LIWINEDAD

  Today is a glorious day as our once-a-year allocation of Corra wine (Figure 1) has arrived from Napa Valley.   Our subscription to Corra dates back over ten years when we were introduced to Celia Welch at a food and wine pairing event at the Blue-Ribbon Brasserie .   We were invited to the event through Lindstrom wine , where Celia is the consulting winemaker.   In addition to the Cabernet Sauvignon that arrived today, Celia occasionally produces a blended white wine called Tail Feathers, one of Jo’s favorites.     Celia has had a long and vibrant career in Napa Valley as a winemaker of her Corra label and a consulting winemaker to some of the most prestigious labels in the valley, Scarecrow, and many more.   A short bio from her Corra website is attached in figure 2, but it does not do justice to all her accomplishments as a consistent 90+ point winemaker.   Shifting to today’s wine, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon has already won critical acclaim, rated at 97 points by Wine Advoc

  The first wine to explore from the Channing Daughters Vineyard - March club Selection is the 2020 Syrah (Figure 1).   The Channing Syrah is 100% Syrah fruit from the Mudd West Vineyard, home to many good long island wines.   The wine is almost opaque dark red to purple color, dark fringe, and medium legs in the glass.    Opening on the nose with intense notes of Blueberry, Boysenberry, Black plum, a subtle hint of old leather and clove combine beautifully to greet the taster.   The feel is very full with noticeable tannins and very bright acid in the mouth.   On the palate, fruit comes forward with red plum and cherry.   However, the fruit expression shifts slowly as the finish lingers to a touch of black pepper, some graphite, and minerality.   Attached in Figure 2 are the tasting notes from Channing Daughters.  This wine paired well with our steak dinner and is also a fine sipping wine.  We will be grabbing a few more bottles to rest in the cellar for a few more years and en

  Terra Vite Winery & Vineyard was the last stop on the Mid-March Wine Pick-Up Expedition and scheduled to be a pick-up only, but a friendly team and a new wine led to a tasting. The March Club is three wines Diliberto 2016 TRE Red blend, Terra Vite 2019 NOFO Classico , and Terra Vite 2020 Marea Ros é (Figure 1).   After the tasting, we added two bottles of the new Terra Vite 2021 SAUVIGNON BLANC, training the total haul to five bottles (Figure 2). The 2016 Tre Red blend is the last of the Diliberto label.   It is a consistently good Bordeaux style blend, traditionally a rich, medium mouthfeel wine with well-structured tannins and bright acidity—looking forward to tapping this bottle soon.   The Terra Vite 2019 NOFO Classico (Figure 3) is the Long Island version of a Merlot dominant Bordeaux based on the blend on the attached fact sheet from the Terra Vite website.   The NOFO Classico should be a tannin-rich fruit-forward wine that will age well in the cellar.   The Terra

  During part of our Mid-March pick-up expedition , we added in a new winery (well, new to us) for a full tasting.   Jo is the driver today, so I was able to explore a large selection of the Suhru Wines portfolio, two flights, a total of 8 wines in all.   The Tasting Room is located in a small building that you quickly drive by, so be on the lookout for the roadside sign (Figure 1).   The main entrance is a reminiscence of a professional office such as a dentist’s office.   (Figure 2).   The inside opens up to a bright, colorful airy room with request tables and a bar.   There is also outside seating with a fine view of the parking lot but a perfect ambiance overall.   The team greeted us, walked us through our choices, and provided details on each tasting wine.   Under the heading of it a small world while chatting with the server, we found out that he had grown up in the same town and knows our future daughter-in-law!   The wine tasting menu has many options for flights, wine by the

  The second pick-up stop for the Mid-March pick-up expedition is at Sparkling Pointe for their winter club portfolio. The winter club default selection consisted of six wines including one each of 2017 Blanc de Blancs (Figure 2),   2018 Cuvée Carnaval Blancs (Figure 3), 2017 Brut (Figure 4), 2019 Topaz Impérial Brut Rosé (Figure 5), 2016 Blanc de Noirs (Figure 6), and 2018 Cuvée Carnaval Rosé (Figure 7).  Unfortunately, today's pick-up was long with many stops, so we could not taste at the Sparkling Pointe Vineyard. However, the winemaker notes attached below show that all the wines should be outstanding. There will be many more posting after each tasting and enjoyment.    FIG 1 - SPARKLING POINTE PICKUP 18 MAR 2022 FIG 2 - SPARKLING POINTE 2017 BLANC DE BLANCS FIG 3 - SPARKLING POINTE 2018 CUVÉE CARNAVAL BLANCS FIG 4 - SPARKLING POINTE 2017 BRUT FIG 5 - SPARKLING POINTE 2019 TOPAZ IMPÉRIAL BRUT ROSÉ FIG 6 - SPARKLING POINTE 2016 BLANC DE NOIRS FIG 7 - SPARKLING POINTE 2018 CUV

