out and about	« within the hedges
Updated: January 5, 2010, 1:12 pm	Share    Print    Email

SHS event committee: Adrienne Falzon, Calla Clay, Tom Edmonds (SHS Executive Director) and Jackie Scerbinski (Event Underwriter). Photos by Douglas Harrington

Sagaponack - Wolffer Vineyards hosted an off-season fund raiser for the Southampton Historical Society (SHS) and preservation - wine, Red Hat Ladies and a naughty calendar were the topics at the center of it all. Yes indeed, the Hamptons in all its perfect, iconic splendors!

The summer is over and, although a balmy autumn, there should be a quiet chill in the air, both meteorically and socially. After a season of frenetic, star-studded event hopping, the joy of covering a year-round, grassroots charity affair was just what the doctor ordered for this reporter and the Southampton Historical Society's "Grape Expectations" was the perfect prescription.

Louisa Hargrave, the devoted mother of the Long Island wine region.

Trust me, SHS brings it fair share of major celebrities out during their summer events, but the star of this event was a woman with real "roots" in the East End, and I do not mean by way of birth at Southampton Hospital or graduation from East Hampton High School. Louisa Hargrave, with her own hands, planted the vines that literally changed the landscape and socio-economic direction of our East End universe.

What has grown into the Long Island Wine Region was literally created by Hargrave, and her ex-husband Alex, on a hunch and a dream in 1973 with the establishment of Long Island's first winery, Hargrave Vineyard. In truth, she probably should be considered the East End's most important celebrity, at least when it comes to personal environmental impact. For the East End she is like Darwin, but instead of "Origin of the Species" it would be "Origin of the Grapes," as the vineyards now predominate as the East End's major agricultural asset, particularly along the North Fork. In regards to preservation, how much open land might have been lost to development had she and Alex not planted those first vines?

Hargrave was the featured speaker at the SHS event and we spoke prior to the arrival of the evening's attendees. I asked her first to comment on her presence and presentation at the evening's fund raiser in support of the SHS, "This is first a social event for people that support the historical society. My idea is not to create some kind of wine education for them, but to offer them some wines, reflect on the qualities of the wines a little bit and maybe then put a few ideas in their heads. The event is called 'Grape Expectations' and when you are talking about wine and you are talking about historic preservation, 'expectations' enter into the picture in a really big way. In terms of historic preservation, people drive by these buildings, they think they are going to be there forever, they think someone else is going to take care of them; it is just not on our radar. Yet, they represent the core of our culture and our traditions."

Hargrave continued "In terms of wine expectations, I think that people that live in this area don't understand where Long Island wines fit in the context of the wines of the world. Their expectations don't match the actual distinctive importance of these wines in the whole world of wine." Referencing a recent visit by a friend who is a British wine journalist, in both our conversation and her presentation, Hargrave noted how amazed he was at the reasonable pricing of Long Island wines in the context of their quality, "He frankly was amazed."

Three of the extraordinarily beautiful "Calendar Girls" that posed for the "Historic Figures of Southampton" calendar in support of the SHS.

I asked Hargrave how and why she thought that she could grow European wine grapes on Long Island, "I was 24 when I came here. I was not thinking at the time 'I want to build a wine region,' I just wanted to grow grapes and make wine. We wanted to find a place that was able to grow quality fruit that was not as hot as California. We wanted to make wines similar to what we had experienced in Europe, wines that are supple and had some life to them. We set about finding a place where we could grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, those classic grapes. We took an enormous risk, but it worked. We were willing to take the risk because we were so young. We felt that if it didn't work, 'Well okay, we'll pick up stakes and do something else. At least it is a beautiful part of the world.' It seemed like a good idea."

She continued, "We examined the historical reasons why it [grape growing] hadn't worked here. Historically people had tried to grow grapes on the East Coast for 300 years, they would do okay for a few years then everything would die, because of fungus. Ever since the Bordeaux mixture was discovered of copper-sulfate, you can take care of fungus. We recognized times had changed and maybe we could do it. Remember, every old farm out here had a grape vine between the kitchen door and the outhouse, but it was a concord vine for table grapes."

