Sunday, May 28, 2006
A Trip to the East End
Saturday I took a drive out east to visit Jeff and Melanie at their place on Long Island, then from there we took the short drive to the North Fork of Long Island for an afternoon of wine tasting and whatever else catches our attention. As you will see, the stuff that caught our attention quickly became the highlight of the trip.
I was supposed to drive someone else from the city out east but as predicted, Lazy Chris was a last minute dropout.
So I packed up a bottle of awesome wine for dinner, the digital camera, and jumped in my car, blasting the new Mute Math record all the way.
Traffic wasn't too bad and the weather held out the whole day, not a drop of rain fell as the forecast had stated. Heading out east on the LIE, we discussed the agenda for today's trip, deciding to give priority to the wineries we haven't been to before.
There are 2 main roads on the North Fork, route 48 and route 25. We went to 48 first, then decided to circle back down 25 on the way home.
The first stop on our list was Roanoke Vineyards.
Roanoke Vineyards is a relatively new winery and I believe they are owned by the same people who own Wolffer Estate on the South Fork. The tasting room is a decent size and it wasn't too crowded.
Tasting here is $5 for either the reds or whites. We all went with the whites because last time we were here we tried the reds. I did like the 2004 Wolffer Late Harvest Chardonnay but didn't get a bottle. The best thing about tasting here is the free cheese & bread they give you.
Free cheese!!!
The next stop was Lieb Cellars, where we were hoping to actually buy some cheese. However, due to a new law that says the wineries can only sell products made within the state, they no longer sell the cheese they used to.
But they were giving away free ice cream! Jeff and Mel each got the $3 flight of whites, while I decided to go with the $3 red flight. I didn't like any of the wines. There were no discernable fruit flavors to be found. Most of them had a strange bell pepper taste to them and the aromas were all oak. Sometimes the finish was rather coarse.
They said they also put some of the wine in the ice cream and I don't know if it ruined it or not but the chocolate raspberry ice cream we tried had a strange aftertaste to it as well.
Since the cheese is no longer being sold here there is really no reason for us to visit Lieb again, since none of us were crazy about their wines.
Shinn Estate is another new winery out east. The owners are Barbara Shinn and David Page, who own Home Restaurant in the city. They have plans to open a bed & breakfast next year on the property. The tasting room was cozy and cool, offering a relaxing place to sit down and try some wine.
Shinn Estate
Tasting here was $8.50 for 5 wines but David let us have all 6 that were available. The highlight was the first one we tried, the 2005 Home Chardonnay. 80% of it was fermented in stainless steel while 20% was fermented in oak. The wine was very balanced all the way through. The notes usually added to these wines by oak were very subtle. At $15 I thought it was a good value and decided to buy a bottle.
Heading further down Rt. 48, we found the new location of Catapano Dairy Farm. It is a small, family owned goat dairy and the main attraction here are their homemade cheeses.
Cheese! That-a-way!
Just follow the sign in the lot to the small shack where all the cheese goodies are located. If goat cheese is not your thing, then perhaps you might be interested in the various goat milk beauty products they have available.
Jeff and Mel picked up some cheese as they usually do here and I decided to get a block of goat milk fudge. I haven't tried it yet but I will be sure to write about it once I do.
Our next intended stop was the Tasting Room on Peconic Lane, but as we drove up we saw the sign out front saying they were closed. Wha?!
We almost pulled the car away but something there across the train tracks caught my attention.
THE PECONIC BAKING COMPANY! YES!
I love their slogan: "Fueled by Frosting"
This is the point in the trip where it became less about wine and more about food! Indeed we were unprepared for the various sweet delights that awaited us inside.
Go ahead... take a gander:
Cake city!!!
There are many more photos available on my new Flickr page. Be sure to check that out and leave me your comments.
Ooh, but you're all probably wondering about the Peconic Baking Company. Okay, so the place definitely has a friendly atmosphere and everything looks delicious. It's in the middle of nowhere and if you are looking to get that nice homemade type of baked goods then this is the place to go.
Everything looked so good so I took a while deciding what I wanted. In the meantime I took photos and tried a bunch of free samples. They had a big plate with 5 or 6 various selections you could try and I went with a raspberry lemon square which was very tasty. They also had cookies, cupcakes, and regular cakes, and everything else you could possibly imagine.
All in all, this will definitely be a place I will go on every future visit to the north fork.
Down the block from the bakery we found the 4th and final winery we would visit on the day, Ackerly Pond Vineyards.
