ny wine

In Long Island, at least according to my taste buds are better than some Virginia wines. Most of the vines are still young, and a lot of the bottles are overpriced. By the 2nd round of tastings I'm happy enough to handing my debit card over to purchase (over the course of a day) 6 bottles of wine which are now sitting in my car trunk. Anyway, here's the synopsis of my little wine tour through Long Island's North Fork, I didn't take notes during the trip so you're not going to hear anything about 'a floral nose' with 'a peppery kick':

Jamesport--They ignored us for the first 5 minutes. One guy served customers who came in after us before asking us if we had been helped. I didn't buy anything there. Their chardonnay is passable. Also my best-friend's sister who just got a job there was asked out by the manager, after rejecting him, he told her not to come to work.

Pellegrini Vineyards-Has probably one of my favorite Chardonnays (2003 Pellegrini Chardonnay)-faily medium-bodied. I'm trying to appreciate white wine again after solely drinking reds. Its so much better for a cool drink in the summer. I bought a Cabernet Sauvignon (2000 Pellegrini Cabernet Sauvignon) too, also pretty tasty. Pellegrini also boasts one of the most picturesque vineyards.

Castello di Borghese (Hargrave)- Oldest vineyard on the North Fork. I'm a sucker for French wines (particularly Medocs and Bordeaux) and these guys make their wines with the same techniques. I splurged again on their 2000 Meritage, which is a Bordeaux-like blend--tasty although must save for special occasions since it cost me $45 bucks (no more wine shopping till I hit South Africa and can buy them for cheap!!!). Also I quite liked their Pinot Noir, which after being completely turned off by the pretentiousness of its pedestal placing in Sideways, I gave another chance (most due to a newly met friend who was disappointed by my Spanish wine-heavy collection).

Bedell - Excellent table wines, both the Main Road Red and Main Road White. Pretty labels too!