And so our journey to Long Island comes to an end with a visit to one of the most established wineries in the area; a tasting at a new [to us] sparkling-only winery that’s making quite the splash; and a quick pop-in at a winery whose yummy Cab we’d discovered the night before.
PUGLIESE VINEYARDS
34515 Main Rd, Cutchogue, NY
(631) 734-4057 / info@pugliesevineyards.com
We’ll keep this one short. Pugliese was not on our radar before our North Fork getaway. But we sampled the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve at dinner at Touch of Venice in Cutchogue and added a quick stop at Pugliese the next day. Yes, it was worth upending our schedule to grab two bottles of this deep, dark, and flavorful Cab. Plums and blackberries, touch of smoke. Not complicated. Not expensive ($25). And worth the detour to the Pugliese winery.
Not sure why there’s an old-fashioned gas pump out front…maybe to sucker in bloggers like us. Mission accomplished 🙂
SPARKLING POINTE VINEYARDS & WINERY
39750 County Rd 48, Southold, NY
(631) 765-0200 / info@sparklingpointe.com
Over the last 20 years, sparkling wine has emerged as a signature of the North Fork. We sampled offerings at every winery we visited, and bought sparklers from Macari, Lenz, Paumanok, Kontokosta, and Suhru & Lieb. And then there’s Sparkling Pointe, founded in 2004, whose sole raison d’etre is sparkling wine made in the méthode champenoise style [the secondary fermentation process established in Champagne, France.] We hadn’t heard of Sparkling Pointe but added a tasting to our itinerary after several other winemakers raved about the wines.
In an elegant tasting room with giant, sparkling [ahem] chandeliers above us, our guide Kerry poured nine wines from the very diverse portfolio. Here’s what we bought:
- Sparkling Pointe Methode Champenoise 2020 Brut; $31
52% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 13% Pinot Meunier
Pinot Meunier? Yes! It’s a commonly used Champagne blending grape. It’s also a mutation from the Pinot family which is characterized by its raspberry/cherry/peach flavors. An extra-Brut sparkling wine with some hints of extreme minerality, this charmer has a full palate with a slightly creamy finish. With your eyes closed, you’d swear you were drinking Laurent Perrier Ultra Brut on a budget. - NV Cuvée Carnaval Blancs; $30
64% Pinot Noir, 29% Chardonnay, 7% Muscat
The Carnival Blancs reminded us that sparkling wine can be fun as a perfect sipper for that weekend barbecue. With its perfect balance of strawberry reduction, creaminess, nuttiness and hint of sugar, this wine is a real winner. - NV Cellar Selection; $60
57% Pinot Noir, 43% Chardonnay
Puches above its lofty price; a serious contender among the likes of noted names like Deutz, Bollinger or even Taittinger. The minerality on the nose is followed by hazelnut/almond notes with a delicious, off-dry finish. - Boisseau Blanc de Blancs 2018; $58
100% Chardonnay
If you like pricey Brut Champagne, you need to try the Boisseau Blanc. The winery’s tasting notes are a bit over the top–we didn’t find any “grilled pineapple” or “brown sugar, caramel or apple pie.” But we did note some nutmeg and vanilla aromas and tasted some crisp Granny Smith apples and lemon peel.
WÖLFFER ESTATE VINEYARD
139 Sagg Rd. Sagaponack, NY
(631) 537-5106 / info@wolffer.com
In 1978, the visionary German businessman Christian Wölffer purchased a 14-acre parcel of land with a farmhouse in Sagaponack, one of the villages in the Hamptons. Today, Sagaponack is “The Most Expensive Zip Code in America,” per Social Life Magazine, but in the late 1970’s, Wölffer’s land was still surrounded by potato fields. A decade later, Wölffer founded his vineyard near the original site and released its first vintage in 1991. While not the oldest of the Long Island wineries, Wölffer Estate Vineyard is one of the better known and most successful. With annual production of @200,000 cases a year, its size dwarfs most other area wineries by a factor of 10 or more.
Wölffer’s fame soared in 2013 with the release of the wildly successful Summer in a Bottle rosé. VinoDuo reluctantly tasted Summer in a Bottle at the 2023 Boston Wine Expo…reluctantly, as in “With that name, how could it be any good?” Wrong. We wrote, “Cringe at the name, buy the wine…it’s well-balanced with good acidity and widely available.”
Since we were already familiar with the “Summer…” series, we asked our guide, Senior Wine Educator Vincent Stilletti, to bring us his best wines from an impressively wide range of labels and brands. We were even treated to a barrel tasting of a 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon that we’ll keep an eye out for down the road.
We tasted 12 wines and bought five wildly different expressions of superstar winemaker Roman Roth’s exceptional talent.
- Grandioso Rosé 2024/White Horse Selection; $32
43% Cab Franc, 30% Merlot, 27% Chardonnay
Pale amber color with fresh peaches on the nose and strawberry/honeydew flavors on the palate. “A smoothie in a wine glass,” per Gary. Nice acidity and full finish. - Trebbiano 2024/Cellar Series; $25
You can smell the sea with this briny white wine. Delicious pear flavors with bracing minerality. - Grapes of Roth Dry Riesling 2021; $32 / Winemaker Roman Roth’s private label
80% Cab Sauv, 20% Merlot
More salt sea air with this unusual dry Riesling; combine a perfumed nose with salt water [in a good way] and peaches. - Malbec 2022/Cellar Series; $32
92% Malbac, 8% Merlot
A Cahors [France]-style Malbec; some chocolate on the nose; overflowing with Bing cherry and ripe cranberry flavors, with a nice, long finish. Beautiful structure! - Cassango Cabernet Sauvignon 2021/White Horse Selection; $40
80% Cab Sauv, 20% Merlot
This Bordeaux-style blend reminded Gary of his favorite wines from St. Julien; cassis and dark chocolate on the nose; luscious dark fruit with surprising acidity; velvety tannins. We’ll lay this down a few years before opening.
VinoDuo 