My best friend, Ted, surprised his lovely bride, Megan, for her birthday, with a bus trip for family and friends out to the North Fork, to do some wine tasting. I think there were about 35 people in attendance, on a coach bus...4 stops over the course of 4 hours...My overall assessment is that there is some good wine being made out there, unfortunately, it represents some of the worst Quality to Price Ratio around. Chardonnay should not be produced out there, period. I did not taste any Chardonnays from these 4 wineries (small sample set admitted) that merited me taking a second look.
1) Baiting Hollow Winery-Honestly, I would rather not post notes on these wines, as they were all pretty bad. Their Riesling (which received a gold medal recently from some awards competition) was not at al like Riesling. Their Cabernet Franc had strong burnt overtones, and everything in betweem was that much worse. No one really knew much about the wines, they were just pouring alcohol for people to get wasted, it would appear.
2) Next stop...Palmer Vineyards...one of the landmark wineries in LI. This place has been around for over 25 years. Clearly a step up from #1. I tasted the SB, Gewurz and Sparkling white to start. I did not care for the SB or the Gewurz, but I did enjoy the Sparling (100% Chardonnay). The Gewurz lacked any of the nuances of a "typical" Gewurz and the SB was very bland. The Rose Merlot was not very exciting either (this is their first time producing this wine). 2005 Merlot was very good for me, and one of the best "values" of the trip. Good structure, this wine was not old in any way. Well balanced. The Cabernet Franc was uneventful. The next two wines are the "best" at Palmer...the Gallagher's Private Reserve Red (private label for Gallagher's Steakhouse) and the Select Reserve Red. Gallagher's private label is available for sale at the winery, so not much of a private label. The Select Reserve got a slight nod for me. Both are similar blends and similar flavor profiles, but the Select Reserve had a touch more sweetness on the palate for me, which made it more enjoyable to drink now. The woman who did the pouring was reasonably knowledgable on the wines.
3) Macari. I guess Macari is one of the newer wineries to pop up on the scene. I think they may have been one of the first to produce a $100 wine out there. The woman who poured the wines did not know too much, other than she told how much better LI wines are versus the Finger Lakes (which if I really cared, I would have raked her over the coals for). Anyways, my best wine of the day was here...2004 Macari Bergen Road. Great great wine ($43 at the winery). I did enjoy the Katherine's SB as well, but the Estate Chard and the Reserve Chard, you could keep. Most of the Chards I had were completely overoaked, it reminded me of KJ 5 years ago. 2004 Cabernet Franc was true to the varietal. Very earthy nose, lots of spice in the mouth, overall a pleasant wine. 2004 Merlot Reserve was a winner for me. At $36/btl, maybe not that good, but very good wine all around. The Bergen Road Meritage was a dead ringer for a good value Bordeaux or Cali Claret. 25% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot...this was the kitchen sink, but I enjoyed sipping on this one. Finished with 2005 Block E Chardonnay (ice wine style). The acid was way too low for this wine, more like a sweet, dense, Chardonnay with low alcohol. At $40, easy pass.
4) Last stop was where we had lunch, Osprey's Dominion...another crowded venue with people sucking back a lot of alcohol. I tasted numerous wines here and I could only find one that I "liked." The 2005 Cabernet Franc was decent wine. Very masculine and powerful for CF. At $24, I ain't buying though. Toasty, oaky Chard, Uninteresting SBs, Gewurz was a good $6 summer sipper (@$15). The Merlot was too flabby, the Cab Sauvignon was just awful. The reserve wines showed a lot of oak, too much considering they were 2005 vintage.
Overall, my first trip to LI wineries was exactly what I expected. A few good wines, a lot of bad wines, lots of alcohol being consumed, and very poor QPR. Macari was tops for me, it seems like they know what they are doing there, unfortunately, the prices are out there, but I would drink the wines again...for free...
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