged the approach to Harbes Orchard. At Bridge Lane we encountered a large party of women—not sure if it was a group of friends or a bachelorette celebration—and one other couple who decided to brave the September chill to take their tastes outside. After the large group left, it was quite quiet.

Like many wineries, Bridge Lane has limited winter hours.

A tasting consists of five tastes for $15. You can also taste a few of the Lieb Reserve wines at $4 per taste, or opt for a glass or bottle. They serve you three and then two of your tastes at once, on a clearly labeled round tray in nice rounded-bottom glasses. There’s a self-serve container of water at one end of the bar.

White Merlot

We get a very faint citrus aroma from this white wine made from red merlot grapes. The taste is of grapefruit and minerals, and is pleasant and light. It would be fine with some Peconic Bay scallops.

Wine on tap.

Chardonnay

A steel-fermented chard, this actually smells a bit metallic. I taste pineapple, though the tasting notes say stone fruit and green apple. Maybe a little green apple…but if by stone fruit they mean peaches and apricots, I don’t get it. My tasting buddy asserts that “ten seconds in, it gets sweet.”

Sauvignon Blanc

Another light, tart, citrusy, easy-to-drink white, this one would go well with oysters. Maybe barbequed oysters?

Rosé

As one would expect, the rosé has an aroma of strawberry, but sweeter, more like strawberry jam. There’s also a touch of smokiness. Again, this is light, with the citrus this time reminiscent of pink grapefruit. I could see having it with an herbed goat cheese from Catapano.

Red Blend

This is their Bordeaux blend, of 65% merlot, 25% cabernet franc, 6% cabernet sauvignon, and 4% petit verdot, aged six months in Hungarian oak. It smells like a combination of cherries, smoke, and wood. When we sip, we decide we can taste the wood as well, plus a fair amount of tannins which make us wonder if this would be better after a couple of years. We also taste black cherry. My husband describes it as “sour.” Not a great red, but easy to drink, it could go with lamb chops.

Lieb Cellars Reserve 2015 Petit Verdot $35

I want to end with something better, so we order a taste of the Lieb Petit Verdot. As the server opens the bottle, I notice that it has a screw cap. The Bridge Lane wines had been on tap, so I ask her if all the wines have screw tops. Yes, they do. The Petit Verdot is aged ten months in Hungarian oak, and has an aroma of blackberries and dark fruit. It tastes of black cherry with a greater depth of flavor than the Red Blend. There’s a pleasant softness to it, and enough tannins that I think it could be aged. My husband and I simultaneously decide it would go well with barbequed ribs.

The outdoor picnic area is somewhat screened from the traffic on Sound Avenue. The multicolored stripes are part of the whole light-hearted ethos of the spot.

Reasons to visit: You want somewhere to take your picnic lunch where you can sit outside and drink some inexpensive wines; you are having a big party and need a keg of wine, or maybe a couple of boxes; you want to take a four-pack of cans of wine on your boat; the chardonnay, or any of the wines if you want something light and uncomplicated.

Bridge Lane shares its location with Premium wine Group, a wine-making facility shared by many of the smaller wineries which lack their own wine-making equipment.

As I watched crushed grapes being loaded here, I solved a mystery. All along Cox Neck Road I had seen a line of grapes by the side of the road. Where did they come from? Aha, I realized, they have fallen off those open carts which bring the grapes to Premium Wine Group!

Lieb Cellars: A Beautiful Setting September 12, 2017

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with 8 Hands, Bridge Lane, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, Lieb Cellars, Lieb Reserve, Long Island, Malbec, Meritage, merlot, North Fork, petit verdot, Pinot Blanc, Red Blend, sauvignon blanc, Unoaked Chardonnay, white merlot, wine tasting September 14, 2017

http://liebcellars.com/history/

The Lieb Cellars tasting room is located on bucolic Oregon Road.

In many ways, September is the best month on the North Fork, and our guests agreed. We had gone for a walk to Love Lane and a swim in the Peconic Bay, and now we were seated on the attractive patio of Lieb Cellars on Oregon Road, gazing out at beautiful farm fields. Later we planned to barbeque chicken from 8 Hands, plus eggplant and zucchini and corn from a farm stand. Perhaps we could cap off that menu with a bottle of wine from Lieb. However, we didn’t find any wine that we wanted to take home for that meal.

It was a warm day, so we appreciated the bottle of cool water we were given.

On the other hand, we enjoyed our tasting, if not so much the wines themselves, which was brought to us on trays so we could sit and sip and discuss and enjoy the lovely setting. The very enthusiastic and well-informed server, a young man who is really studying wine, gave us a quick (maybe too quick!) rundown on the wines we had ordered, and then left us to ourselves, just checking back periodically to see if we had any questions.

The menu includes snacks, plus drinks for your designated driver.

The menu offers three options: four whites plus the rosé for $16, five reds for $18, or six Reserve wines for $20. You can also get cheese and charcuterie plates, but we knew we had a lovely selection of cheeses from the Love Lane Cheese Shop waiting for us at home, so we opted not to get anything. They don’t allow you to bring your own food, but they do permit dogs on the outside patio. We decided to share one white flight and one red flight. The good-sized servings came out in attractive round-bottomed glasses, and we also were given a bottle of chilled water plus glasses for the water. Some of the wines are labeled Bridge Lane and others Lieb Reserve, which I abbreviate BL and LR.