Ackerly Pond is previously known for just producing grapes, but now they produce their own wines as well. The tasting room is really tiny. Two women worked the counter and there appeared to just be enough space for the 3 of us. Conveniently we were the only ones there at the time. Tasting here was $3 to try all the wines they have available.
Their rose was probably the best we had tried that day and their reds were definitely better than the ones we had at Lieb. It's been a while since I've had a red from Long Island that I've enjoyed. In 2000 they had a decent vintage (as did the rest of the world) and I had some reds from Paumanok, Raphael, and Macari that I enjoyed. However, since then nothing has struck me as even being drinkable. Looks like at the moment, white varietals seem to show better fruit characteristics than the reds.
The wine tasting portion of this trip is now over so it was time to get pie!!! Everyone loves pie, don't you?!
So many pies, so little stomach...
Briermere Farms makes the best friggin' pies in the world. People have supposedly travelled thousands of miles just for one of their pies and after tasting one you will understand the obsession. Just look!
Pies!!!
I took forever to decide (and take photos) but I went with the raspberry cream. It's about halfway done by now. SO GOOD!!!!
It's like crack in pie form!
The raspberries are layered generously on top of the absolutely sinful and to-die-for cream. The crust is just perfect. Really if you visit only one place out east, make it Briermere farms. And the Peconic Baking Company. Go there too.
If you are into organic foods there are farmstands everywhere that grow their stuff locally. Other places we passed by but didn't go to are this cute tea cottage just east of Briermere and a place that makes award winning cheesecakes which is also in the same area. We'll save those for the next trip.
You know what?
IT DOESN'T END THERE!!! Bring on more homemade sweets!
On the way back we drove through Riverhead and on Rt. 25 just before the LIE, you can visit Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe, which has been serving up the good stuff since 1953. Some of you may have recognized them from an episode of Best Of: Ice Cream on the Food Network. The owners, Stuart and Carolyn Feldschuh, have been known to create over 100 new flavors every year!
Jealous? Ye should be...
I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices available at this place. All of it homemade, right in this little shop. Eventually I went with the Peanut Butter Cup, which I woofed down in record time. The cone even had a little amaretto taste to it I believe. It was the perfect way to end the day.
Oh man... so that was our Saturday. I'm going to have to do this trip again, and REAL SOON! I think next time it will be something along the lines of bakery, goat cheese place, maybe a winery, tea place, cheesecake place, pie place, ice cream place, belly explosion. Joy.
I was supposed to drive someone else from the city out east but as predicted, Lazy Chris was a last minute dropout.
So I packed up a bottle of awesome wine for dinner, the digital camera, and jumped in my car, blasting the new Mute Math record all the way.
Traffic wasn't too bad and the weather held out the whole day, not a drop of rain fell as the forecast had stated. Heading out east on the LIE, we discussed the agenda for today's trip, deciding to give priority to the wineries we haven't been to before.
There are 2 main roads on the North Fork, route 48 and route 25. We went to 48 first, then decided to circle back down 25 on the way home.
The first stop on our list was Roanoke Vineyards.
Roanoke Vineyards is a relatively new winery and I believe they are owned by the same people who own Wolffer Estate on the South Fork. The tasting room is a decent size and it wasn't too crowded.
Tasting here is $5 for either the reds or whites. We all went with the whites because last time we were here we tried the reds. I did like the 2004 Wolffer Late Harvest Chardonnay but didn't get a bottle. The best thing about tasting here is the free cheese & bread they give you.
Free cheese!!!
The next stop was Lieb Cellars, where we were hoping to actually buy some cheese. However, due to a new law that says the wineries can only sell products made within the state, they no longer sell the cheese they used to.
But they were giving away free ice cream! Jeff and Mel each got the $3 flight of whites, while I decided to go with the $3 red flight. I didn't like any of the wines. There were no discernable fruit flavors to be found. Most of them had a strange bell pepper taste to them and the aromas were all oak. Sometimes the finish was rather coarse.
They said they also put some of the wine in the ice cream and I don't know if it ruined it or not but the chocolate raspberry ice cream we tried had a strange aftertaste to it as well.
Since the cheese is no longer being sold here there is really no reason for us to visit Lieb again, since none of us were crazy about their wines.
Shinn Estate is another new winery out east. The owners are Barbara Shinn and David Page, who own Home Restaurant in the city. They have plans to open a bed & breakfast next year on the property. The tasting room was cozy and cool, offering a relaxing place to sit down and try some wine.
