around town - the north fork	« life & style
Added: October 31, 2008, 9:29 am	Share    Print    Email

A couple of years ago, Howard Goldberg of the New York Times wrote that "Ultimately Long Island's signature red wine may not be merlot, as is now routinely assumed. Given the glacial pace at which young wine regions develop - there is only one annual vintage, after all - decades are needed for patterns of strength to become boldly distinct."

Cab franc - here grapes ready for harvest might yield the wines that put and keep Long Island on the wine map. Photos by Lenn Thompson

I don't always agree with Goldberg's take on Long Island wines (what fun would it be if I did?) but I am 100 percent on board with what he's saying here. Merlot might not be the grape that puts and keeps Long Island on the world wine stage.

Blasphemy you say? Well, there is mounting evidence that no matter what local grape growers and winemakers will tell you, Long Island may be best known for its cabernet franc wines one day.

Yes, seriously.

Many of my favorite local reds are based on cabernet franc, one of the major red wine varieties of Bordeaux, where it is mostly grown for blending with cabernet sauvignon and merlot. But, there is at least one region where it's the star, and vinified alone, the Loire Valley in France in regions like Chinon. Could Long Island be the next great cabernet franc region? Maybe.

There is an unending list of great cab francs and cab franc-dominated blends made here including those from Castello di Borghese, Jamesport Vineyards, Lieb Family Cellars, Macari Vineyards, Osprey's Dominion, Paumanok Vineyards, Peconic Bay Vineyards, Pellegrini Vineyards, Raphael, Roanoke Vineyards, Shinn Estate Vineyards, and Wolffer Estate.

Of course, they all produce quality merlot as well, there's no doubt about that, and perhaps more consistently. But why the burning desire in some circles to push Long Island as a "merlot region" especially given the lingering "Sideways"-induced disdain for the varietal and, let's face it, market saturation?

This is a discussion I've had with several winemakers and winery owners over the years. Some maintain, and it's hard to argue, that if you remove merlot from the overall Long Island wine equation, then the overall quality drops. There is also the argument that Long Island needs to "put a stake in the ground" the way Oregon did with pinot noir years ago.

From a financial perspective, it's not hard to see why many want to push merlot - they've invested heavily in the grape by planting large chunks of their vineyards with the grape. To admit that another grape does better would mean that was a mistake, and require replanting.

So where do I stand on the issue? I get asked this a lot and my answer is ever-evolving.

Long Island wines made a strong showing at a conference in California.

On one hand, I'd love to see Long Island gain traction with their merlot (or any varietal really) to pull people in. Once they are "hooked" I think the region's diversity will keep them here.

That diversity was on display last weekend at the first annual Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, CA in the heart of Sonoma County. I was there and I had almost two cases of Long Island wine with me. I wanted to expose writers from all over North America to my local wines. And I watched closely as they tasted through that diversity.

What did I learn about the cabernet franc versus merlot battle? Not much. Of all of the Long Island wines, the wines that received the most attention were the cabernet francs - and the merlots.

On the cabernet franc front, Remy Charest of Quebec, Canada and author of Wine Case (winecase.wordpress.com) singled out Wolffer Estate's 2004 Cabernet Franc, telling me that, "Among the many nice wines I tasted, a 2004 Wölffer Estate Cabernet Franc, from the Hamptons, on Long Island, particularly stood out. Beautiful cabernet franc flavors, with a nice sweet pepper and red fruit on the nose, great structure, and built for aging. World-class, no doubt about it."

Russ Beebe, founder of California Wine Hikes guided tours and author of the Winehiker Witiculture blog (californiawinehikes.com/winehiker) chose The Lenz Winery's 2001 Old Vines Merlot as his favorite saying, "I found it to be one of the better merlots I have ever tried. Soft, round, warm and enticing, like the feeling you get when waking on a Sunday morning with a smile, knowing you can sleep in."

John Witherspoon, who writes his Anything Wine (anythingwine.wordpress.com) from Richmond, Virginia liked Roanoke Vineyards 2006 Cabernet Franc. In fact, it changed his overall opinion of New York wines, "Having only had one or two unmemorable New York wines [before] I was excited to get the opportunity to taste a good sampling from the state. The one that stuck out in my radar the most was a 2006 Roanoke Vineyard from Long Island. Nice bright red fruit aromas on the nose laced with a touch of wet earth followed by raspberry-cherry and the tell-tale raw green pepper flavors."

Personally, the wine that I thought was tasting the best was the 2005 Cabernet Franc from Shinn Estate Vineyard. The 2001 Oregon Hills Reserve Merlot from Peconic Bay was popular as well.

One could argue that cabernet franc is something that wine geeks - and bloggers - are more apt to like than the average consumer, but that's another topic for another discussion.

I think Goldberg is right. It may be too early in Long Island's wine life to pick the wine that will lead the way. The region only started planting wine grapes in 1973 after all, and that was cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. Neither one of those is going to be the grape. That much we do know.

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Lenn Thompson lives in Sound Beach with his wife Nena and infant son, Jackson. He is the former editor of the Long Island Wine Gazette and writes about local wines for several media outlets including AppellationAmerica.com , Edible East End, and his blog LENNDEVOURS.com. He loves hearing from readers and fellow local wine enthusiasts. You can email him at lenndevours@gmail.com.