is long island the new willamette valley?

June 03, 2013

I'm a loyal Willamette Valley Pinot Noir drinker and am not the kind of girl who goes for a buttery, oaky Chardonnay or white in general, but when summer hits reds seem out of the question. The first time I had a Chenin Blanc from Long Island, I spent the next few weeks popping in and out of pretty much every wine store from Tribeca to the East Village searching for this wine. Surprised? So was I. 

What I came away with from these wine enthusiasts and sommeliers was a wine tasting tour on Long Island was a must. 

11 months later...

This past weekend, my friends and I planned a trip to North Fork on Long Island. We rented a car and hopped around 3 different vineyards for the day starting at Batting Hollow Farm and Vineyard, then Pugliese Vineyards and ending at Vineyard 48Within the first stop, I realized why Long Island is on its way to becoming the next trending region like the Willamette. 

Bachelorette parties. 

Ok, just kidding, but there were about 10 at the first stop. 

The Batting Hallows was my favorite with a country style house, patio, tent covered seating area, live music and a barn for the farm's rescued horses. Some of the horses even trace back to Kentucky Derby stars like Secretariat and War Admiral. 


 My favorites wine for the day was the Savannah Rose. There's something about a Rose that makes it the perfect wine for a hot summers day. I also liked the Angel Chardonnay, which is steel barrel aged if you're thinking back to my earlier buttery, oaky comment. 

Pugliese was a good stop for sparkling wine with a list ranging from blanc de blanc to sparkling merlot.   I think this would be a great place to start a wine tour, so you can start light with sparkling wines. They also had a nice outdoor seating area and live music, and another 5 or so bachelorettes. Are we seeing a theme yet?


Our last stop was Vineyard 48, which was a much different vineyard experience complete with a DJ and dance party. Bachelorette party mecca. The favorite at this stop was their NoFo Peach wine. I think this wine would be really cool to try in a skinny sangria recipe.

If you're thinking about taking a trip to Long Island, I'd highly recommend you get a group and do a tour with a car. If you're coming from the city, you may remember a thing called a designated driver you had to think about before you lived in NYC.  The driver is a must.  Our tour was also nice because when we arrived at the vineyard we were given tickets for the wine tasting which were included in the price we paid for the car. Our tour also coordinated lunch for us in the middle of our tour which was key. 

If you want to get the look from the hat in the first picture. It's a cloche style hat from Anthropologie, and here are some other similar ones.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Corbin! So fun to discover your blog today. Thanks so much for stopping by mine!

    I'm headed to Long Island next week to shoot for my book and I'm super excited about it. I hope the weather stays as beautiful as it seems in your shots. Have a great week and cheers from London!

    Will

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  2. WOW, whoever took that first photo is such a great photographer! Had such a great weekend wine touring with you.

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