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Long Islanders stocking up on dry sparkling wines for Christmas and New Year's festivities can find what they are looking for locally. I recently tasted some that were released in [...]

Winemakers I know across Europe prepare different kinds of culturally rooted, traditional Christmas dinners. Some of the most festive are in Germany. Customarily, the centerpieces -- often found on Long [...]

Dessert wines, which accompany all sorts of final dinner courses and sometimes serve as such courses in themselves, are a charming feature of Long Island vintners' portfolios. Castello di Borghese [...]

Just in time for Thanksgiving aperitifs, the innovative winemaker Christopher Tracy at Channing Daughters Winery has released three savory vermouths. These nonvintage fortified wines, which contain neutral grape brandy and [...]

From a distance, the five bottles arrayed on my kitchen counter for a recent tasting -- tall, with slender necks -- looked Alsatian, but they were not. All contained dry [...]

Pinot blanc and viognier, grapes that flourish in Europe, play minor roles in Long Island vineyards. Both yield food-friendly, dry whites that harmonize especially well with fish and shellfish from [...]

Roanoke Vineyards, a boutique winery in its 13th year, has ascended to the top tier of Long Island estates. Its wines are consistently outstanding. Richard and Soraya Pisacano founded Roanoke [...]

Winery by winery, grape by grape, Long Island's overall portfolio and versatility are gradually broadening. Marking its 30th anniversary in the regional industry's 40th year, Paumanok Vineyards, in Aquebogue, is [...]

Although only a few Long Island vintners make malbec, samples of current releases suggest that it could become the third most successful red wine in the region, after merlot and [...]

Long Island producers won in nine of 32 classes of wines made from grapes in the New York Wine and Food Classic this month. The annual contest, sponsored by the [...]

THIS TIME OF YEAR is ideal for sipping ros, as its veteran fans already know. Newcomers to the rising tide of these eye-catching pink, red and salmon-colored wines from East [...]

In 2010 the Peconic Bay Winery in Cutchogue, having some empty tanks on hand, used them to make hard cider experimentally. Today about 50 accounts carry the ciders in Suffolk [...]

Long Island's terrific 2010 vintage helps make the argument that merlot, in single-variety wines or dominant in red blends, should be accepted as the region's signature red grape. It is [...]

The 62-acre Kontokosta Winery in Greenport, the easternmost winery on the North Fork, opened this month with a sizable portfolio of eight wines, featuring impressive reds. The proprietors, Michael E. [...]

GIVEN THE NUMBER OF TASTERS last month at Brooklyn Uncorked, where only Long Island wines are sampled, vintners on the Island might expect a flood of summer visitors. The sponsors [...]

Coffee Pot Cellars opened a tasting room in Cutchogue last week, offering four wines produced by the brand's owner, Adam Suprenant, at Osprey's Dominion, in Peconic, where he is the [...]

When the number of guests at a party or a barbecue threatens to overwhelm the wine budget, second labels can come to the rescue. A few Long Island vintners sell [...]

Few vegetables are tougher to match with wine than green asparagus, which is synonymous with spring. My go-to white for the job is sauvignon blanc, because its characteristic aromas and [...]

Many red wine lovers consider pinot noir and duck an ideal combination. And many fans of duck think the white Pekin breed farmed on Long Island is America's best. That's [...]

LONG ISLAND REDS shone when eight of the Island's producers joined 32 vintners from other wine regions on Monday in New York Drinks New York, a public tasting of more [...]

After tasting six food-friendly whites recently, I wished that more than half of them had been bottled with screw caps. It is easy to store such bottles on their sides [...]

Roman Roth, W|lffer Estate Vineyard's winemaker since 1992 (he was recently named a partner), has released an unusual riesling under his personal label, the Grapes of Roth. The grapes, which [...]

It seems possible that the 2010 merlot from Bedell Cellars, in Cutchogue, may ultimately outshine the charming 2009 merlot, which was served at the Congressional lunch in the Capitol after [...]

Many Long Island wineries are boutiques with small output, and when their new releases come to market, the best wines may sell out quickly. It is first come first served; [...]

When winter's chill sets in and menus tend toward hearty fare, a weighty red wine lends a warmth of its own. Last week I sampled five recent releases, chosen to [...]