Shinn Estate
Tasting here was $8.50 for 5 wines but David let us have all 6 that were available. The highlight was the first one we tried, the 2005 Home Chardonnay. 80% of it was fermented in stainless steel while 20% was fermented in oak. The wine was very balanced all the way through. The notes usually added to these wines by oak were very subtle. At $15 I thought it was a good value and decided to buy a bottle.
Heading further down Rt. 48, we found the new location of Catapano Dairy Farm. It is a small, family owned goat dairy and the main attraction here are their homemade cheeses.
Cheese! That-a-way!
Just follow the sign in the lot to the small shack where all the cheese goodies are located. If goat cheese is not your thing, then perhaps you might be interested in the various goat milk beauty products they have available.
Jeff and Mel picked up some cheese as they usually do here and I decided to get a block of goat milk fudge. I haven't tried it yet but I will be sure to write about it once I do.
Our next intended stop was the Tasting Room on Peconic Lane, but as we drove up we saw the sign out front saying they were closed. Wha?!
We almost pulled the car away but something there across the train tracks caught my attention.
THE PECONIC BAKING COMPANY! YES!
I love their slogan: "Fueled by Frosting"
This is the point in the trip where it became less about wine and more about food! Indeed we were unprepared for the various sweet delights that awaited us inside.
Go ahead... take a gander:
Cake city!!!
There are many more photos available on my new Flickr page. Be sure to check that out and leave me your comments.
Ooh, but you're all probably wondering about the Peconic Baking Company. Okay, so the place definitely has a friendly atmosphere and everything looks delicious. It's in the middle of nowhere and if you are looking to get that nice homemade type of baked goods then this is the place to go.
Everything looked so good so I took a while deciding what I wanted. In the meantime I took photos and tried a bunch of free samples. They had a big plate with 5 or 6 various selections you could try and I went with a raspberry lemon square which was very tasty. They also had cookies, cupcakes, and regular cakes, and everything else you could possibly imagine.
All in all, this will definitely be a place I will go on every future visit to the north fork.
Down the block from the bakery we found the 4th and final winery we would visit on the day, Ackerly Pond Vineyards.
Ackerly Pond is previously known for just producing grapes, but now they produce their own wines as well. The tasting room is really tiny. Two women worked the counter and there appeared to just be enough space for the 3 of us. Conveniently we were the only ones there at the time. Tasting here was $3 to try all the wines they have available.
Their rose was probably the best we had tried that day and their reds were definitely better than the ones we had at Lieb. It's been a while since I've had a red from Long Island that I've enjoyed. In 2000 they had a decent vintage (as did the rest of the world) and I had some reds from Paumanok, Raphael, and Macari that I enjoyed. However, since then nothing has struck me as even being drinkable. Looks like at the moment, white varietals seem to show better fruit characteristics than the reds.
The wine tasting portion of this trip is now over so it was time to get pie!!! Everyone loves pie, don't you?!
So many pies, so little stomach...
Briermere Farms makes the best friggin' pies in the world. People have supposedly travelled thousands of miles just for one of their pies and after tasting one you will understand the obsession. Just look!
Pies!!!
I took forever to decide (and take photos) but I went with the raspberry cream. It's about halfway done by now. SO GOOD!!!!
It's like crack in pie form!
The raspberries are layered generously on top of the absolutely sinful and to-die-for cream. The crust is just perfect. Really if you visit only one place out east, make it Briermere farms. And the Peconic Baking Company. Go there too.
If you are into organic foods there are farmstands everywhere that grow their stuff locally. Other places we passed by but didn't go to are this cute tea cottage just east of Briermere and a place that makes award winning cheesecakes which is also in the same area. We'll save those for the next trip.
You know what?
IT DOESN'T END THERE!!! Bring on more homemade sweets!
On the way back we drove through Riverhead and on Rt. 25 just before the LIE, you can visit Snowflake Ice Cream Shoppe, which has been serving up the good stuff since 1953. Some of you may have recognized them from an episode of Best Of: Ice Cream on the Food Network. The owners, Stuart and Carolyn Feldschuh, have been known to create over 100 new flavors every year!
Jealous? Ye should be...
I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices available at this place. All of it homemade, right in this little shop. Eventually I went with the Peanut Butter Cup, which I woofed down in record time. The cone even had a little amaretto taste to it I believe. It was the perfect way to end the day.
Oh man... so that was our Saturday. I'm going to have to do this trip again, and REAL SOON! I think next time it will be something along the lines of bakery, goat cheese place, maybe a winery, tea place, cheesecake place, pie place, ice cream place, belly explosion. Joy.
# posted by Nick @ 10:01 AM 
