Long Island Wine Country Tour



I was so pleased to host a tour of 37 wine lovers on Saturday. We departed from The Soho Grand Hotel at 8:30AM and picked up guests at Grand Central Station and Long Island. The morning was misty, but as we approached the North Fork things dried out.

Our first stop was Macari Vineyards in Mattituck. This is one of my favorite wineries on Long Island. The Macari's are a great family that produce wonderful wines. Their wines have a great quality to price value. So unlike other LI wineries, I feel these wines compete competently amongst similar priced wines from domestic and international wineries.

According to Joseph Macari SR, the proprietor, the 2008 Harvest was OK and not as fruitful as last year.


We tasted Macari's new Early Chardonnay($16.99), which was made from grapes just picked this September 14th! The wine was crisp and had a powerful scent of ripe apples.

Our second taste was a Cabernet Franc, which is in my opinion one of Long Island's best growing varietals. It has an earthiness that makes it versatile enough to pair with spicy Thai or Mexican dishes.

We were treated to two of Macari's premium wines, the powerhouse Meritage style red, Bergen Road and Block E, a delicious dessert wine that is made under the supervision of Austrian Winemaker Helmut Gangl.

After guests purchased wine for home, we trekked east to Greenport Harbor for lunch at Claudio's restaurant. Bill Claudio met our motor coach in the parking lot. We were lucky to be seated and have placed our lunch orders before a second coach arrived. Claudio's Stuffed Shrimp was delicious. I ordered a glass of Marlborough NZ Sauv Blanc, which tasted like an orgy of citrus.

Our second vineyard was a private estate owned by Theresa Boyle. I am leaving the wine brand out of this blog so that my competitors do not attempt to bring tours to this vineyard. This way I can continue to provide a really exclusive experience for my tour attendees.
Everyone enjoyed Terri's down home and humorous personality. Her wines were also well received.


Number three was Laurel Lake Vineyards. They are Chilean owned and put their soul into making wines with personality. Proprietor Juan Sepulveda has a lot of knowledge. He offered guests a personal tour and tasting.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Diary of a Grand Vintners Fundraiser Dinner

Image
Bertrand Bouquin , Executive Chef of the Broadmoor Colorado Springs and Chef Paul Schutt of The University of Denver’s HRTM School Photo © 2008 by Christopher J Davies Once a year, we produce the Grand Vintners Fundraiser Dinner, which is undoubtedly the highest profile event at the annual Denver International Wine Festival. 1 00% of the net proceeds all revenue generated from this evening will benefit the John S Davies Scholarship Endowment Fund. The scholarship is dedicated to the memory of my Father who was a talented Chef and Hospitality Manager. Dad died tragically at the age of 26 as the result of a car accident. In it's second year, the John S Davies Scholarship Endowment will directly benefit students of the University of Denver's HRTM School. In 2007, Cristina N.Mariani-May, family prop...
Read more

Turtle Soup…The Almost Forgotten Delicacy!

Image
--> The Food And Wine Chain Turtle Soup…The Almost Forgotten Delicacy! By Christopher J. Davies Over a century ago, Turtle Soup was earmarked in many a home cook’s favorite cookbook. It is said this was U.S. President Howard Taft’s favorite food. So seriously did he take this dish that he even selected a special chef for the White House who was a master at cooking a good Turtle Soup. Today a small group of restaurants across the country have Turtle Soup on their regular menus. The largest concentration of restaurants with Turtle Soup on their menus is found in America’s foodiest city, New Orleans! Of the dozen or so restaurants in NOLA making Turtle Soup, Commander’s Place is ground zero for this delicacy. Their creole version is thick and stew-like. It is usually topped off at your table with a drop of sherry. No, it does not taste like chicken, but more like a veal stew. At the helm of Commander’s Palace is Executive Chef Tory McPhail, a young and...
Read more

Hungary’s Epochal Food & Wine Culture

Image
Statues at Heroes Square, Budapest Dio Restaurant Mysterious fountain of wine! Budapest (pronounced/ Buda-Pesht), capital of Hungary, is in my opinion one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. During the cold war it had a reputation for being “the Paris” of Eastern Europe. The city is actually a combination of two cities Buda and Pest that are separated by the Duna (Hungarian) or Danube River. When I first visited Budapest in 1992, the inhabitants were still trying to grasp with their newly obtained freedom. The Soviet Union was officially dissolved. While this was mainly positive, some locals resented the jump in expenses that they incurred with freedom. When I dined in traditional popular restaurants, I experienced old world cuisine that was comprised of a great amount of heavily fried foods such as chicken and goose, doused in paprika & cream. The wine list’s consisted of 90 percent sweet local white varietals and classic Tokay and Aszu, sweet wines made in a similar style as ...
Read more