Walking into the Tsunami - TasteCamp East 2009 Day One

Continuing on with my notes on TasteCamp East 2009…

I already wrote about how geeky this past weekend was. Gloriously geeky. Yesterday, Erika and I were chatting (tweeting?) and she mentioned that everyone was writing about the “whirlwind” of a weekend we just had. I had a better name for it.

Tsunami

The ebb of the tide started as we piled into vans to go to Raphael Winery. There was the naturally awkward moment of being in an enclosed space with people you do not really know, where you feel like you have to make conversation. Luckily enough, I consider myself to be a reasonably good talker in awkward situations. It also helped that the damn van driver did not shut up from the moment we entered the van until the moment we paid the fare. Driving for a taxi service in Long Island wine country must be lonely in the off-season, without the weekend warriors.

The wave really began to crest as we stood around the bar, talking, doing some light warm-up tasting with the Raphael Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé. There were plenty of people to meet, lots of schmoozing to do.

Then we really got into the mess. The Long Island Merlot Alliance had set up a walk around tasting of Merlot from five wineries: Clovis Point, Pelligrini Vineyards, Raphael, Sherwood House Vineyards, and Wölffer Estate Vineyards. Their stated goal is “the members of the Long Island Merlot Alliance believe that this place (Long Island) is one of the few in the world that provides the best opportunity for growing and producing great wines substantially comprised of the Merlot grape.” These guys really believed in their Merlot. I cannot blame their passion.

However, overall I could not say that I really believed in their Merlot the way they do. For my tastes the majority of the Merlot was astringent with fruit that dried up before any finish. When I stuck my nose in a few of the wines they reminded me of canned lima beans. Not something I really wanted to find in a Merlot or any wine.

That being said, I tasted some delicious Merlots. My favorites were the Pellegrini Vineyards Merlot 1997 and the Clovis Point Vintner’s Select Merlot 2004.

In addition, the Long Island Merlot Alliance members yearly pool two barrels of their wines to create Merlliance (mer – LEE – ans). I found these wines to be tasty! My favorite was the 2006, with a smoky nose with bright cherry and a taste that was smooth and balanced. I also liked the 2005 and the 2004.

After the tasting we sat down for a fantastic dinner, my compliments to Raphael Winery and their Chef.

And the story of the Tsunami continues…

TasteCamp East

Yesterday, TasteCamp East was announced on LENNDEVOURS and I am honored to be one of the participants. Living in New York City, I have wanted to get out to Long Island more often and this is the perfect excuse to take a mini vacation to do so.

I have tasted a few New York wines and I have worked with Bruce Schneider, the winemaker of Schneider Vineyards and consulting winemaker at Onabay (or at least I think that is what he is doing there), both of which hail from Long Island. They have been pleasant and interesting and a few Cabernet Francs have definitely made me pay attention.

TasteCamp was created by Lenn at LENNDEVOURS (I seem to mention him a lot lately) as well as fellow bloggers, including Melissa at Family, Love, Wine Blog; Erika at StrumErika; John at Anything Wine and Becky at Smells Like Grape. The idea behind TasteCamp is to have an event where bloggers can come together and meet other bloggers and taste wine with each other.

According to Lenn (and he should know) TasteCamp will happen as follows:

The festivities will start Friday, May 1 with a reception and dinner at Raphael, co-sponsored by Raphael and the Long Island Merlot Alliance. The plans are still forming, but it looks like we'll be the first to taste a couple single-vineyard Sauvignon Blancs from Raphael and also get a preview of LIMA's 2006 Merliance as part of a three-year vertical of that co-produced wine.

The plans for Saturday, May 2 are still coming together, but it looks like we'll be making visits to five different wineries, including lunch at Shinn Estate Vineyard, which will featured the wines of and be co-hosted by Shinn Estate Vineyards, Jamesport Vineyards and Macari Vineyards. After lunch, hopefully, in conjuntion with the Long Island Wine Council, we'll be able to taste the wines from wineries that we won't have time to visit.

Sunday May 3 we'll be shooting down to the South Fork of Long Island, aka the Hamptons, to visit Wolffer Estate and Channing Daughters Winery as well. For the beer lovers in the group, we may even stop off at Southampton Publick House on our way back west.

I am also excited about this because my girl Leah will be coming with me to taste through the wines. A big shout out to her for being on the cusp of finishing Med School and getting into New York Presbyterian for her residency!



Logo Credit: PJ Sedgwick created the TasteCamp EAST logo.