I'd like the group's concensus on NY State wines, specifically Long Island wines? Being that I work for one I am bias. But I would be very interested in hearing the group's opinions.

I live here and I think our wines are, for the overwhelming majority, horrible to mediocre. The very best dry LI wine (or NYS wine) I've ever had is no better than an 84-85 point wine. The sweet wines, like those of Canada, can be tasty but simple. The complexity and ageability of the German eisweins dwarfs those of LI and NYS. We have a loooooooooooooooooooong way to go to make wines worthy of purchase. The prices they're asking for our local swill are ridiculous.

slider-my father lives out in bridgehampton so i try to hit the wineries out there at least once a year. last year i was only able to visit woffler. i have bought the sweet dessert wines from jamesport in the past and found them to be good solid wines. in fact, i have found that a few wineries make some good to very dood dessert wines.

i tend to agree with board-o when it comes to the dry whites and reds. i think they all do better with whites, although i was very disappointed with the chards at lenz the last trime i visited.

the reds are another story. my last visit to woffler produced only on wine that i felt was of good quality and it cost in the vacinity of $45. everything else was below 85 points in quality. their $70 pinot should not even have been made. in the summer of 2002 i visited lenz, bedell, paumanock and pelligrini. i felt bedell's wines had gone down hill, lenz had a very good premium merlot at $65 that was still over priced. the basic merlot which at one time was a good 86-7 point wine (1995 lenz merlot) was now a $25 undrinkable wine. everything i tasted that day from lenz, save the premium merlot was unacceptable.

the two shining spots that day were paumanock and pelligrini. neither made excellent wines, but both were making some good to very good wines. the problem with both and all wineries on the island is very simple. is good to very good wines at the current prices good enough to compete with wineries from other areas who consistently make very good to excellent wines at the same prices.

another problem is the weather on long island. i know people have attempted to compare it with that of bordeaux. unfortunately, bordeaux actually has better weather and centuries of learning how to make very good wines without the best weather conditions. i believe long island wineries in general must learn how to make quality wines without the bebefit of good weather. they must stop over extracting unripe fruit. i found many red wines to have a green herbaceous streak. a real turn off.

I should have mentioned one wine. Pindar makes a Cabernet Port. A woman who works for me gave a bottle of it a few years ago. I thanked her, but figured I'd taste it and then dump it out. Surprise! Surprise! It was pretty damn good. I think it's the best wine I've ever had from NY State.

Slider,

There are some interesting discussions on LI wines on the Wine Spectator forums.

Here's one:

Long Island Wines

I've been to your winery and it is very nice.

Can't really contribute, but, if they (the LI wines) are like the Niagara region wines, I'm guessing I'd be underwhelmed.

I'm generally of the opinion that LI are in three categories: undrinkable, so-so $10 wines selling for $15-30, and good $10-15 wines selling for $20-60.

That being said, I've had a few I've enjoyed:
Some Lenz and Pelligrinis
Pinot Noir (?!?!) from Old Field Vineyard (disclosure, owners are friends)
'97 Macarini Bdx blend. At a big blind tasting of Bdx seconds last fall it was inserted as a ringer, and won its flight handily (hey, I didn't vote for it!). But it was a good wine.

dale-is that macarini or macari?

We tasted at Old Fields in November. Your friends are very nice. Our house is a stone's throw away from them.

Oops, you're right, it was Macari the 1997 Bergen Road (very nice, in a modern fruit-forward kind of way).

Queen of Hearts, they are indeed nice. Ros used to be a great volunteer for my non-profit when she lived in Westchester. I helped with harvest once or twice. Fun to actually be around the process.

I enjoy Schrader Chardonnay and Cab Franc. Infact they are the only Finger Lakes wines I will carry at my restaurant.

a friend of mine has been very kind to let me taste several LI wines. when we go to our favourite NY restaurant to get away and chat, this restaurant only serves LI wines, so i get a further chance (favourite for the food and we know the proprietor). i've tried bedell offerings, overpriced and uninspiring IMO, i tried duck walk vineyard and wolffer late harvest chards, both were only so so, a pindar port, which i didn't care for and a gristina from 1994, andy's field cab sauv. again, didn't care for. the wolffer, duck walk, pindar and gristina i couldn't finish. the bedell's i struggled my way through, should have used it for sangria.

i pretty much gave up but last time in NY i had the 2000 paumanok merlot. this was a nice wine, at $35 of course overpriced, but this you could enjoy drinking. not terribly complex, but no fatal flaws either that have you heading to the sink. i didn't render a score, but i recall it being about mid 80's on the scale. i don't know what price it garners in the wine stores, but the 35 was restaurant price.

Frankie, I'm pretty much down on LI wines, but the Pindar Cabernet Port I had I liked. I don't remember the vintage.

My good friend Jane Baxter Lynn, the recently departed Long Island Wine Council ED, was just appointed executive director of the Washington Wine Commission. Kudos to her, LI's loss is a great gain for Washington. Very exciting. She will be a great asset. Wonder how that happened.....