Anyone here been to the Long Island wine region?

[TheEngineer]

I'm thinking of going there tomorrow and visiting a few wineries and also was told that there were some LARGE nurseries. Anyone know anything about either?

[Innkeeper]

If you are going to take the Orient Point ferry, and we recommend you do, there are several along the main drag. Don't remember which ones we stopped at a few years ago, but there were two on the right that were quite nice.

The drill there is to buy a two or three oz "taste" for $2-$6 or so. The plus side of this is that you can take them to the patio where there are snacks, and possibly a combo playing. On a Saturday in September the latter is a good possibility.

[brappy]

Have wanted to do this but still haven't been able. I am very curious as to your experience. I understand merlot is the specialty for the area. I'd love to hear about it.

mark

[TheEngineer]

So IK, I take it that it is a worthwhile trip for a Saturday? Mark, I'll definitely get back to you....and I'll try to stop in a winery or two as my mother-in-law is a bit of a green thumb and has already noted which nurseries that she wants to visit (Bed and Borders,...etc..)

[This message has been edited by TheEngineer (edited 09-08-2007).]

[Innkeeper]

Well worthwhile. Look for Cab Franc too, as well as specialties of the houses.

[TheEngineer]

Thanks for the heads up IK. I took off for L.I. on Saturday morning. We got to New London after about 90 minutes of driving. We spent sometime walking the around the waterfront area, some antique shops and ended up buying a piano.....so my wine budget for the day was ...welll...maybe the month or quarter...greatly diminished. [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Still took the ferry over and that was nice. only about a 90 minute ride and then ended up in Orient Point. First stop was to a goat diary to try their cheeses...nice stuff. then we hit a couple of nurseries. Most of the stuff had been sold already so the nurseries were pretty bare. We stopped at Harbes Family farm, picked up some tomatoes, watermelon, sweet corn, etc,. By this time, it was getting late in the afternoon so we made a run for the wineries. Unfortunately, there was a parade doing on and we had to detour around many times.

First stop was Pellegrini Vineyards. This was a large winery and the parking lot which was large was completely packed. The winery was completely packed with people three deep waiting for samples. Thanks to IK's suggestion, I asked for a tasting flight and then took off for another area to sit down. I'll post wine notes later but the wines were pretty reasonable. Except for the merlot, most of the wines were actually decent, if a bit hight on the acidity side. They had a wedding going on that night and the moved the closing time to 5:00pm. So we drove over to Pindar Winery. This was even bigger and even more people. The wines were pretty good here in most cases except for the sweet wines which had a very strange nose (both the port and the riesling). Then it was time to run back to the ferry to come home on the 7:00pm ferry. On the way we stopped to grab a "pie" (or a sicillian pizze) and ate that on the ferry. Nice day trip.

[Innkeeper]

Sounds like a great day. Pinder is one we have stopped at before. Was there a combo playing?

[TheEngineer]

No there was no combo playing. I wanted to go to Marie Clare (or something like that) that had an oktoberfest festival that looked like half the island was attending (and as a result, I avoided) and there was something going on there.

However, everywhere we went, it was busy! Tonnes of people everywhere which was good to see, not unlike some of the busier times at Napa. Since it is so close though, I can see this becoming an annual day trip!

[brappy]

Is it always that busy? I'd like to check out the area but would prefer the slower times. I must be getting older......

[TheEngineer]

I asked the staff there and they all stated that it was busier than normal but they did not offer a reason.