The whites and the rose. Each glass sits on a coaster which identifies the wine and the order in which to drink them.

2016 BL White Merlot $18

This is a white wine made from merlot grapes by not giving them any time on the skins. The aroma was nice—sweet, spicy, a bit minerally—but we found the wine itself lacked character.

2015 LR Pinot Blanc $22

They are very proud of their Pinot Blanc, but we were underwhelmed. It is very citrusy and tart, with not much fruit and a slightly chemical aroma.

We liked the patio, which we had to ourselves on this mid-week day. One time we arrived on a weekend and had to leave, as it was full.

2016 BL Unoaked Chardonnay $16

We like this the best of the whites, finding it had a better balance than the others, with some richness. I liked it. It has a honeysuckle aroma and nice lemony notes. It would go well with food, though we felt it would not stand up to the spicy barbeque sauce we planned.

2016 BL Sauvignon Blanc $18

Our server cautioned us that this was not like a New Zealand sauvignon blanc. It was not at all floral, and my brother pronounced it “tame.” It smells almost like candy, with some minerality, and the taste is very light, almost evanescent.

2016 BL Rosé $18

Pink? Not so much. Another very light wine, this had no strawberry aroma. It is available in an eight gallon box.

l reds

2016 BL Red Blend $20

Our server was very proud that he could inform us this was like a right bank Bordeaux, a blend of 44% merlot, 22% cabernet franc, 13% petit verdot, 12% malbec, and 9% cabernet sauvignon. You can sense in the taste that this spent a little time in oak—six months. It’s very soft, with a taste in which cherry predominates. I said it was okay for casual drinking, but my brother opined it was “completely uninteresting, like a person without a face.” Ouch.

Note the dogs in the background.

2015 LR Merlot $24

As we sipped this somewhat classic merlot, we got into a humorous discussion of the movie Sideways, and the damage it did to merlot sales. Nothing wrong with a good merlot, I said, but my brother felt this was a “Kool-Aid version of merlot.” Well, it would be fine with a burger.

2015 LR Cabernet Franc $30

I thought this cabernet franc was not bad, with dark fruit tastes of blackberry and plum, dry, with some tannins though overall rather soft. But I had to agree with my brother that it had no depth.

The Petit Verdot looks as good as it tastes.

2014 LR Petit Verdot $35

Finally, a wine we could agree on. We all liked the petit verdot, made of 98% petit verdot and 2% “mystery grapes,” according to our server. 2014 was a hot season, so it was a good year for ripe red grapes. This wine is interesting, with a distinctive earthy, piney aroma and layers of flavor. We speculated that another brother would like it, since he favors “odd duck” wines. Long finish. If I were to sit and have a glass of wine here, this is the one I would get.

2015 LR Meritage $35

And here is their left bank Bordeaux style: 47% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 17% cabernet franc, 4% petit verdot, and 2% malbec. We made our server check the math! It worked out. The aroma is fruity, the taste less so. Given the tannins, it may age into something better, but for the moment it is a bit disappointing for the price. It would be okay as a $12 wine, opined my brother. Well, that’s a problem with North Fork wineries in general—because of the small size of their production, they can’t achieve the economies of scale from other places. Nevertheless, we like to support the local wineries.

The inside room is attractive and comfortable.

Reasons to visit: beautiful setting on a back road, surrounded by farm fields; the Unoaked Chardonnay, the Lieb Reserve Petit Verdot; you can bring your dog.

l sign too

l mum

Sherwood House Vineyard: Sip and Shop May 12, 2017

Posted by nofowineaux in Tasting and tagged with Apolloni Vineyard, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, Hound's Tree, merlot, North Fork, Oregon, Oregon Road, Red Blend, rose, Sherwood House, Sherwood Manor, white merlot, William Ris, wine tasting May 14, 2017

http://www.sherwoodhousevineyards.com/

https://www.hounds-tree.com/

I happened to snap this at a sunny moment.

On a cool spring day, when clouds and sun took turns dominating the sky, we stopped into Sherwood House’s tasting room, which we had not been to in almost two years. Though the tasting room looks much the same, with its cozy fireplace, there have been a number of changes in the winery itself. We immediately noticed that there were three options on the tasting menu: a Sherwood House flight of five wines for $16, a Hound’s Tree Estate flight of five wines for $16, and a flight of four Library and Estate wines for $24. We decided to go with one flight of Sherwood House wines and one of Hound’s Tree, tasting them side by side, since there seemed to be comparable choices on both menus.

The friendly and helpful server explained that Hound’s Tree was a new winery that had bought the Oregon Road vineyard from Sherwood House and was making wines in a West Coast style, in partnership with Appoloni Vineyards, a winery based in Oregon (the state, not the road!). Meanwhile, the owner and winemaker of Sherwood house planned to go on making their wines in their own style, which is influenced by French methods. What a nice opportunity to compare styles!