  The second pick-up stop for the Mid-March pick-up expedition is at Lieb Cellars for their spring club portfolio.   Today's selection is two white and two red varietals times two for eight bottles (Figure 1).   Lieb Cellars club selection usually includes at least one wine from Bridge Lane .   The selection included two Bridge Lane 2021 White Merlot , two   Lieb Estate 2020 Chardonnay , two   Lieb Cellars 2020 Syrah (member-only), and two   Lieb Cellars 2019 Estate Merlot .   The Bridge Lane 2019 White Merlot is a light, easing-going wine that pairs well with larger gatherings and informal food.   Because it is from Bridge Lane, the White Merlot is also available in boxes and even kegs so big summer beach parties can rock on into the night.   The wine is bright, crisp, and usually, with good Grapefruit notes, reminiscent of a good New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.   The Lieb 2020 Estate Chardonnay is much more of an Oaked style Chardonnay in the Napa Valley genre of Chardonnay.  

  The first pick-up stop for the Mid-March pick-up expedition is at Roanoke Vineyards for their spring club portfolio.   Today's selection is one white and two red wines (Figure 1).   The white is a 2020 Rhyme and Meter Chardonnay .      Roanoke vineyards usually have two Chardonnays; the first is The Wild! , a steel Chardonnay fermented with wild yeast from the environment without touching Oak.   The 2020 Rhyme and Meter is a bit different and is closer in style to a French White Burgundy .   After steel fermentation, the wine spends some time in French Oak before bottling.   The exposure to Oak should smooth out the wine, refining the Acid and accenting the tropical fruit notes.   Next is a long-standing favorite, the 2019 Macro Tulio red blend that generally is around a 70/30 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.   This year is no exception as the wine came in at 68.2%/31.8% blend.   The Marco Tulio is a consistently fine red blend showing good fruit, good nose, moderate ta

  We have stopped at the Cooperage Inn several times before but only to pick up their Island famous NOFO Pot Pies .   However, today this stop was not only to pick up pies but for lunch as the first stop on our mid-March pickup expedition .   The restaurant is located on the north side of Sound Ave in Baiting Hollow and has a sizeable well-maintained parking lot connecting directly to the main entrance (Figure 1).   Inside is bright, cheery, and spacious.   Seating options include the dining room, bar, semi-enclosed patio, and outside dining spaces (Figure 2).   As this was the first stop of a six-stop pickup tour, we were early, and the door locked, but the team spotted us, greeted us warmly, and guided us to our table that included a nice view of the fishpond and front yard seating area (Figure 3). The menu is extensive, ranging from simple salads to robust entrees and daily specials (Figures 4, 5, 6).   After an opening round of cocktails, good Cosmopolitan, and unsweetened Iced

  Time for the next round of pickups, and we were able to add in lunch and tasting at two new to us places.  Given that we were adding in at least one full tasting at a first visit winery, we decided to have a large lunch first to help buffer all the fine wine to follow.  So the first Stop was the Cooperage Inn for lunch, followed by pickups at Roanoke Vineyards , Lieb Cellars , Sparkling Pointe , Suhru Wines , and Terra Vite Winery & Vineyard (Figure 1).  In the past, we have stopped at the Cooperage inn but only to use their outside pickup window for NOFO Pot Pies (Figure 2).  We spent over an hour at lunch and then picked up five Pot Pies for friends and Family.  Lunch was fantastic, requiring a separate posting at the liwinedad-cooperage inn to discuss how enjoyable the lunch was.  Roanoke Vineyards, Lieb Cellars, and Sparkling Point were our classic drive-by pickups, except we also picked up for our friends at Roanoke and Sparkling Pointe, which quickly fill the SUV.  Each