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I think that Rosé has to be the quintessential Summer glass of wine. The North and South fork wine regions are peninsulas surrounded by the sea on an island surrounded with miles of beaches.

All of the wineries out east bottle a rosé, and they do a pretty good job of it and it’s usually the first wine to sell out. There isn’t one particular style or flavor profile as they use whatever red wine varietals they are growing at the time. There is even one winery, Croteaux, that bottles exclusively rosé.

I drove out one sunny afternoon and stopped at a couple of wineries for a glass of rosé.

One Women Winery

5191 Old North Road, Southold

One Women Winery is one of my favorite winery to visit when I’m out on the north fork for a tasting. A real Mom & Pop operation with Mom as the owner and winemaker making wine from estate grown grapes. For a time, a visit for a tasting was a pretty rustic event, they had a small tasting shack with the port a potty out back. They recently built a proper tasting room.

2023 Rosé: A blend of Dolcetto, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Clear medium copper with melon and earth on the nose, medium body with floral notes, nice acidity.

Lenz Winery

38355 Route 25, Peconic

Another family-owned winery established in 1978, this was one of the handful of wineries that were established the late 1970’s and early 1980’s that were the vanguard of the Long Island wine industry. They are known for their Merlot but they have a diverse portfolio.

2024 Blanc de Noir Rosé: Made from Pinot Noir. Clear medium copper with a floral nose, medium bodied with low acidity.

The fourth annual Scarsdale Music Festival was held on June 1 in the village of Scarsdale, New York.

Scarsdale is one of the bucolic suburban towns in Westchester county located along the Metro North Harlem line. It’s about a 40-minute train ride from Grand Central Terminal.

The event was a benefit for the Daniels Music Foundation and featured vendors, a kids play area, a couple of stages with live music playing all afternoon, and more importantly for me, a Grand Tasting tent.

This year the tent had a new sponsor, Amici dei Vini, a local wine shop. It was a consumer oriented tasting with a good selection of wines and made for an enjoyable afternoon of wine and music. Some nice cheese too.

Some of what I sampled:

White

2019 Domaine Anderson Estate Chardonnay (Anderson Valley): Clear light gold, tropical fruit on the nose with moderate tropical fruit notes, easy drinking.

2021 Resonance Chardonnay (Willamette): Light yellow, floral nose with floral fruit with some lemon notes on the balanced finish.

2022 Nortico Alvarinho (Portugal): Light yellow with floral notes and nice acidity.

2023 Domaine de Piaugier Sablet Blanc (Rhone): Clear medium gold, white flowers on the nose, full fruit, good grip.

Red

2019 Silver Oak (Alexander Valley): Opaque dark red, mint, tar and cigar smoke on the nose, chewy dark chocolate fruit ending with firm tannins.

2019 Silver Oak (Napa Valley): Opaque dark red with a brick rim, toasty, dark chocolate nose, silky fruit with white pepper notes, good grip.

2019 Timeless Red Blend (Napa Vallery): Opaque black, pretty nose of earth, dark chocolate and stewed fruit, silky and firm with silky tannins and a long finish.

2019 El Enemigo Cabernet Franc (Mendoza): Opaque dark red with a purple rim, black pepper on the nose, juicy.

2019 Luca Malbec (Uco Valley): Opaque medium purple, roast nuts on the nose, tight, light fruit.

2020 Feudo Maccari Saia Sicilia (Sicily): Clear light red, earthy leather on the nose with bright red fruit.

2021 Twomey Pinot Noir (Dundee Hills): Clear medium red, dark leather and dark black fruit on the nose, silky red fruit with cola notes.

2021 Michael Chiarlo “Le Orme” Barbera (Piedmont): Clear medium red, dried herbs on the nose, bright red fruit with crisp acids.

Pressoir.wine is run by the team behind La Paulée and La Fête Du Champagne. In addition to running those events they also host (very expensive) Burgundy dinners and about once a month a Burgundy “happy hour”. At the happy hour they pick a village in Burgundy and showcase about a dozen, mostly premier cru wines from that village.

On February 10th it was the appellation of Puligny-Montrachet which has 17 premier crus of mostly white wines made from Chardonnay.

The tasting was open to the consumer and was a casual, walk around tasting held at their tasting room and clubhouse located at 285 West Broadway in lower Manhattan. Most of the wines were from the 2017 vintage which is considered a good vintage. I found a lot of lemon, tart notes on the finish. There were also a sprinkling of other vintages as well.

