LIWINEDAD

  Our friend is a close friend of Johnny Sinatra, who is in a band called Ridge Lane that plays most of the music from my college days (Fig 14).   Ridge Lane was playing last Saturday at the Bayside Clam Bar & Grill , and going to see Johnny play prompted a fun night out.   I had not heard of either Ridge Lane or Bayside, so this was a new adventure.   Johnny and Ridge Lane were helping to fill up Bayside as everyone around us knew Johnny or other band members.   Ridge Lane was fantastic and rocked the place until closing with minimal breaks.   The Bayside Clam Bar & Grill is located ( Bayside - Google Map Fig 13) inside the East Islip Marina.   It would be best if you drove up slowly as the lawns were filled with dear grazing right up to the edge of the road.   There is ample parking, even at about 7:00 PM on a Saturday.   Bayside has a small bar and kitchen but lots of seating outside with overhead coverage and umbrellas (Fig 01,02,03,04).   The view over the water and the

  Today’s trip is the last wine pick-up for the second quarter, including a full tasting and lunch.  The expedition was longer, spanning about 175 miles and almost 7 hours around #northforkwinetrail (Fig 04).  Our first stop was for lunch at Braun Seafood , a place I have been looking to try for quite some time.   Braun is a full-service wholesale and retail seafood market but also expanded into a restaurant (Fig 01) in the same style as New Wave Seafood in Wantagh.   We had a leisurely lunch that was very well done, and a post just about the food will be coming out soon.     After lunch, we succeeded in picking up our Lieb Cellars June club selection (Fig 02).   The last stop of the day was at EV & EM Vineyards , which is a required revisit now that they have all the furniture and are fully open (Fig 03).  The different vibe from Laurel Lake Winery makes EV & EM well worth returning many times.  A full posting on this great visit will be posted shortly.  Lastly, while not o

  Technically this is a revisit but the last time we stopped at Clovis Point Vineyard & Winery was over a decade ago.   Clovis Point is nestled in the hamlet of Laurel along main road NY-25 and is easily found on a Google map (Fig 00).   Approaching the entrance, you are treated to a sweeping view of the Vineyards to the East (Fig 01).   The entrance leads directly into the tasting room decorated with a midcentury farm feel.   The tasting room provides a view of the patio and the vineyards to the South (Fig 02).   Covered seating is provided on the patio, and open-air seating on the lawn (Fig 03).   The tasting menu list 11 wines reflecting the current offering to construct a flight from (Fig 04).   Limiting the selection to only four was challenging, but the wines included 2017 Cabernet Franc, 2019 Malbec, 2019 Archeology, and 2016 Artifact (Fig 05). The Cabernet Franc is a subtle blend of about 10% of Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Sauvignon added to provide some addition

In keeping with the tradition of having lunch before a full wine tasting, we stopped at On The Docks before heading to Clovis Point Vineyards & Winery .   On the Docks is on the water at 177 Meeting House Creek Road Aquebogue at the foot of Peconic Bay Blvd.   The Restaurant is in a spacious building with the main entrance just a few steps up from the main parking lot (Fig 01).   Inside is expansive, with a fantastic view of the water (Fig 02) and the free dock (Fig 03).   For starters, Jo ordered the local Crescent Duck Wings prepared with a Korean BBQ Sauce(Fig 04) that are good.   The locally raised duck continues Long Island's growing tradition of farm-to-table.   Check out the Crescent Duck History ; it is quite a story starting in the 1640s.  Next, the PEI mussels made for a fine starter or lite lunch with a salad.  The mussels came prepared in a light white wine and lemon herb broth, a cut above the standard wine and garlic broth (Fig 05).  The first Entrée tabled wa

Colleagues, friends, and family, please join me in supporting (Fig 01) the Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County in providing quality services and programming for individuals with disabilities (Fig 02, 03).   Please sponsor this worthy cause by joining us for a fun day out or funding one of the many sponsorship opportunities. Bedell Cellars , Cara Mia Restaurant Seaford , and LI Wine Dad are providing a Long Island basket of cheer (Fig 04), snacks, and dinner.   A second basket (Fig 05) from LI Wine Dad and Cara Mia Restaurant Seaford is packed with three red wines from Napa Valley, a gift card to Cara Mia, and snacks to round out the gift.   The Bedell wines include First Crush White 2020 , First Crush Red 2020 , and Rosé 2021 (Fig 06).   The Napa Valley wines include Scarecrow Mt. Étain 2019 (Cabernet Sauvignon), Lindstrom Winery Stags Leap District 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon , and a De La Montanya Vineyard & Winery “1776” Zinfandel (Fig 07).   #longislandwineries

  The next and final pick-up was in June, and since there was only one, we added lunch and a tasting.  The goal was to do a grab-and-go at Lieb Cellars , but regrettably, they were closed for a private event and could not hand off my club wine to me that day.   Fortunately, we made other stops and found a new food and wine place to visit.   We first stopped for lunch at On The Docks , a classic on-the-water place with a wide selection of menu items to satisfy everyone in our group.   This is the first time we have stopped here, and we will provide a separate posting on how good everything was (FIG 02).   Next was a full tasting at Clovis Point Vineyard & Winery , and a fine tasting it was with the details in an upcoming posting shortly (Fig 03).   Lastly was a quick dessert stop at a North fork Classic – The Magic Fountain - for a generous homemade Ice Cream sundae (Fig 04).  A great day with several discoveries which we will need to return to several more times.  FIG 02 - ON TH

  Last but far from least, one of the South fork wineries, Wolffer Estate Vineyard June club, arrived during the first week of June to close out all the clubs except for Lieb.  Rounding out the fifty-four bottles of wine for the first week of June was eight from Wölffer, consisting of 4 wines (Fig 01).  The four are a fine selection of lighter, brighter summer wines, as discussed by Roman Roth in the winemaker tasting notes (Fig 02).  The selection includes 2021 Summer In a Bottle Long Island White (Fig 03), 2021 Grandioso Ros é (Fig 04), 2021 Summer In a Bottle Long Island Ros é (Fig 05), and 2021 Own-Rooted Merlot Ros é (Fig 06).  All of the wines in this group are fantastic, with a few in the 90+ point score class.  The wines are perfect for a sunny summer afternoon on the rear deck overlooking the park and paired with some cheese and charcuterie. #longislandwineries #vineyardviews #wineryvibes #liwine #licharacter #longislandwine  #longislandwinery #northforker #liwinecountry