North Fork Wine

We're usually on the South Fork of Long Island, but for our anniversary (it's been a year today!) we wanted to head North to do a little wine tasting. It was so much fun! The weather was perfect and each winery we visited was great. It was really fun to see the differences between them and try all of the wines.

I think Palmer was our favorite - the setting was so pretty, and the 2009 Reserve Cabernet Franc was great, and the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon was really rich and deep and interesting, and the 2012 Pinot Blanc was fruity and crisp. We also went to Lieb, where our favorite was the 2008 Reserve Cabernet Franc. The tasting room is modern and somewhat industrial, and there's not much charm with vineyards in view or anything, but the staff is very attentive and explains the wines really well.

We had lunch at North Fork Table and Inn, which was excellent. It was four fabulous courses with really fresh ingredients. Highly recommend it!

Our next stop was Lenz which was super charming. We parked right up by the vines of red and white grapes and there was a pretty grapevine-wrapped courtyard and live music.

A few people had brought picnics. It was really beautiful and I would love to spend a whole afternoon there some day. The 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2008 Merlot were both really nice. They also had a Gewurztraminer which had a whole lot going on, and is fun to say.

Our last winery was One Woman Wines, which was teeny and adorable.

It was a little crowded, and didn't have a huge selection of wine, but the Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc were great, and Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite types of wine so it was a nice change to all the Alsatian/German/Austrian-style whites (they also had Gewurztramier and also a Gruner Veltliner, so they were all over that, too).

When we were finally wined-out (we thought) we stopped at Greenport Harbor Brewing Company's tasting room. We were expecting a bar, but it's really just a small upstairs room with very limited seating. It was packed. They also don't offer just pints of beer, but all $8 tasting flights. It's actually an excellent deal. You get a pint glass (to keep) and try about a third of a pint of each of the 6 beers in season. Our favorite was the Devil's Plaything - an IPA brewed with Thai and Guajillo chilis. Really tasty, and oddly enough, kind of a winelike quality too it. We bought a growler to take home.

On the drive home, we stopped at an adorable farm stand for tomatoes and corn, then had one more glass of wine at Palmer as the sun went down. Perfect anniversary outing!

More pictures...

Me at Palmer

Jamie at Lenz

The pretty clouds and fields on the North Fork

White grapes at Lenz