The Wine's the Thing
Mitch Kornfeld
6/13

Windows on Long Island

I know it's spring again because I just went to the eleventh annual Windows On Long Island, a wine and food event held every May on the 106th floor of New York's famed World Trade Center. 

There were eighteen wineries serving over eighty wines and twenty restaurants each serving a dish. It's quite an event, and it was quite well attended too. I went to the first Windows On Long Island in 1991 (The name comes from the restaurant on the 107th floor that owns the banquet space, Windows On The World.), and can recall a few of the excellent 1988 reds -- the Bedell Merlot was great -- but I've skipped the event most of the intervening years. 

"Windows" has been $100 for a few years now (for two and a half hours), though that doesn't seem to dissuade many people. Tastings usually cost half that, but there is all of that food, and they have a charity tie-in (Gilda's Club New York) that gives you a $50 tax deduction. For me the other $50 is a business expense and you're reading the column that proves it. Next year I'll try to register earlier and get on the press list (which was completely full). If "they" happen to read this I figure they will be so happy with all the puffed up reviews I'm going to give their wines they will gladly let me in for free. Actually, that's not true at all because the wines are very good, I like them just fine and I know I'm going to have good things to say (and I'll offer to make the $50 donation anyway).

I've been going to the North Fork of Long Island since about 1985 when there were, as memory serves, seven wineries. At last count the North Fork has twenty and the cooler South fork even has three. I don't want to get too carried away with the history of Long Island -- that is definitely food for another column and there's the matter of the twenty-six wines I tasted and have to review. Maybe I'll write a book on long Island wine one of these days/years/decades, but for now you should know that the first vines were planted by Alex and Louisa Hargrave in 1973. The Hargraves were looking for a place on the east coast to plant Vitis Vinifera -- the wine bearer -- the true European wine grape, when they discovered the North Fork of Long Island. (How you discover a place that already has people is a good question, but it never bothered Columbus so we won't let it get in our way.) 

The North Fork is a peninsula bounded on its three sides by, in ascending size order, Peconic Bay (home of the world's finest scallops), Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean. What all that water (which never freezes) does is to moderate the climate, which means in the winter it's warmer than it normally would be for the latitude, and in the summer it's cooler. This helps to make three things possible. One: It makes possible the cultivation of Vitis Vinifera, since there aren't any hard, killing, winter frosts that would destroy this cold susceptible species. Two: Fruit acids, which are necessary to make a balanced and age-worthy wine, aren't knocked out by excessive heat. And three: The North Fork enjoys a 210-day growing season, which is the same as Bordeaux. Add to that the fact that Long Island has the best soil in (or from) all of New England, conveniently left there by the last glacier, and you have the prescription for a world-class wine producing region, which is exactly what it is.

As you might have guessed, the Hargraves and the early wineries planted Bordeaux varieties, mostly red ones. Undoubtedly they were hoping to make great Cabernet Sauvignon but the cabernets have been good but not great. The problem seems to be that the region really is like Bordeaux and Cabernet Sauvignon only gets fully ripe three or four times in a decade. This might improve a little with global warming, but if the worst-case scenarios for global warming come true the whole region will be underwater in another 99 years, which is something to think about. 

For red Bordeaux varieties the region is similar to the Right Bank of Bordeaux. Merlot is the best Long Island red. It ripens a little sooner than Cabernet Sauvignon, has always been very good and can be excellent in good years, Recently Cabernet Franc has been coming on strong, and the Bordeaux-type blends have been getting better.

While Merlot is the leading red variety, which was fortunate for the wineries as Merlot was especially popular in the 1990's, they were really lucky that the best white turned out to be Chardonnay (and we all know how popular that is). It's so good that the only New York State wine ever to make the Wine Spectator's Top 100 wines of the year was a Long Island Chardonnay, the 1988 Grand Vineyard Selection from the late lamented Bridgehampton vineyards, a South Fork winery. Everyone makes one, two, or even three Chardonnays. When the yields are kept down they can exhibit layers of flavors in the French style. Several other whites do well too. Gewürztraminer is very good as is Pinot Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc is good too, and Viognier shows potential. I don't think the dry Rieslings have been very good but to be honest I haven't tried one in a while (the same sentiments apply for Pinot Noir).

