On Saturday late afternoon I attended the Long Island Wine Expo. The expo was held at the Cradle of Aviation museum in Garden City Long Island. The museum commemorates Long Island’s part in the early history of aviation. It seems that part of Long Island was conducive to flying since the geography was flat and tree-less. In fact, Charles Lindbergh took off on his famous flight to Paris about a mile from the museum where the Roosevelt Field Mall is located now. The museum itself is pretty cool, covering the history of aviation from the first flying machines to the space age. I liked the World War II fighter aircraft as well as Lunar landing that was scheduled to land on the surface of the moon.
The Expo itself wasn’t as exciting as the museum. Billed as “the largest wine event on long island”, I don’t feel it was all it could have been, long lines and for the most part, forgettable wines. The crowd did seem to be having a good time though.
Some of what I enjoyed:
2005 Sparking Point “Brut Seduction” (North Fork). Sparking wine from a producer that only produces sparking wine. Nose of lime and melon and nicely crisp with citrus notes on the finish.
2012 Cambria Pinot Noir “Julia’s Vineyard” (Santa Maria Valley). Medium red with dark berries on the nose and was juicy with coffee notes on the finish.
2011 Ferrero Roso di Montalcino (Piedmont). Dark amber with dark cherry notes and was silky with some sour cherry on the finish.
2012 Salentein Reserve Malbec (Mendoza). Dark red with a concentrated nose of dark plums and sweet spices and was juicy and dusty with some mint notes on the finish.
2008 Faustino “V” Reserve (Rioja). Dark red to black with an old world nose of dried leaf and cigar box, tight with sweet cherry fruit and sour cherry on the finish.
2009 Santa Rita Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva (Maipo Valley). Dark red with an amber robe with bell pepper on the nose and was concentrated and juicy with black licorice notes with a firm grip.
Le Deux Chateau poured a couple of their wines, the 2012 Pinot Noir and the 2012 Chardonnay. I was told that the grapes are French but were bottled on the North Fork of Long Island. The wines are available in bottles but my samples were poured from kegs. Both the wines were inexpensive with not much character to them but were easy drinking, which is what I suppose you would want in a budget glass of wine.
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