News from the wine industry
Singing In the Rain After two hours of pelting rain, the audience showed up with picnics, chairs, tables and candelabrum to settle in for a wonderful, festive evening of song and camaraderie. Despite Mother Nature's little tantrum it was a full house with more than 200 people enjoying the music of Cole Porter and the new revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Steinway Piano Gallery in West-bury provided a digital Steinway piano for the event. A special thanks to event sponsors Bridgehampton National Bank and David Abram-owski of Farm Family Insurance. Earlier in the season, Castello di Borghese hosted an outdoor Italian short-film screening as part of the North Fork Film Festival sneak preview series. The main film was Cinema Paradiso and the evening featured traditional Italian music by John Anthony. Merlot with a Mission Lieb has produced 6,300 bottles of a 2002 Merlot that it will sell at the winery and offer for resale to restaurants and wine shops in New York State. The 2002 Merlot blended with a hint of Cabernet Sauvignon and aged in French oak barrels can be purchased for $9.11 at Lieb Cellars' tasting room. Top Toques Come to Town custom-blend wine for the Levy Restaurant organization, hosted a Chef's Showcase on Aug. 14 with executive chefs Frank Walason and Tony Periquito from Florida's Fulton's Crab House. The ticket-only tasting event, which drew more than 120 partygoers, featured a variety of seafoods, each paired with a Palmer wine. There was music and dancing afterward with entertainment provided by Larry Lang. A good time was had by all! New Faces in the Field New Riverhead Winery Opens this Fall Martha Clara Completes Tasting Room Addition Two Debuts in Jamesport Peconic Bay Launches Guest Chef Wine Dinner Series AWARDS AND KUDOS...Osprey's Dominion's 2000 Merlot and 2000 Flight Meritage won "Best of Class" awards at the 2004 New York State Fair Wine competition. Martha Clara Vineyards' 2001 Ciel brought home a gold from the 2004 Tasters Guild 17th Annual International Wine Competition and a silver medal from the 2004 Starwine International Wine Competition. Palmer Vineyards won a gold at the Tasters Guild for its 2001 Reserve Merlot and a silver for its 2003 GewÜrztraminer. Peconic Bay Winery won four medals at the 2004 Indy International Wine Competition, the largest wine competition outside California, with more than 3,600 wines from 17 countries.
AS AN ENCORE TO THE SUCCESS of June's Tosca performance, Castello di Borghese Vineyard & Winery was proud to bring the Opera of the Hamptons back to the North Fork on Aug. 21 for its presentation of From Opera to Broadway.
LIEB FAMILY CELLARS IS honoring the memory of those lost in the World Trade Center tragedy. The winery will donate a percentage of profits from the sale of a special commemorative wine to September's Mission, a nonprofit foundation that funds educational and cultural programs to remember the victims of 9/11.
PALMER VINEYARDS, WHICH CREATES A PRIVATE
BELA VARGA JOINS THE TEAM AT Galluccio Family Wineries as the new winemaker. He has worked at wineries in Canada and at Washing-ton State's Claar Cellars. Steve Maier returns to Jamesport Vineyards as sales director after seven years as East End account executive for Martin Scott Wines. Formerly wholesale director at Jamesport, Steve will be in charge of distribution on Long Island and in the New York boroughs. Castello di Borghese welcomes Stan Schumacher as its new winemaker. He brings with him more than two decades of experience in the wine industry and most recently has been affiliated with California wineries. Schumacher describes his style as "fruit driven," seeking to minimize his intervention in the process. "I'm there to diminish problems and be proactive," he says. "It's all about balance."
ROANOKE VINEYARDS, OWNED by WÖlffer Estate's vineyard manager Richard Pisacano, has announced that the farm winery and tasting room located on Sound Avenue in Riverhead will open this fall. Roman Roth is on-board as winemaker. Roanoke was founded four years ago with the goal of producing limmited production premium red wines. The vineyard's primary focus is on cabernet sauvignon.
THE ONCE AL FRESCO PAVILION at Martha Clara has recently been renovated, adding space to the tasting room. The temperature-controlled room, with french doors all around providing field views, is available for private parties, weddings and corporate functions. Martha Clara has several other event sites including two restored potato barns.
THE ORIGINAL TASTING ROOM IN Peconic has expanded, opening a second location on Route 25 in Jamesport. Like the first Tasting Room, this one features wines from Broadfields Wine Cellars, Comtesse Therese, Manor Hill Vineyards, Schneider Vineyards and Sherwood House Vineyards. "We change our tasting flights daily to give repeat visitors variety and to showcase the maximum number of wines possible," said Robin Meredith, manager of the Tasting Room and co-owner of Broadfields Wine Cellars. September also marked the debut of the Tasting Room wines, a negociant label to complement the lineup of wines currently available in the Tasting Room. "This gives us the ability to release some small batches of wine that fill the gaps in our current lineup and provide a more comprehensive tasting experience," adds Meredith. The Tasting Room of Jamesport is located at 1556 Main Road in Jamesport, three miles east of the Route 105 intersection.
MICHAEL MEEHAN, PECONIC Bay's newly appointed resident chef, will co-host a series of dinners at top restaurants throughout Long Island and New York City. The series will feature longtime winemaker Greg Gove's wines paired with Meehan's culinary creations, as prepared by the staff of several renowned establishments. Upcoming dinners are planned at Three Village Inn in Stony Brook and The Plaza Café in Southampton.
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