There are a few other stray whites around. I've seen one winery each with a Chenin Blanc, a Semillon, and a Pinot Grigio. There are a few rosés, a few desert wines, and a sprinkling of sparklers. It's an interesting emerging region and once you get by the suburban sprawl it looks like New England. You'll find that wine country begins about 90 miles (about 145km.) from Manhattan. Obviously I recommend visiting. The wines just keep getting better, and for New Yorkers it's exciting to see a new world class wine region growing up right down the road. If you are visiting the City or "the Island" for that matter, you will find the wines in good wine stores and in a good deal of good restaurants. In these days of inflated prices they represented good values too, as it's just about impossible to find anything over $40. Now on to the actual tasting.

Keeping with the correct procedure I started with whites, so wine number one was a 1998 Chardonnay from Schneider Vineyards. It didn't come jumping out with Chardonnay character in the nose but that may have to do with the somewhat lighter than normal '98 vintage. It had some depth and complexity and lingered for a while. It's a good basic Long Island Chardonnay, that is to say more French styled than California styled, and makes a nice introduction to L.I. wines. It's $19.00. Schneider is best known for having one of the very best Cabernet Francs on Long Island and I really wanted to get back and try it, but I ran out of time.

The next wines I tried were from Wölffer Estate, one of the two South Fork wineries that participated in the event. They started me off with their 1996 Brut, which was made from 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir, though they, actually the winemaker, told me that future versions will have more Pinot Noir in them. The Brut tasted as if it had way more than than 20% Pinot. It was flavorful and showed a little taste of yeast. It was a good effort, especially from the so-so '96 vintage. It lists for $28.99.

The next wine I tried was the first of their three Chardonnays. It's called La Ferme Martin, and it's the current '98; 80% is fermented in stainless steel and the remainder in oak. On this day it was served too cold and wasn't showing much. I had tasted it in March at the Manhattan Ocean Club (a restaurant I recommend highly) during their semi-annual Wine Week promotion (highly recommended again) and it showed real Chardonnay character, at only $12.99 a bottle I might add, and as it's the entry level wine it's what got me over to try the Wölffer wines. I still think it's worth a try at $12.99. Their '98 Reserve Chardonnay was much better. It was obviously oakier, though not over-oaked, and it showed a lovely nose of balanced oak and chard fruit. It's a very nice wine and it goes for $17.99. The last Chardonnay was their '98 Estate Selection, It was aged in French oak for 8½ months, and my notes say it was also served too cold. It showed good balance, had some roundness, and was well made. It's $26.99.

The winemaker happened to mention that all their Chardonnays are made using only Dijon clones. All Chardonnay originally came from France of course. The vines referred to as Dijon clones have been developed in France, are pedigreed, and have a number for a name. For instance the Wölffer Reserve used Dijon Clone 76. You could argue all day about whether Dijon clones are any tastier than clones from your average new world nursery, but in this instance what's important is that the Dijon clones ripen about a week earlier than the new world clones. This is important for Long island and is particularly important for the South Fork. In these cool areas harvests are a race with the weather and a week can make all the difference in the world.

Before leaving Wölffer I tried their 1999 Rosé. It was made from Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. Usually when I see a line-up such as that I'm a little skeptical as it looks like they're putting something together with leftovers, but those are excellent varieties and it was a very refreshing rose. It too was a little too cold but it did a nice job of cutting through my cheese and mushroom filled crepes. It's a very nice picnic wine at $10.49.

The next wine I tried was from Peconic Bay Winery, their 1999 La Barrique Chardonnay. Though Barrique is French for Barrel, this wine showed just a kiss of oak. It was typical in its restraint and at 11% alcohol it was very easy to drink. It's not a showy wine and I found it a little disappointing for a wine from the very good '99 vintage. This winery has turned out some very good Reserve Chardonnays in the past so I can't write them off on the basis of this one wine. They are under new ownership and are expanding so I'll have to keep an eye on them.