I asked Hargrave if the slow national recognition of the Long Island wine industry is due to marketing or lack of local support, "Every single restaurant on the North Fork and the Hamptons should be selling local wine. Not just because they are local, although I do believe they should support their local wine industry, but because these wines are every bit as good as the other wines on their lists. I have been in restaurants that sell Yellow Tail [Australian bulk wine producers] for $10 a glass, but I also know the restaurant is paying only $2.50 a bottle. As a consumer I am not exactly thrilled with that, nor should anyone be. I know that they can buy wines less expensive than local wines, because local wines have tremendous costs. The cost of land and restrictions and government intervention and regulations, those things that make it very expensive and onerous to grow a crop and make wine here in the State of New York. So I know it is not easy and it is costly, but I think the owners and the consumers need to get behind it. That being said, the reason our wine is not distributed more broadly is that the vineyards do have their market here, the wineries are very small and they do sell most of their wine in this market. I have heard from them that in the past year the Manhattan market has really taken off. There are a lot of socio-economic-environmental reasons to buy local wine, but the main reason to buy local wine is that it is very, very good."

The "Ocean Beach Bags" chapter of the Red Hat Ladies lifting a glass in support of historical preservation.

I asked Hargrave if the Long Island Wine Council had done a good job in her opinion or if they needed to do a better job marketing the region, "Unfortunately their budget has been severely cut and they have major funding issues, New York State has cut their funding. Meanwhile Argentina has spent $1.3 million dollars on marketing in Manhattan alone. Unfortunately, a lot of the money that does exist is going Upstate because the agency that is in charge of it is promoting Upstate Riesling and they are not looking at this market down here. The other problem is that some of the vineyards' business plan is tourism, while others want to be premium wineries. With these two different aspects, they don't necessarily agree on what needs to be done."

Hargrave, by the way, is vehemently against the sale of wine in supermarkets, "I can guarantee that when you go into a supermarket, once they get the ability to sell wine, that you will not find local New York wines on the shelves. Not only that, exactly who is going to help you make your wine choice?"

I continued with Hargrave by asking about the status of her seminal Long Island wine book "The Vineyard," "My book is now out of print, but some copies are still available on Amazon or through me. There is a beautiful new book by Jane Taylor Starwood called 'Long Island Wine Country.' It is all about the East End wineries, I wrote the foreword. It is a lovely book that has just come out. I am working on something [a new book], but I can't reveal its substance or title."

I wondered if Hargrave missed being in the field, "I loved working the vineyard and sometimes I will go help some friends. Now I am traveling the world exploring wine, I have my column in the local paper and a little radio spot on WLIU." I suggested that her new role was to be the ambassador for Long Island wine, Hargrave responded, "Absolutely!"

Back to the event, the supporters entered, socialized and sipped the wonderful Wolffer wines as Hargrave noted. Prior to introducing Hargrave, Tom Edmonds, executive director of the Southampton Historical Society spoke to me regarding the specific mission of the evening's fundraiser, "We are raising money for the continued preservation of two important structures, the Sayles Barn, which was occupied by the British during the Revolution and the 1680 Halsey House. People forget that the British occupied Southampton for seven years and there was terrible depravation, people were starving because they didn't want to grow food for the British, which took whatever they grew. The Sayre Barn was built in 1739 and was occupied by the British. It played an important role in one of the nation's most important events. People have forgotten that, we are trying to save it."

The previously mentioned "naughty calendar" is one of the most creative and effective fundraising tool I have seen in a long time. The "Historic Figures of Southampton" calendar features local, scantily clad, not nude, society women posed provocatively in sepia-toned support of the SHS. It is nothing short of brilliant marketing and, frankly, extraordinary art in both the beauty of the "figures" and faces of the models themselves and the execution of the photography by Nick Mansfield of Water Mill. I bought one myself and three of the "Calendar Girls" in attendance gladly autographed their months: January, February and June.

Among the many supporters in attendance was a contingent of "Red Hat Ladies." May Harden, Queen of this particular chapter, was adamant that I correctly identify their group, "We are called 'The Ocean Beach Bags' and we meet in September and each one of us picks a month throughout the year to decide what we are going to do. We go to Foxwoods and on the Jitney to Manhattan and other places, but after three years we decided it was time to do something charitable, so we are here tonight."

Okay, I ask you, Red Hat Ladies, beautiful "real" calendar women (not anorexic waifs) and the mother of the Long Island wine industry all gathered at a beautiful winery in support of historical preservation, what could be a better November evening? If you can think of one I'll be there with bells on, or at least wearing a red hat.

For more information go to www.southamptonhistoricalmuseum.org.