Twenty Wineries In Four Days: Day One

My friend AMP and myself are setting off on a tour of North Fork, Long Island wineries. We leave Brooklyn Monday at 1:30ish, and are in the land of the wine trees, as I once drunkenly called them, by 3ish.

2ish: In the car, we listen to an NPR segment about how listening to music while tasting wine can influence how you like it. We hear about one winemaker who actually plays music to his grapes. Later, we listen to Kings of Leon and debate what kind of wine they would go well with. A big mean red? Maybe whiskey would be a better accompaniment.

250ish: We drive by a sign that announces the existence of pumpkin fudge. I am intrigued, but say nothing, figuring we'll find more of it later. We're on a mission here, and it isn't a mission to find fudge.

3ish: We're trying to find Schneider Vineyards, which is on the map in the Long Island wine book from 2001 that someone gave me, but that's the peril of old books, 'cos this place ain't here. Maybe they just don't have a tasting room? Ah well. Instead, we go to Palmer Vineyards. There are insane numbers of people here, which puzzles us, until we figure out that it's Columbus Day. We are also swarmed by fruit flies, which we will soon discover is typical for this time of year. Our unfriendly server discourages us from just having a taste. They're too busy, she says, so we should order a glass. Ummm...hello? The whole point of wineries is to sample a variety of what they have to offer. Their tastes are also excessively priced - something like $4 for an individual taste - but we nonetheless order a couple and sample them (they're not great, or maybe the experience has just soured us). We sit out in the back yard and listen to a live bluegrass band, which was pleasant enough, but overall, this place gets a black mark. (They do have a fun sign, on the way in, though - see the pix.) Moving on.

3:30ish: We pull into Diliberto and instantly feel happier. They have a cute tasting room, in the kitchen of the Dilibertos' weekend home in Jamesport (during the week he's a lawyer in Queens, or so the Internet tells me). The tasting here is also a little weird - rather than standing at the bar and sampling the wine, you order it and they come around to your table and pour it - but we're game. We settle in and while we're tasting the wine, the classical guitarist who is noodling around in the corner drops by and gets our life story out of us and a few of the folks at other tables. It's some one's birthday, so we all sing happy birthday to her. The guitarist starts another tune, and suddenly the owner of the place is standing next to him belting out opera. And he's good, too! I buy a bottle of the 2004 Diliberto Cantina red table wine, and later wish I'd bought more, but it's too late - this place is only open on weekends and holidays. Make sure you don't miss it.

4:15ish: A quick in and out at Laurel Lake. Nothing special, but at least they like you to taste all the wine.

4:32: We try and hit one last winery, Pindar. Their tasting room is only open until 4:30, and they're militant about it. There's not going to be any tasting at Pindar today, and they're not shy about telling us. But we can buy until 5! Thanks, but no thanks. Moving on.

5ish: We check into the hotel in Greenport where we are staying, crack open the Diliberto, and have a glass on the balcony. Perfection. We also start plotting out our course of action for the next day with the copy of Wine Press that we picked up. Essential reading, I'd say. Little profiles of all the vineyards and an up-to-date map (no Schneider's). I start making a smiley-face guide to the wineries we're visiting. Diliberto gets a big smile, Palmer a big frown, and Laurel Lake an expressionless robot face.

7:30ish: We wander over to Claudio's for dinner. Claudio's is pretty cool, a weird combination of dive bar and legitimate seafood restaurant. They have a sign saying they're the oldest family-owned restaurant in the U.S. A beautiful old wooden bar that they apparently got from a hotel on the Bowery. With a real marble railing, and some gorgeous glass details. During prohibition Claudio's was a hot spot for the bootleggers to bring in the liquor, or so they say, and there's still a trapdoor under the bar. The seafood here is good and fresh, and the pumpkin pie is nothing to sneer at. We both have a glass of local wine with dinner. I can't remember what the heck I had a mere four days later, so it must not have been anything worth mentioning. AMP had a glass of Bedell's 2007 First Crush. It's the first vintage of it, and you'd think 2007 grapes might be a little young, but this is pretty good. More on Bedell later, but for now, wine tasting is hard work, and it's off to bed for us.