LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK, WINES

Sandy and Barbara McIntosh sacrificed to provide this report on Long Island, N.Y. wines!

Twenty-five years ago an honest assessment of wines produced on Long Island would be that, while promising, they embodied the pungent taste and fragrance of potatoes. This is logical since the grapes are grown on former potato fields. Despite an unpromising start, the Long Island wine industry has matured from one small vineyard to 3,000 acres of vines and over thirty wineries that produce wine they boast are world-class.

There are two good reasons to wish the success of Long Island vineyards. The first has to do with climate. The island extends 120 miles into the Atlantic Ocean, which allows the grapes to grow in the mitigating maritime weather familiar to French wineries and, perhaps, to those in Sonoma County. The second has to do with the much-less sexy subject of real estate.

Long Island potatoes used to compete favorably with the Idaho variety. However, the forces that encourage supermarkets to feature one brand over another pushed out the Island’s spuds. Farmers were going into bankruptcy and looking to sell land that their families had worked for generations. The sale of land from one farmer to another commands a greatly reduced price than land sold to a housing developer. Thus, farms began to disappear, and the idyllic Hamptons became the crowded mish-mash of shouting, honking, pissed-off urbanites-on-holiday that it now is. Luckily, to stem this horror, the idea that good wine could be grown took hold. Vineyard land sells for a premium, but apparently produces enough income to support those who desire to make wine.

Having said that, I wish to report that, though a Long Islander, I haven’t kept up with the wines of the region for several years. Thus, at great personal expense and sacrifice on behalf of this blog, and following the knowledgeable recommendations of my friends at Pop’s Wines & Spirits in Island Park, I bought three bottles of what the management insisted was the state of the art of Long Island winemaking. (I was offered a choice of Rieslings, supposedly terrific, but turned them down because I dislike sweet wines.) Those I bought were the Pindar 1998 Mythology Meritage Red Table Wine, the 2000 Pindar Merlot Reserve, and the 2002 Chardonnay bottled by Macari.

And what did Barbara and I find, when we finally got the opportunity to try them? Really genuine surprises! After discovering that our new Thai/Chinese/Japanese fusion restaurant we’d been notified about through their menu in our post box had never opened, we cooked a couple filet mignons, some creamed spinach and some rosemary roasted potatoes we picked up in the local King’s supermarket—a rich but blank palate accompaniment for wines.

The Pindar Mythology is a complex Bordeaux blend from a vintage year of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. It is deeply and wonderfully fruity. Is it worth $35.00? Well, perhaps $25.00. It is, in fact, a terrific wine. The kind you want to muse over.

The Pindar 2000 Merlot is a very good wine, with complex flavors of Black Cherry, Black Plum and spice. This is a good buy at about 20 bucks.

The Macari Chardonnay is also a notable Chardonnay, with a mellow, rather than sharp Chardonnay taste, as some other Long Island Chardonnays have exhibited.

Barbara and I were very happy with the subtlety and robustness of these wines—and, moreover, very proud that Long Island wines have finally allowed us to enjoy our potatoes in their natural form, rather than in our wine.