Strong Island

I had a huge lunch yesterday. The WineBoss (aka, the WineDude), convinced me to order skewers of marinated chicken over some hedonistically good rice from an establishment known as the Afghan Kebab House #1. (NB...there's a long story about the history of the "#1" which I will save for my next blog, Ethnicfooddaddy, but I digress). The meal came with bread that tasted like the crust of a Pizza Hut pan pizza (trust me, it's been at least 20 years since I ate Pizza Hut but i still remember the crust tasting like it had just jumped out of the mega deep fryer). Bottom line is that i was stuffed. So much so that after my usual 7p glass of wine after the WineToddler had her dinner, I wasn't so much into the whole food thing so I kept on drinking.


So what was the whole point of that entirely uninteresting set up...? Well, what I was drinking knocked my socks off and was so good (sans meal) that I just kept drinking (along with some help from wives and neighbors) and by 9:15p I realized that I had still no appetite and the bottle I had just opened was almost gone. It was a Tuesday night. It was that good.


So what, you might ask, was so delicious? How about the Peconic Bay Winery, 2001 Merlot. That's right...home-grown wine (and a Merlot too)

So, remember back a few months when I told you about my annual trek to the North Fork of Long Island, NY to tour the increasingly hyped wineries? This was the last bottle I purchased and quite honestly, even AFTER they told me that this particular 2001 Merlot had won some awards, I didn't think much about it b/c I had consumed enough prior to that point that my palette had been severely numbed. I also didn't think much about it since I generally don't buy into hype and trust me, Long Island is getting the hype. Lettie Teague has a nice article in this month's Food and Wine basically making the same point but nowhere did she mention Peconic Bay. She should have.

But I forged on and opened up the bottle that I promised in my previous post that I was going to hold off on for a few years. Yeah, well, we know how that goes. Thankfully, I threw caution into the wind because the high tannins that I had recalled had really mellowed out and what showed through was a really wonderful and velvety smooth wine. There is not a ton of fruit in this wine but what is there, blackberries, ripe cherries, etc. really come through. The acidity is tempered by some nice spice and the wine definitely opened up a considerable amount after being opened an hour or so.

According to the Peconic Bay website, they are sold out of the 2001 Merlot but seem to be offering a new 2001 Reserve Merlot/Cab blend from a region called "Oregon Hills." Here's a description:

2001 Merlot Oregon Hills Reserve Winemaker Notes: This blend consists of 75% 2001 Merlot and 25% 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The Merlot contributes soft plum, chocolate and smooth tannins. The Cabernet lends the wine upfront blackberry aromas and enhances the length of the finish. The combination of these two yields a third significant character that I associate with "roundness". The perception is that the wine if full and supple. There are no holes in the palate. This is an excellent food wine. I would pair it with a sirloin steak in Portobello reduction sauce using some of this wine as the base.


Glad to see that the winemaker isn't too specific on his choice of food pairings??? but regardless, it sounds like a wonderful wine. I'm looking forward to getting home tonight to polish off that last glass. You can bet I'm going to plan the WineFamily's next trek out east so I can pick up some more hype in a bottle.