The next winery I came to was Palmer Vineyards. I've always liked Palmer. Their Reserve Chardonnay is one of my favorites on the Island. The reds are beginning to really hit their stride too, so this is a winery to watch. I think the wines were being poured by the owner himself, one Robert Palmer. When I first saw that the winery was owned by another Robert Palmer, I thought, "Oh great another Robert Palmer to keep track of." There's the rock singer ("Simply Irresistible," "Addicted to Love" "Bad Case of Loving You," etc.), and the music critic. Palmer the critic used to write for the New York Times and I was always amused when in true Timesian fashion he would refer to the rock stars as "Mister." "The crowd rose and swayed and roared as one, captivated by the fluid metallic silkiness of Mr. Garcia's soaring lead guitar lines," to make up a quote. Needless to say, he's not the same Robert Palmer.

Meanwhile back at the tasting (I keep saying that), Mr. Palmer started me off with my favorite wine from his winery, the Reserve Chardonnay. It's the current 1998. It had a nice dark gold color, probably from the new French oak. The oak showed up in the nose as coconut and vanilla. It also showed up in the fruit. It had balance, depth, and richness, although not as much depth as in the really good years. (Generally the odd numbered years in the 1990's were the best for the Island. Some of the even years were good but I'd pass on the '92's and the 96's. 1997 seems to be especially excellent.) The Palmer '98 Reserve chard is a fine wine, from a line of Reserves with a fine track record. With a little more depth it would be truly excellent. I'm looking forward to the '99's. The '98 lists for $16.99, which makes it a very good buy.

It was still fairly early in the tasting and I was trying to stick to whites but then Mr. Palmer offered me his 1998 Cabernet Franc. Knowing that there was the distinct chance that I would miss it if I declined and considering how good the '97 was I decided to take him up on his offer. Though it didn't have the richness of the '97 it was very nice, showing fruit and herbs in the nose and on the palate, with a long finish. Mr. Palmer is very proud of it, as he has a right to be. It goes for $17.99.

Seeing that he was dealing with someone who liked his wines he then reached under the table and poured me a well-chilled not-in-the-tasting-program 1999 Gewurztraminer. It had a nice gold color, and a delicious, spicy, flowery Gewurz nose. It was round and following the California model (I guess to please the masses) had a little residual sugar. It usually has about 1.5%. (1.5% "R-S" in wine jargon.) It's a really nice wine and just needs a little more depth to get it up to an "excellent" rating. As it is, it's a good summer sipper and would make an excellent picnic wine. It's $14.99.

After Palmer I tried some whites from a winery that was new to me, Martha Clara Vineyards. I started with their 1999 Viognier. Viognier (Vee-on-yay as they say) is from the northern Rhone and is famous, and can be excellent, scarce, and expensive. Recently there have been new plantings of Viognier all over the world, notably in California and other parts of France, but the wines have not equaled the Rhones. To date I've tried exactly three from Long Island, a limited sample to be sure, but they're showing some potential. This Martha Clara had 12% Chardonnay in it and was fermented entirely in stainless steel. It showed some spiciness in the nose, had a nice flowery taste, and a light body. It had good acidity, enough to cut through the salmon with wasabi on deep fried won ton wrappers I was sampling. It's a pleasant wine that sells for $14.99, though at that price it could really use some more oomph.

Their next wine was a 1999 Semillon. It's the first varietal Long Island Semillon I have seen. I imagine there can't be much of it planted because there was only 76% Semillon in it, just enough to legally carry the varietal designation. The rest wasn't Sauvignon Blanc, as you might expect, but Chardonnay, in the Australian style, though the wine was much leaner than Aussie "Semchards." Semillons can often be heavy (that's one of the reasons they get blended), but this wine was actually light. It didn't have the characteristic figgines of Semillon and at first I wasn't impressed but as it warmed up the fruit flavor started to come out and it grew on me. It was also good with salmon and also showed bracing acidity (good acidity is a defining feature of Long Island wines). My notes end with "another promising variety for Long Island." The Semillon is, like the Viognier, $14.99, and like the Viognier is good but could use some more depth.

