LIWINEDAD

  In March, one of the wines that arrived from Channing Daughters Winery as part of the Channing Daughters Winery Club Selection was the 2020 Tocai Friulano.   Unfortunately, Tocai Friulano's name is deprecated since the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (31 MAR 2007) prohibited using the name to avoid confusion with the Hungarian Grape Tokaji.   The grape is known simply as Friulano or Sauvignonasse or Sauvignon Vert.   For a complete discussion and history, see Wikipedia-Sauvignon Vert .   Enough about the history and linage of the grape, how does the wine taste.   The color is a light straw with slight shimmering gold effects in the glass with good eye appeal (Figure 1).   The nose comes forward with notes of stone fruit, grapefruit, and a hint of unripened pear.   The wine has a lighter body feel as it washes across the palate with bright acidity bursting forth, much as with a Sauvignon Blanc.   The grapefruit, peach, and crisp granny smith apples greet the palate.  

  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

  Today the Channing Daughters Winery - March Club shipment arrived (Figure 1).   This quarter consisted of two bottles.   The first is a white, the 2020 Tocai Friulano – Sylvanus Vineyard (Figure 2), and the second a red the 2020 Syrah – Mudd West Vineyard (Figure 3).   Both are outstanding wines as we have enjoyed several prior vintages of each through the years.   A lot can be said for each wine, but I will save my comments when we drink the wine.   Below is an excerpt from the Channing Daughters website that describes each wine in detail.   Regrettably, both wines are wine club member exclusive, so you will need to drop by a member’s house to try some. CHANNING DAUGHTERS 2020 TOCAI FRIULANO We are excited to offer you the new vintage of our Tocai Friulano!   This 2020 Tocai is a blend of 78% Tocai Friulano and 22% Sauvignon Blanc all grown (and harvested together) in the complanted Sylvanus vineyard on our home farm in Bridgehampton.   We are one of just a couple producers gr

  Now that we picked up the Roanoke Vineyards futures wine samples, we need to try them.  As the samples were five full bottles (Figure 1) and once opened, they needed to be finished; we enlisted the help of our friends (Roanoke members also) and our kids.  The future bottles were fully labeled, and four of the five came in two wood cases (Figure 2).  Roanoke provides a well-produced set of tasting notes that helped us understand the different wines (Figure 3A…3D).  The future selection consisted of a representative cross-section of Roanoke’s entire red portfolio.  In addition, we put out a collection of meats, cheeses, fig compote, nuts, and a simply outstanding Short Rib Pot Pie from NOFO Pot Pie at the Cooperage Inn to pair with the wines.  First up is 2020 The Hill – A Site-Specific Field Blend.  This wine was hand-harvested by members and blended in the field, producing a 50/50 Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc mixture.  The wine was very young with a solid nose of Cherry and

  Channing Daughters Winery has done it again with their new release of Over and Over - Variation Fourteen .   Variation Fourteen is a remarkably unique wine that evolves every year.   It is an artisanal experiment and an excellent one at that.   Variation Fourteen is built from many different grapes and several old-world processes to deliver an excellent rich and complex wine that pairs very well with a roast boneless leg of Lamb.   Ripasso (Italian: Repassed) is a process where Valpolicella, while still fermenting, is passed over the Pomace of used grape skins to produce a wine richer than a traditional Valpolicella DOC but lighter than an Amarone, in effect a baby Amarone.   As the Variation Fourteen opens, the flavors of a very good Amarone come forward.   Next is the Solera (Spanish: On the ground – barrels) process which can trace its roots to the Iberian Peninsula.   The process involves ½ of the current wine to be mixed with the prior year's wine and repeated over and o

