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.

Stick a Fork In It

I don't know about the rest of the world, but the Winedaddy has been hearing a refrain lately. It goes something like this: "The North Fork of Long Island (NY), is making really outstanding wines and is one of the biggest up and coming wine regions in the US." Now, of course that's a paraphrase to the audio recording in my head but it seems like everyone in these parts are talking about the North Fork these days. The good news is that all this chatter actually has some merritt to it. There really are some outstanding wineries out there and seeing is I have Wine-In-Laws who own a house just south of where all the action is, I've actually been able to taste some of this hype. Here are two standouts that I've had recently (and surprisingly, both are varietals that I almost always steer clear of).

Osprey's Dominion Regina Maris Chardonnay (NV) $10

That's right, I said it. The "C" word. Normally, my palette never veers in the direction of Chardonnay. It's not that I look down upon it, nor do I consider myself a wine-snob who won't drink Chardonnay or Merlot (i.e. the stuff that the masses like to consume), it's just that my tastes usually gravitate towards the more acidic or more crisp end of the spectrum for whites and the heavier, more spicy end of the spectrum for reds. The Regina Maris Chardonnay was an enigma.

A few weeks back, I stopped into Osprey's Dominion to pick up a bottle of their Cabernet Franc which I've had before and liked very much. It was March and the tasting room was dead. Just me and the Wine Father-in-Law. We felt badly for the nice lady behind the counter who said it was her first day on the job. She said "You really should try the Regina Maris Chardonnay. It's my favorite." Now usually when someone tells me to try their "favorite Chardonnay" I politely decline but since it was a Saturday (and Saturday's are meant for drinking), I obliged. What I tasted was amazing.

This wine does NOT taste like a Chardonnay. In fact, the Winelady brought it to my attention that this wine is more like an Italian Vin Santo (dessert wine) than it is like a Chardonnay. It's very thick and has a distinct caramel and raisin aroma to it that really comes through when you taste it. The only unfortunate thing about it is that we opened it to drink with some Wild Cod that we were cooking up and it just didn't pair well with that. It is much better on it's own, with some nice salty cheese as an aperitif. For $10, it's well worth picking up a few bottles.

Peconic Bay Winery Merlot 2001 $26

When the nice man at the winery said "You should try our 2001 Merlot, it was voted Best Merlot in NY State," my first thought was that they must have a tone of this stuff leftover and are looking to unload it on unsuspecting customers. The last time I checked, NY State was better known for it's bagels and smoked fishes than it is for it's Merlot. But onward we went and paid our $2 for a taste at NY's Merlot of Merlots. Surprisingly, it was really good.

High in tannins but also high flavor, this is definitely a powerful Merlot. There are some really nice cedar notes in this wine, as well as good spice and a little bit of fruit. Since the tannins are quite high, I'm going to hold off on opening my bottle for a few years but if this site is still around and/or the Internet is still allowing guys like me to ramble on about wine, then I promise to write a post about it. Until then, enjoy your weekends.

No Wimpy Posts

Greetings! Sorry about the absence but the Winedaddy has been curled up in the fetal position under his desk in major bread withdrawal since last Monday. I mean, come on! It ain't easy enjoying wine when you can't properly eat cheese and some crusty baguette to accompany it. But I've managed and seeing the finish line to the Matzoh Marathon in sight. In the meantime, I spent the better part of this past week reacquainting with an old friend and felt it was my duty to let the winedaddy reading public about him (or her...well, it's a Zinfandel so probably a him, but then again, women can definitely be spicy, so maybe it's a her?)

Ravenswood. It's a popular name. It's a popular wine. It's also possibly the first wine I ever had that made me realize there was more to life than just microbrews and house chardonnay. (insert wavy lines here and "flashback" music). The year was 1998 and the month was October. The young Winedaddy and his new Winegirlfriend (now the Winewife and Winemommy), took a trip to the California Wine Country. I knew little about wine but in the months leading up to the trip, I bought several books, including "Sip by Sip" a fabulous book by Michael Bonadies (the one time and possibly still wine director for the Deniro/Neiporent food empire known as the Myriad Restaurant Group).

I read it cover to cover and loved his easy going, unpretentious approach to learning about wines. It was my bible as we toured the wine country in search of new varietals I had never tried, including the grape that is native to California and basically put Napa and Sonoma on the map, Zinfandel.

I'm not talking about White Zin, the appalling "wine" that is actually popular in this country (thank you North Dakota!), I'm talking about the dark, thick, spicy stuff that grows in abundance in Sonoma. And no one does an approachable, affordable Zin better than Ravenswood in my humble opinion. It was the very first tour I ever had at a winery and I learned and loved every minute of it. (I still have my t-shirt that says "Maximize Polyphenolic Extraction" that I purchased on that trip.) To this day, I still think they make some of the best Zinfandels on the planet. Like their ubiquitous, Vintners Blend.

Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel (various vintages) $9.99 (approx)

This is my kind of wine. Cheap, strong, spicy, approachable. There's a reason Ravenswood has adopted the slogan "No Wimpy Wines." This is not a kind gentle Merlot or a soft, fruit-forward Pinot Noir. This is a take-no-prisoners, in your face Zinfandel, that actually goes down rather smooth for such a spicy wine. What I like most is how consistent this wine is from year to year and how you always know what you are going to get when you buy a bottle. Trust me, there's a reason accolade upon accolade has been bestowed on this wine. I just wish I hadn't forgotten about it while I stocked up on all the other stuff that's cluttering the Winedaddy's apartment at the present time. There's simply no more room in the wine fridge (or bank account) to bring a few bottles in from the cold. In due time old friend. In due time.