Next I tried their 1999 Estate Reserve Chardonnay. It is a more serious wine than the pair just mentioned and has more weight but I couldn't evaluate it because the particular bottle they poured from was corked. That's the actual technical term -- "corked." It means a bad cork spoiled the wine and it's not that uncommon an occurrence. If you've ever tried a wine that tasted cardboardy or moldy it was in all likelihood the cork that was bad and not the original wine. In a restaurant it's a valid reason (one of the few) to send back a wine. What really surprised me was that the chard I was poured came from a bottle that was already three quarters empty and no one had said anything to the people from Martha Clara. That meant that either everyone who had sampled that bottle was being polite (as I was, the bottle was already practically empty.), or they didn't realize that they were drinking from a bad bottle -- A bad $16.99 bottle. I'd like to think that it was the former but I suspect it was more likely the latter. Just because someone has bucks and can afford $100 for a tasting doesn't necessarily mean they have good taste. If you want to learn about this wine stuff you have to give it some effort. It isn't rocket science. All it takes is a little homework, a little effort, and a little reading. Consider yourself hypnotized. You will now bookmark this space and come back to it forty-odd times a year. After that you will know more useless stuff than you ever thought possible, but you will know enough about wine to order a good one when your boss/date/friends, take your pick, expects you to. Meanwhile if you ever suspect you are tasting a corked wine ask your server to try it. It's okay, they didn't cause the bad cork. If the bottle is corked you will be quickly given a new bottle and your boss/date/friends will be really impressed.

The next thing I tried wasn't a wine but it was one of the best things at the tasting: Long Island duck confit with mango chutney on poppadon (an Indian bread) from a restaurant named Antares Café, located in Greenport, on the North Fork. (As I recall Antares is a star in the constellation Orion. See, there's your first bit of good useless information.) The dish was rich, bursting with flavor, and totally terrific. By my third taste I had to have some wine with it so I went t to the winery at the next table and requested a wine that would complement the duck. The winery was Castello di Borghese, formerly Hargrave Vineyard. The name comes from the new owners, the Borgheses. I was given a glass of their 1999 Sauvignon Blanc. I can't give it an honest evaluation because it was competing with the very flavorful confit, but it sure was a teriffic match. (Thanks for recommending it, whoever you were.) I didn't try any of the other Castello di Borghese wines. All I can say is that the Sauvignon Blanc was just fine and there is one thing you can be sure of, they have the oldest vines on the Island. I'm going to try to taste all of there offerings this summer.

It was then time to start on the reds. The first one I tried was a 1998 Merlot from Corey Creek Vineyards. It showed a good spicy and berryish nose. It was fruity and my notes say "fair intensity (after the duck confit), very good." It sells for $17.00. This is a fairly new outfit and they seem to be off to a good start. I then found the table of Bedell Cellars. Bedell has been my favorite Long Island winery for quite a while now. To me the quality of the wines is the most important thing in evaluating or rating a winery, and Bedell certainly has that (they don't call Kip Bedell "Mr. Merlot" for nothing), but I also take price and value into consideration, as well as the niceness and friendliness of the operation. Bedell has always come through in every way. (Have you ever seen a winery website where they give you profiles of the staff and the pets?)

I wanted to stick to reds but I was really curious about their 1999 Viognier. I had tried their Viognier last summer (my recollection was that it was a non-vintage wine but it may have been a '98) and wasn't greatly impressed, but the '99 was much better. It had a spicy and floral nose and showed much more depth than the Martha Clara. It was a little spicy in the taste and my notes say "rich and yummy." It's quite an effort for only their second bottling of this variety. It's not Condrieu or Chateau Grillet (the two most famous northern Rhone appellations), but neither is it $40 or $50 or $60. (It lists for $18.00.)