The shop adjoins the tasting room.

After our tastings we browsed the beautiful shop which adjoins the tasting room. It used to be called Material Objects, and is now called William Ris East. It features fine art, sculpture, and antiques (according to their sign), plus jewelry and pottery. We saw many pieces we liked, and if you are looking for some real art it is a good place to go. One caution: the pour in the winery is fairly generous, so don’t make any decisions on buying art if you’re not compos mentis!

Although the Sherwood House web page mentions music on Saturday afternoons, on this quiet Friday a singer/guitarist set up in a corner and serenaded us with Beatles tunes, among others. A party of women at a table, who were sharing a bottle of rosé and a cheese tray (bought at the winery and provided by Love Lane cheese shop), seemed to enjoy his performance very much, as did we. As we chatted with the server, she took note of my notebook and asked directly if we wrote for any publication, so we admitted that I did a blog. As a result, she gave us two extra tastes. I’ve labeled the Sherwood House choices SH and the Hound’s Tree choices HT.

We enjoyed the music.

2014 Oregon Road Chardonnay SH $19

This is a pretty typical North Fork steel-fermented chardonnay, with aromas of pears and minerals and tastes of unripe pear. It is both sweet and tart, so well-balanced, with a nice long finish. It is definitely a good food wine. This, like the other whites, is served too cold (not their fault—wineries are obliged to set their refrigeration at a specified temperature), but we warmed the glass in our palms to get a better sense of the wine.

2015 HT Estate Chardonnay $24

Really different! We get a vegetable aroma—roasted asparagus or Brussels sprouts—and maybe a slight burnt smell. The taste is also quite different, with some vegetal notes and lots of rock and minerality and even salt, as well as some pear. However, we like this one, too, and it would also be good with food. Maybe something rich, like a roast chicken, while the SH chard might do better with scallops.

2013 Estate Chardonnay SH $35

Nope, you won’t find this on the regular tasting menu, but our server thought we should try their one oaked chardonnay. 70% oak, she said, which explained why, though it has some of that butterscotch smell, it does not taste overly oaky. It had a touch of sweetness, but “not unpleasantly so,” opined my husband. Though not a sipper, this would stand up to many different foods. I could see having it with pork chops.

2015 Estate Rosé HT $22

A blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, and merlot, this rosé has a deep pink color and a sweet aroma that I insist smells like red Twizzlers. My drinking pal suggests “fireplace” and cherry juice. In any event, it is a very dry rosé, with more citrus than strawberry taste. I wouldn’t choose it as a sipper, but I think it could be very nice paired with some charcuterie.

Oregon Road White Merlot SH $19

When we saw “white merlot” we immediately thought of Anthony Nappa’s Anomaly, which is a white pinot noir (no longer called Anomaly), but this is quite different. I described it as “evanescent,” as it is very light and the taste seems to dissipate very quickly. The aroma is of strawberries, salt, and minerals, and I actually think it would be fun to drop a few strawberries into a glass for summer sipping.

The two rose style wines provided quite a contrast in both taste and color.

2013 Oregon Road Red Blend SH $19

We agreed that this was the perfect price point for this very nice red table wine, a blend of merlot, cabernet franc, and cabernet sauvignon. My guess is the blend is heavy on the merlot, as I got lots of cherry in the smell and taste. My husband pronounced it a “perfectly acceptable” dinner wine. It is fairly dry.

2015 Cabernet Franc HT $28

Eh. Not particularly a fan of this one, which we felt was rather “tame,” in my husband’s opinion. Light for a cabernet franc, it is not a red you’d want to pair with a steak or other hearty meat. Maybe veal.

Though these two reds may look similar, they actually taste quite different.

2012 Merlot SH $38

This one we like better than the previous wine. It has mouth-watering tannins, lots of cherry taste and aroma, and also some scents of forest.

2015 Merlot HT $28

Again, we prefer the Sherwood House style, as we find this red just okay, with not a lot of fruit or depth. It’s not bad, just not very interesting.

2015 Cabernet Sauvignon HT $28

Aromas of dark fruits, like plums and berries, good tannins, dry, and tastes of dark fruit. Again, not exciting, but perfectly acceptable.

2012 Cabernet Franc SH $45

I like this one the best of the reds so far, although it has almost no finish. The aroma is a tad funky, with some notes of forest floor as well as dark fruits. Another nicely dry wine, it would go well with a cheese platter.

2010 Sherwood Manor SH $45

This is our other extra taste, and a good one it is. It’s the most interesting wine of the day, with lots of varied flavors and aromas and tannins that make us think it would continue to age well.

One time when we came here they were selling oysters on the porch.

More art from the gallery.

Reasons to visit: cozy tasting room with a fireplace that is in use in the winter; the opportunity to browse a gallery with beautiful pieces; the Oregon Road Chardonnay, the Sherwood House Estate Chardonnay, the Hound’s Tree Estate Rosé, the Oregon Road Red Blend, the Sherwood Manor; music even when it isn’t scheduled.

We think these crates can be used to store wine.

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.

NoFo Wineaux

Wine notes from Long Island's North Fork

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