Long Island Winery Recommendations

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David Lee

David Lee
I'm looking to head out to Long Island for a night or two in September with my wife and a few other couples. Ideally, we'd like to either stay at a winery or very close to one, and we are looking for the best possible combination of great wine and great food. Any recommendations on B&B or inns at or near wineries on Long Island?
 
The Shinn Estate Farmhouse has rooms right at the winery. North Fork Table & Inn has rooms and a very good restaurant (their wine service leaves a bit to be desired). The wineries on the North Fork are all relatively close together, so staying anywhere from Riverhead to Orient Point is not an issue. Accommodations in B&B's and Inns are limited, book as soon as you can. You should also look into AirBnb and other rental sites as you may be better off renting an entire house for the weekend.

Food wise on the North Fork, North Fork Table and Inn, Noah's, The Frisky Oyster and The Elbow East for a throwback and giant steaks. For oysters try Little Creek Oysters, it's shuck your own if you are so inclined. If you are looking for the best food and best wine lists then you are probably going to have to head to the South Fork and the Hamptons and if you are doing that, you might as well stay in Manhattan.

If you happen to be staying through the weekend and have a Monday night available, I recommend trying to get seats at PawPaw - a pop up restaurant in Greenport. It is only on Mondays and you need to book now. Its BYO, but bring your own from home as retail selections on the North Fork are very limited.

Wineries on Long Island tend to be either the big "wine lifestyle" establishments with large tasting rooms overlooking the well manicured (read RoundUp under the vines) vines, or much smaller mom and pop type places. My favorite of the Mom & Pop is Southold Farm & Cellar - call before you go as they are presently closed to the public. Other smaller places to try are Shinn Estate and One Woman Wines. For the larger "wine lifestyle" places try Bedell Cellars, Sparkling Pointe, Kontokosta Winery and Paumanok Vineyard.

As far as the question of "great wine"? There are some good and very good wines and by all means enjoyable wines but you are going to be hard pressed to find an exceptional portfolio from any single producer. This is Long Island we are talking about. It's not the Loire Valley, Burgundy or Napa.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by JasonA:
It's not the Loire Valley, Burgundy or Napa.
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Or even the Finger Lakes.

And +1 to everything Jason says.
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word

Then again, things are improving in both locations, and for that matter throughout the entire country.
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
originally posted by Jay Miller:
I've heard good things about Channing Sisters though I've never tried one
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Channing's Daughters, yes?
Best, Jim
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Presumably they are sisters as well. I usually find a visit to Channing Daughters interesting because of their skin contact whites and esoteric (not for this bored) varietals: ribolla gialla, refosco, lagrein, and so on.

However, given their location in Bridgehampton, they are some distance from all of the North Fork wineries mentioned above. Traffic won't be as bad in September though.
 
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