As the Long Island wine industry enters its 40th year in 2013, the conventional notion that merlot is its defining specialty continues to be strongly challenged. Although producers with big [...]

In Germany, considered the native land of riesling, this grape's white wine is a traditional accompaniment for Christmas ham. Abundant local dry and semidry rieslings -- I tallied at least [...]

When Louisa and Alex Hargrave pioneered the Hargrave Vineyard (now Castello di Borghese) in Cutchogue in 1973, they made only still wines. First-rate sparkling wines from East End producers lay [...]

I might stick to a lifelong preference for a turkey dinner this Thanksgiving, or invite disbelief at home by lobbying for roast duck (Long Island, of course). The same wines [...]

Three East End producers opened their second tasting rooms recently. Two of the satellites are intended as 12-month operations, reflecting growing confidence in year-round visits to the region's wineries. Lieb [...]

Harmony Vineyards, licensed in 2011 and opened in June in Head of the Harbor Village on the North Shore, seems to be a standard Long Island boutique winery -- with [...]

Most wines made on Long Island are sold in a standard 750-milliliter bottle; larger bottles are a low priority for most vintners there because they tend to be costly and [...]

The current pizza craze prompted me to ask some Long Island vintners with Italian backgrounds: Does your family make pizzas at home, and, if so, which of your wines accompany [...]

Long Island producers won the top prizes in six of 30 classes of wine in the New York Wine and Food Classic this month. The 2011 Festival Chardonnay from Paumanok [...]

When a crowd gathers for a backyard barbecue and the menu features steak, lamb, burgers, grilled vegetables and the like, red wines are called for. If the guest list is [...]

Each time the latest Lenz Winery gewurztraminer is released, it is something of an event. The wine world regularly rates it one of America's leading dry versions. A bottle from [...]

When temperatures hover in the 90s, the sharp, thirst-slaking relief that a gin and tonic delivers tends to influence my preferences in white wines. The largely cool 2011 growing season [...]

Roses are blossoming throughout Long Island wine country. At least 32 of the region's more than 50 producers make them, and Channing Daughters, with eight, is in the vanguard. Why [...]

Geographically speaking, Long Island begins just across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan. And Brooklyn was the setting for a showcase of East End wines this month, along with a few [...]

The seven-year-old Long Island Merlot Alliance has changed its name to Merliance, after its collectively made wine, and expanded its program, now describing itself as a group of producers of [...]

Chardonnay made in stainless-steel tanks is emerging as a strength at Long Island wineries. This white wine, a terrific companion to the region's maritime cuisine, generally sells for less than [...]

Richard Olsen-Harbich of Bedell Cellars, a Long Island winemaker since 1981, favors blends over single-grape wines. ''An instrumental solo, while beautiful, cannot be as complex as chamber music,'' he said [...]

At Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead, the principal owner, Robert Entenmann, 83, is nicknamed Five-O. It's ''a term of endearment,'' the vineyards' winemaker, Juan E. Micieli-Martinez, explained in an e-mail. [...]

Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard, in Cutchogue, traces its origins in part to the island of Ischia, near Naples. The grandparents of Anthony Sannino, who owns Sannino Bella Vita with his [...]

Wines from the Lenz Winery, in Peconic, have had a French accent since Eric Fry became winemaker in 1989. It seems even more pronounced in the latest releases.''I don't look [...]

The food-friendly whites made at Waters Crest in Cutchogue and sold in its adjacent tasting room, in the North Road Commons industrial park, are noteworthy for their texture. This characteristic, [...]

Long Island wines are increasingly sold from taps in restaurants on the Island and in New York City. Among the wineries offering their products by the keg are Channing Daughters, [...]

One Long Island vintner has joined the numbers of those with tasting rooms at locations away from the wineries, and another is planning to open such a satellite as well. [...]

Despite the major problems that recurring rains caused for Long Island vintners during this year's growing season, two leading producers are quickly releasing successful 2011 whites. Paumanok Vineyards, in Aquebogue, [...]

As Long Island's sparkling wines have become increasingly sophisticated, their prices have steadily risen. Still, the region's best compare favorably with many of their counterparts from California and France. This [...]