As usual, knowledgeable staff were on hand with information on what they poured and to answer any Burgundy related questions.

White wines I sampled:

2018 Domaine Bachelet-Monnot “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, toasty nose, nice fruit with firm acids.

2017 Domaine Genot-Boulanger “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, closed nose, tight with some oak notes on the back end, firm acids.

2017 Domaine de Montille “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, dried herbs and white flower on the nose, middle fruit with lemon tart on the finish.

2017 Domaine Leflaive “Les Folatieres”: Light gold, honey, ripe kumquat and toast on the nose, tight with citrus notes on the finish.

2018 Jean-Luc & Paul “Champ Gain”: Medium gold, oily, toasty nose, light lemon fruit.

2017 Domaine Faiveley “La Garenne”: Very light in color, ripe fruit on the nose, moderate fruit followed by crisp acids on the finish.

2017 Etienne Sauzet “Les Perrieres”: Medium gold with a floral nose, tight fruit with tongue coating acidity.

2015 Domaine Bachelet-Monnot “Les Referts”: Light gold, honey on the nose, nice balance of tropical fruit notes with good acidity.

2017 Etienne Sauzet “Les Combettes”: Medium gold, toasty nose, juicy with dried herbs on the finish with good acidity.

2015 Etienne Sauzet “Les Combettes”: Medium gold, closed nose, light with moderate acidity.

2015 Etienne Sauzet “Champ Canet”: Medium gold, honeyed nose ending with some tart notes.

Gewürztraminer is an exotic grape varietal with an equally exotic aroma with the distinctive smells of grapefruit, lychee, peaches, and ginger rising up from the glass.

The grape makes a big presence in the Alsatian wine region of France but it’s grown throughout the wine producing world including the North Fork of Long Island wine region.

One afternoon I took a drive to the North Fork wine country and revisited a couple of the wineries where I had sampled Gewürztraminer before.

I stopped by One Women Winery, a small winery producing estate bottled wines, and Lenz Winery, one of the oldest wineries on the North Fork.

One Women Winery 5195 Old North Road, Southold

2018 Gewürztraminer

Dark gold in color with an oily nose of ripe peaches and lychee, dry with melon notes on the finish, moderate to low acids.

Lenz Winery 38355 Route 25, Peconic

2016 Gewürztraminer

Dark gold in color, closed nose of toasty ripe peaches, tight with moderate apple fruit notes and firm tannins.

Bice is a family run restaurant group that began with the first restaurant in Milan, Italy in 1926. They are now a worldwide business with restaurants in several countries.

They have a restaurant in New York City, Bice Cucina at 62 West 55th Street in midtown Manhattan. They decided to open another branch at 15 Watts Street in the trendy Soho district of lower Manhattan.

On July 7th they held a preopening party at their new Soho restaurant, Bice Cucina.

Coming off of over a year of lockdowns and restrictions, people are hungry for a good time and for the people who were lucky enough to get an invite to the opening, they were treated to a party with flowing spirits, food, and a few model types strolling around the venue.

I wish them luck at their new venue.

 

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On Saturday March 2nd, City Farm, an entertainment production and marketing agency held its 2nd annual Brooklyn Reserve, a wine, beer & larder festival. The event “celebrates the passionate makers of the culinary world by connecting audiences to local and international producers”.

It was an opportunity to sample 30+ local and international wines, beer and a trio of Russian vodka with artisan bites from local restaurants.

The event was held at The Bell House located at 149 7th Street in the Gowanus neighborhood in Brooklyn. It’s an event space in an old warehouse in the middle of nowhere just off of the Gowanus Canal.

The closest subway station, the Smith-9th Street station G and F train stop has the distinction of, at 87.5 feet high, of being the highest rapid mass transit station in the New York City subway system, and indeed in the world. It was built that high to accommodate the tall-masted that used the Gowanus Canal below it. It does have a spectacular view of the surrounding area at the top of the station.

The wines were from small, off the radar producers but very drinkable and music by the Jerome Sabbagh Trio. It was an enjoyable afternoon.

Some of what I sampled:

 

Maria Rigol Ordi Brut Nature Reserva Cava

2018 Caractere Unique Saint Chinian Blance

2017 Colombier Muscadet

2015 Chateau La Fleur Grand Landes Montagne St. Emillion

2016 Chateau Manos Cadillac

2015 Chateau de Peyguerol Costieres de Nimes

2016 Li’Infi Cahors

2017 San Marcello Lacrima di Morro D’Alba

2016 Barking Dog Old Vine Zinfandel