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Thursday, March 25, 2010

A Day at the Vineyards.

A Day at the Vineyards:
This past weekend, we had beautiful weather. Saturday was unseasonably warm and John and I decided to take a ride out East to visit some of the vineyards on the North Fork. We had alot of fun sampling wines and had a great dinner outside.
Below: John and I, a gorgeous Saturday ride out to the vineyards
Below is a short tour of our journey: Our first stop was Laurel Lake Vineyards. I've been here a few times now and I really like their wine. They have a good selection and its inexpensive to sample, $5 will get your 4 different wines to sample.

Below: Laurel Lake Vineyards (www.llwines.com)

My favorite wine here is the Sparkling Moscato! Its $22.00 "This unique wine with tropical flavor where the ripe peach and pineapple flavor jump out of the glass. Sparkling wine blends soft acidity with sweetness, adds to its sipping pleasure. Ideal as an appetizer or dessert wine enjoy it!!

Below: Posing at Laurel Lake with my favorite wine of their collection, Sparkling Moscato

Our next stop was at Pindar, one of the largest, most well-known wineries on the North Fork. They also have a large selection of wine and a few of my favorites! I am not really a fan of red wine since they tend to be on the dry side, but their "Sweet Scarlet" is fantastic and opened doors for me into the world of red!
Below: Pindar Vineyard (http://www.pindar.net/) Pindar Vineyards wine tastings run $4.00 for 6 wines, definately one of the best sampling deals around. We walked away from this one with "Sweet Scarlett", "Summer Blush", and "Johannisburg Riesling." Below: Sweet Scarlet $9.99

"Sweet Scarlett" is a red wine that is "user friendly." Full-bodied but with a hint of sweetness, this off-dry wine is great chilled (we prefer it this way) or at room temperature. Serve it with barbecue foods, hamburgers, Italian foods (especially red sauces), and spicy cuisine (such as Indian).

Below: Summer Blush $9.99

Pindar's famous Blush Wine, imitated by many but never duplicated. This semi-dry Rose is made with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, with a unique subtle strawberry flavor that comes not from strawberries, but from our own Suffolk Red Grapes. Refreshing and simply delicious with light summertime foods.

Below: Johannissberg Riesling, 2007 $16.99

This semi-sweet Riesling is bursting with complex floral notes of jasmine and hibiscus on the nose, and a palate of citrus, dried apricot and lychee. Balanced and zesty, it is great on its own or paired with spicy Asian dishes. This perennial customer favorite sells out fast!

Our last stop on the winery tour was Pellegrini Vineyard. This was my first time here and definately wasn't my favorite.

Below: Pellegrini Vineyard.

(http://www.pellegrinivineyards.com) It was really pretty, but we were not overly impressed with the wine selection and the tasting was just okay. I believe we paid $6 for only 4 wines, which was expensive. We sampled mostly reds, but they were all very dry. On our next trip, we would probably skip this one unless they lured us in with some live music ;)

Our last leg of the trip involved food. We were starving by 6:30 (and lets face it, we had alot of wine in our system- we needed some food for absorption!)

Below: aMano restaurant (we ate under one of those umbrellas)

We found this great little restaurant called aMano (http://www.amanorestaurant.com/) in Mattituck and stopped for dinner on the way home. It was right off Route 25, so we passed it heading out. We really enjoyed dinner on the outside patio as the sun was going down. Really, really nice!

I plan on going again when the weather gets a little warmer and doing some more wine tastings, maybe even a tour or so, and popping open some wine when the live music starts! Let me know who wants in next time around.

It really was quite the wine adventure...

Luv, Rach

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