Eric Asimov Enjoys Long Island Wine Too

Eric Asimov of the New York Times has written several times about how much he enjoys Long Island merlot. And who can blame him -- at least if you're talking about the North Fork's best bottles.

But as he says today on The Pour, Long Island white wines don't get nearly as much attention. Specifically, he focuses on Paumanok Vineyards' chenin blanc, the only such wine (I think) in all of New York. As coincidence would have it, I tasted the new 2007 vintage of this wine last week and will be writing about it soon here.

Let's get back to Long Island white wines, though. That's why we're here today.

There is an ocean's worth of chardonnay made out here, from steel-fermented wines with crackling acidity all the way to rich, buttery barrel-fermented ones...and every style in between. Most are just okay, some are good and there are a few that transcend. In general though, they aren't very exciting.

Riesling, my favorite of all white grapes, can be good here too. But again, these aren't wines that I'm typically excited about. The same is true for Gewürztraminer, unless we're talking about the one from Corey Creek Vineyards. That's a wine I always enjoy.

The white wines that get me going the most fall into two categories: sauvignon blanc and those made by Chris Tracy at Channing Daughters Winery.

My affection for local sauvignon blanc is well documented on this blog, so I won't go into it too much. I'll just list some of my favorite producers: Shinn Estate, Raphael, Macari, Jamesport and Osprey's Dominion. And of course Channing Daughters too -- and they make two wines dominated by sauvignon blanc.

The folks at Channing Daughters do things a little differently, starting in the vineyard. They grow unique-to-the-Island grapes like Tocai Friulano, Aligote, malvasia bianca, and muscat ottonel. Take those grapes, add chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, pinot bianco, and put them in the able hands of Tracy and you end up some of the best, most food-friendly, whites you'll ever taste. Keep an eye out for more on some of his latest releases.

Now I want to know, what are some of your favorite local white wines? Leave them in the comments.

Comments

[Jeff]

OK people need to keep quiet about the Paumanok Chenin, I haven't bought any yet this year ;) Looks like I need to move on it!

[Dan]

For high end LI white I enjoy Wolffer's Estate Chard. I have a few bottles of their 2003 cellered. I just recently enjoyed Wolffer's new Pinot Gris 2007 for a mid. priced white. It was dry, crisp, with nice acidity and worked well with my meal. I also liked Bedell's First Crush White that I had in their tasting room a few weeks ago for an everyday, food friendly, summer white. I picked up a few bottles at a local wine shop at a very fair price. There are so many out there that I havn't had though so this list is from a small sample size.

[Richard Shaffer]

Lenn - I'm a major Sauv Blanc addict and would like to get my hand on some of these LI ones. What's the best way to find these wines - I'm in Chicago?

Richard

[Bob]

Can't beat a Gruner Veltliner for an all around versatile white wine.

[Pristine]

We were out tasting on the North Fork this past weekend. The Paumanok Chenin Blanc 07 was fantastic, so was the 2007 Peconic Bay Riesling. Lenn - thank you for all the recommendations! The Harvest Inn was a great base too.

[Drink, Memory]

For Chardonnays, I love the Wolffer Estate Chardonnay, (though the reserve is quite nasty and smells of ammonia)but my favorite is the Palmer Reserve Chardonnay, followed closely by Lamoreaux Landing Chardonnay. I stick to Dr. Frank when it comes to Rieslings, and I also adore the Gewurztraminer and Rkatsiteli (but can't afford them on a regular basis, as is the case with the Wolffer Estate chard)
As for Sauvignon Blanc, Palmer wins hands down for me.