  Today arrived the last of the winter club selections.  Channing Daughters Winery arrived with two wines, both old friends (Figure 1).   First is the 2017 Brick Kiln Chardonnay .   The Brick Kiln Chardonnay is a 100% Chardonnay Grape of differing clones and site-specific to the Brick Kiln Vineyard in Bridgehampton hence the AVA being Hamptons.   In the past, Brick Kiln has been a rich, crisp Chardonnay.   While the Brick Kiln is ready to drink a few more years in the cellar should perfect it.   Next is the Over and Over Variation Fourteen .  The creation of the wine is a very complex process, with the base wine dating back to 2004 and assembled from many different fruits.  Past Over and Over wines have been outstanding red wines, and Variation Fourteen, building upon this long history, will not disappoint.  However, Variation Fourteen will not be laid down for long as it is too good to wait, and variation 15 is already resting in the barrel, getting ready for next year.       1 - CHA

As our followers have noticed, this blog has been still for many months; nothing was wrong; the redoing of the front of our home kept us preoccupied and from wine country from the mid-summer till this week.  We are back on the road again, making the pick-up enjoying a few glasses of wine in the vineyards, and filling out the wine cellar for the coming holidays.  Good this Christmas day is at our home this year.  We had so many clubs and past club selections that we needed to do pick-ups on two separate trips.  Between the fall and winter club selection, we brought home over 100 bottles.  The first run on 19 Nov had us bringing home 44 bottles (Figure 1), and the 08 DEC run fetched 55 bottles from 9 wineries (Figure 2).  1 - 19 NOV 2021 WINE PICK-UP 2 - DEC 2021 WINE PICK-UP We still have Channing Daughters Winery and Wölffer Estate Vineyard for one more run before Christmas and delivery from Jamesport before we close out the year.  To balance all this fine Long Island wine, we also h

  Channing Daughters May club selection included a Syrah club exclusive.  The Syrah is 100% Syrah fruit, so this is a pure expression of the fruit and the winemaker's talent.  The fruit was hand-harvested, and foot stomped.  The yeast is wild and indigenous to Long Island.  The wine rested in used oak barrels for just the right oak balance.  The body is medium with intense purple color.  On the palette, well-established acids are providing brightness to the wine.  Blueberries, blackberries come forward with a pleasantly long finish with a hint of oak.  As this was a limited production, I look forward to getting more next year. Channing Daughters Winery 2019 Syrah, Mudd West Vineyard

  Channing Daughters Winery May club arrived this week.  I look forward to the club shipments as Channing grows many uncommon varietals for Long Island, such as Blufranskisch and Dornfelder. This month we received a 2019 Syrah Mudd West Vineyard and a 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Mudd Vineyard. The Syrah is a 100% Syrah fruit, harvested in October 2019, fermented with wild yeasts, and aged for 11 months in used oak.  I have enjoyed prior vintages of this Syrah, and they have all been good, and I look forward to trying this one soon.   The Sauvignon Blanc is a stainless Steel fermented 100% Sauvignon Blanc fruit, so I expect a flavor profile closer to a New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc than the French Version. As I have enjoyed Channing’s Sauvignon Blanc in the past, I am sure this will be a winner also.  CHANNING DAUGHTERS MAY CLUB

  Friday 05 MAR 2021 is yet another cold bright day to start the spring wine pickup runs.  The trip was a bit slower-paced as we needed to taste and pick up some of our favored grapes for the summer Sauvignon Blanc and its cousins.  The tastings were successful, and we returned home with over 3 cases of wine, so we should be stocked with enough crisp white wines to pair with fresh oysters from New Wave Seafood on our upper rear deck.  The first stop was at Pellegrini Vineyards, a large beautiful complex on the main road in Cutchogue.  I missed the opportunity to take a picture of this place but will during our next visit—we picked up three reds and two whites after a quick tasting of the white. The reds are the Regalo 2015, Cabernet Franc 2014, and a Petit Verdot 2012.  For the white, we chose a Sauvignon Blanc 2019. Next up was Raphael winery , which is on the south side of route NY-25 in Peconic. Raphael’s is a stunning place with fine wines and outstanding food; of course, we might