Next up was the Bedell 1997 Merlot. Happily I recognized it right away by its nose. I say happily because I really should, as I've tasted every vintage of their Merlot since it was first produced in 1985. A good inhale reveals vanilla from the French oak and cherry from the Merlot fruit. The wine tastes the same only more so. It's just delicious. It shows some depth and is already showing roundness and is definitely coming around to readiness. I usually like to wait five years for the oak and the fruit in this wine to knit together and make a harmonious whole but this '97 is a precocious child and it is only going to get better. It will probably be at its best between six and twelve years old. If I had room I'd definitely get a case. It's $17.99 the bottle and $214.73 the case.

After the '97 Merlot it was time to try their '97 Cabernet Sauvignon. As I've said, on Long Island Merlots overshadow cabernets but this one should boost the image of the L.I. cabs as it was the fruitiest Long Island cabernet I've ever tasted. It's a tasty blend made from 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Merlot. It has a little spicy veggie-weediness in the nose but it's starting to get ready, has depth, and is really good. I'll be adding some to the collection. It's $25.00.

The next wines I tried were from another winery that was new to me, Lieb Family Cellars. Three out of their four offerings were white and I might have passed them by but I had just met Mark Lieb at the Bedell table and I promised to drop by. It turned out to be a good move as they had some good interesting wines. They started me off with a Blanc de Blancs (a sparkling wine) from the excellent 1993 vintage made from 100% Pinot Blanc. Pinot Blanc is not one of the three varieties allowed in Champagne (remember Champagne is a place name) but it is used in sparkling wines in other places, such as Alsace, and Domaine Chandon in Napa has always used some. Long Island is a good place for whites and it's a place that gets good acidity, which is needed in sparklers, so why not? The Lieb '93 was excellent. It's fruity and rich and has nice acidity. (It's $20.00.) My notes say "acidity enough to cut through the salmon." There's that salmon again. Sometimes these tastings turn into salmon-fests, which is fine with me as I'm fond of their healthy pink flesh (Omega-3 fatty acids. Yippee.) Tasting organizers know that salmon can go with whites as well as light and medium reds, so it makes frequent appearances. Windows on Long Island had three salmon dishes, two duck dishes, sushi, a gazpacho with shrimp, crepes, an actual goddamn roast suckling pig, and some other meat dishes that I don't indulge in, and that's not to mention the obligatory bread(s) and cheese(s). As I said at the beginning it's quite the event, and I haven't even mentioned the view. There you are 106 stories above Manhattan with all of this good food and good wine taking in the view at twilight as the City lights up. As the sun sets in the west even northeastern New Jersey looks good and all is fine with the world. Is this a great hobby or what?

My next wine was the Lieb 1998 Pinot Blanc. It's a tasty Pinot Blanc with a fruity nose and some depth of flavor. It's $15.00. After that I tried their 1999 Reserve Chardonnay. This was a really good wine. It reminded me of the Palmer Reserve in that its flavors went over to the vanilla and coconut end of the spectrum, but it didn't have quite the depth of the Palmer. It's very good and worth it at $15.

I then tried their 1998 Reserve Merlot. It was a tasty wine that showed some fruit and "has the spicy L.I. merlotness," as my notes read. It's $20.00, which is very reasonable for a Reserve Merlot. I like the Lieb wines, and I like that they use organic growing techniques too. It shows a commitment to paying attention to details and giving things more TLC. It's another winery I will have to watch.

I then found my way back to Palmer to see how their Merlot was doing. I had the '98 and found it to be a good wine but I can't give it a real review because I let the food get in the way again. My notes say, "competed with the smoked duck and (so help me) salmon with wasabi (again)." What can I say? These things are just a ton of fun, and isn't that the whole idea? Take yourself to one as soon as you get the chance.

