My Foray Into Long Island Wines

Filed in archive New York Wines on September 25, 2007

If you keep up with wines news and reviews, chances are that you've heard about wines from Long Island. They're getting a lot of attention lately, and I thought I should devote some time to tasting a few. Now I am certainly no expert on the Long Island wine industry. I will leave that to my fellow wine blogger Lenn Thompson of Lenn Devours. His knowledge on the subject is wide-reaching and I would recommend his site to anyone who wants to know more about Long Island wines.

Personally, I have not had great experiences with wines from Long Island and so far I have had a hard time understanding their appeal (especially considering the price tag on many of them). But I feel like I'm missing something - like there is this big secret that I don't know, so I continue to try to figure it out. At the wine tasting I attended last week I tried the following:

- Bedell Taste Red 2005
- Corey Creek Cabernet Franc 2005
- Raphael La Fontana 2002
- Raphael Merlot 2001

My least favorite was the Raphael La Fontana. I tend to favor New York blends over straight varietals, so I thought this had a good shot being Merlot and Cabernet Franc with a small percentage of Malbec. However, I just didn't like it. Raphael's first label Merlot was actually quite nice, though I thought the finish was a bit puckery. I think it could benefit from some time in the bottle and would be lovely. However, at $35 a bottle, I found it to be a bit on the high side. The Bedel and the Corey Creek were decent, but didn't particularly stand out to me. Again, I couldn't tell if I'd been let down, if I'm just not "getting" Long Island wines, or if they're just overrated.

Earlier in the week I purchased a bottle of Pindar Pythagorus, which is a Mertiage blend. Although I'm familiar with the vineyard, what honestly was got me was the name. It's a blend of blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.

I have to say that this is the first LI wine that I really liked, thought at first I wasn't so sure. I poured it in my glass and smelled a bit of overripe fruit. I gave it a shot and thought it was jammy, but had a sourness to it. Did I just set myself up for disappointment? I let the glass sit while I did a few things and came back to it about 20 minutes later. What a difference! The wine had really opened up and you could smell a wonderful floral bouquet that had to be the Cabernet Franc screaming for attention. I took another sip and the wine hit my mouth with a kiss of sweetness, but that sweetness didn't linger. In some ways it made me think of an Amarone. The wine was plummy and jammy, but in a light-to-medium-bodied presentation and with a bit of acidity and alcohol. The oak wasn't overemphasized, and that works to the wine's benefit. I found it to be well-balanced and easy to drink. It's a really unique wine that doesn't taste like anything else, and I look forward to getting another bottle and playing around with food pairings.

For $10, I think it's a great value! I'm so thrilled to have found a Long Island wine that I enjoy. I wonder if by nature we get protective and favor our local wine-growing regions. I know that I tend to favor Hudson Valley wines more than other wine bloggers who live in other parts of the state. But I will continue to give LI wines a fair chance, despite my slight personal bias. The wine industry there is very young - only about 30 years old, so it certainly has time to grow and mature.