A Long Island Wine Weekend wine

Beau’s been banging on my email door lately, wondering where the heck I’ve been. Where are my posts? Has the Wine Goddess died? Nope. Wine Goddess has been busy doing a whole lot of, well, nothing too exciting…except for this past weekend, when Lenn organized a gathering of fellow oenophiles for a Long Island Tasting Weekend.

I was so inspired, I had to come out of hiding and write.

Being local to the NYC area, I couldn’t turn down Lenn’s invitation: a BYO dinner on Saturday night, and a Long Island rosé tasting on Sunday morning. We drove out to wine country on Saturday afternoon and checked into our home for the night - the Harvest Inn B&B in Peconic. What a great place! The Harvest Inn is charming and cozy like a B&B should be, but with modern amenities, and super-soft sheets, that make the stay a little more splendid. Bonus: because it’s relatively new construction, there are no squeaky floorboards to keep you up at night. The innkeepers, Darolyn and Chris, are quick to make you feel right at home, and they routinely welcome guests in the evening with a wine tasting hour (which we skipped because our wine lineup for the night was already too daunting). And if this isn’t enough to entice you, Chris cooks up a mean gourmet breakfast each morning to get your day started off with a bang.

Anyway, dinner was held at the Red Barn B&B in Jamesport, about ten minutes away. We were greeted with some Long Island bubbly by innkeepers Jim and Linda, and then we got to meet the rest of the crew. There was our host Lenn, and his lovely wife Nena. There was Kristen, of The Wine Chicks, and Josh, of Martin Scott Wines. There was Bridget, of Palmer Vineyards, and John, of Pellegrini Vineyards. While there was a great depth of knowledge at the table, there was absolutely no pretentiousness, which was cool. Even my "non-wine-o" fiancé felt comfy. Lenn has divulged the details of the killer meal that Jim and Linda put together, but let me just say that it was deeeee-licious, especially with the wines that everyone brought along. And to cap off the night, we caught a stellar view of Saturn and its rings from Jim’s out-of-this-world telescope – a real treat!

Ten hours and two Advils later, I was up for the start of rosé tasting day. We gathered at the Pellegrini tasting room, this time with Jay, the other half of The Wine Chicks, to blind taste a ton of pink wines. Some were dry, some were sweet, some were good, some were not. But all were worth tasting, just to see the variation in rosé styles. Lenn’s been compiling the tasting notes, so tune in to his site for the results.

Finally, as a close to the event, John took us down to the Pellegrini cellar for some barrel sampling of the 2005 reds. Sure, Long Island may have had a deluge at harvest this year, but don’t let this taint your opinion of the 2005 wines. The reds we tasted were far better than I had expected. Opaque, concentrated, and lengthy, the wines left a lasting impression (not to mention a lasting color) on my tongue, and I’ll certainly be searching them out upon release.

Thanks to Lenn for a great weekend, and for resurrecting the Wine Goddess. Can't wait to do it again!

Comments

[Lenn]

Welcome back oh Goddess of Wine.

Glad you enjoyed...we'll definitely do it again. Those 2005 were REALLY staining. Even though we were spitting all day, it would have been hard to convince the police of that...my tongue, lips and gums were so black.

Cheers!

[Jonathan Hull]

Why fight all that traffic on the LIE? Come visit us in the Hudson Valley! The difference between most Hudson Valley Wineries and Long Island is just a few Million dollars in capital.

Jonathan Hull
Owner and Winemaker
http://www.applewoodwinery.com