I then got myself back to Wölffer and tried their 1998 Estate Selection Merlot. It was a serious wine in the Bordeaux style, showing more austerity than fruit. The young wine exhibited some drying tannins but it did linger on the palate. This one is for fans of Bordeaux and French styled wines, not for the new world-California fans. (It's $29.95) The Long Island wineries often compare the region to Bordeaux, mentioning that they grow the same varieties and have a growing season with the same length, but I think that the charm of Long Island wines is that (at least in the good years) they can have an almost Californian style fruitiness while at the same time retain Bordeaux style acidity, and have that Bordeaux style taste of the earth. I encountered all these qualities at my last winery of the tasting, Ternhaven Cellars.

At Ternhaven they bill themselves as "The Last Winery before France," and say they make "lush handcrafted, Bordeaux-style wines." I won 't quibble with them if that's how they want to be known, but when I think of lush wines I think of the new world and particularly California, although the Ternhaven wines certainly did not lack for fruit, especially their wines from the superior 1997 vintage. My fellow wine mavens around the table told me I had to try the 1997 Claret d'Alvah (Alvah lane is one of the main drags out there). In California it would be called a Meritage wine, the term used there for a wine made of Bordeaux varieties that doesn't contain 75% of one grape and can't carry a varietal designation. It's 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, though it tasted more like 65% or 75% to me, along with 35% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Franc. It is lush indeed. It's dark and has real depth of flavor. It's round and harmonious too. One of my fellow tasters said it had a real taste of what the French call terroir, which loosely translates to "earth," (I guess you can't use it to describe compacted earth) but, as wine writers have often pointed out, has no literal translation. Its definition also includes "soil," "microclimate," and "sense of place." I can recognize the taste of Long Island soil but it was wine number 24 for me and I guess I was used to it and the alcohol was probably dulling my senses a little by then, so I really didn't taste it, but this fellow, who was clearly enamored with the wine, was firm in his opinion. He said that getting the taste of terroir in there, along with the fruit and balancing acidity at the same time was something that California could not do. I highly recommend that you try this wine for yourself to see if you agree with him or not. Any way you look at it, it is an excellent wine, and it costs only about $20.00.

Ternhaven also makes Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but for the tasting they brought two Merlots, a '97 and a '98. The '97, as you may have guessed, was excellent. It was very dark for Merlot and it was very rich for one too. The '98 as befits the vintage, was lighter. It was obviously younger, a bit more acidic, and had a not unpleasant streak of spicy-vegginess. Ternhaven only has a five-acre vineyard so if you see any of their wines strike while the iron is hot and buy one. (Or if you are a Dr. Rich Lederer fan, picket for higher wages and better working conditions while the implement used to propel a small dimpled spheroid less than its maximum possible distance is flush with copious amounts of Kilocalories.)

After one last taste of the Claret d'Alvah the time was up for my stay at the eleventh annual Windows on Long Island. I will surely be at number twelve.

My next report will be on the New York stop of the (drum roll please) Napa Valley Vintners Association. You know how it goes. It's hard work but someone has to dot dot dot.

© Mitch Kornfeld 2001 All rights reserved

Send your comments or questions to...
mitchk@unionsquarejournal.com


Previously by Mitch Kornfeld...

Bully for Your (05/30/01)

Big Euro Tasting, Part III -- Remembrance of Bouquets Past (05/17/01)

Big Euro Tasting, Part II -- Greater Burgundy (05/09/01)

Grand European Tasting (05/01/01)

King Cab, Part V -- Spain, Chile, Argentina, Australia (04/18/01)

King Cab, Part IV -- Italy (04/04/01)

King Cab, Part III -- California (03/21/01)

King Cab, Part II -- Bordeaux (03/07/01)

King Cab, Part I -- Some Basics (02/27/01)

For a Big Red, Think Petite (02/18/02)

Tannic Monsters from the ID (02/08/01)

New York Wine and Restaurant Deals (01/30/01)

Dad's Cardinal Zins and Other Clichés (01/20/01)

Some Basics for a Winter's Eve (01/12/01)

And if They're Spanish That's Fine (01/05/01)

Hello Carbon Dioxide (12/29/00)

Wines for Christmas (12/22/00)

Nouveau Beaujolais, Etc. (11/24/00)

Going to a Tasting 101 (12/01/00)