By Lenn Thompson, Editor and Publisher I've said it a million times and I'll say it again — there is little doubt that sauvignon blanc is the white-wine future of Long Island. And, year after year, a unique regional is emerging — one with bright citrus fruit, accented by herbs that are less overwhelming than wines from New Zealand, and minerality that is less intense perhaps than Sancerre. And, unlike sauvignon from the left coast, the wines are focused and well balanced by refreshing acidity. These are generalizations, of course, but it's an emerging style and I'm just trying to…
Posts Tagged“chris tracy”
Channing Daughters Winery 2005 Mudd
Channing Daughters Winery's winemaker, Chris Tracy, is a magician with white wines. For the most part though, I find his reds a notch or (and sometimes two) below the level of those beautiful whites. He's no less creative with the reds though. Take this Channing Daughters Winery 2005 MUDD ($40) a blend of 48% merlot (from Sam McCullough’s Vineyard in Aquebogue), 36% cabernet sauvignon (from Mudd Vineyard in Southold) and 16% Blaufrankisch (from CDW's estate in Bridgehampton). I don't know many winemakers who would take a Bordeaux-styled blend of merlot and cabernet and throw 16% Blau, which is most commonly…
Channing Daughters Winery 2006 Envelope
Earlier this week I mentioned Channing Daughters Winery's winemaker, Chris Tracy, his focus on traditional methods and the parallels he draws between Long Island and Friuli. Well, here is yet a wine that proves those points. Channing Daughters Winery's 2006 Envelope is a blend of 70% chardonnay and 30% Gewurztraminer. That may not seem all that interesting, but wait. Inspired by the “Vino da Meditazione” wines produced in the Friuli region of Northeast Italy, the fruit that went into this wine was hand-harvested, de-stemmed and fermented on their skins in an open top fermenter. Basically, its a white wine that…
Channing Daughters Winery 2007 Mosaico
When people not familiar with Long Island wine ask me to name my favorite winemaker or winemakers, Chris Tracy from Channing Daughters Winery always makes the list. In a wine community stridently devoted to making fine wine from Bordeaux varieties, he takes his cues from northern Italy. Many consider him an extremely creative winemaker, but what looks like creativity is really just a focus on and devotion traditional methods. That doesn't mean he's not creative though, as this blend shows. Channing Daughters Winery's 2007 Mosaico ($29) is a field blend of 32% pinot grigio, 29% chardonnay, 14% sauvignon blanc, 12%…
Channing Daughters Winery 2007 Rosso Fresco
Chris Tracy, winemaker at Channing Daughters Winery, thinks of Long Island as a white wine region, which is a unique stance in the industry. It's hard to argue with him when you taste the white wines in Channing Daughters' portfolio though. He creates some unique-to-Long Island blends with Northern Italy as the model and the results are often delicious and always interesting. His red wines, however, are sometimes a bit less polished. This wine, Channing Daughters 2007 Rosso Fresco ($18) is a blend of 80% merlot, 14% syrah, 2% blaufrankisch, 2% cabernet franc and 2% dornfelder. It's the second vintage…
Love at First Twist
By Contributing Columnist Robin Mererdith I’d like to welcome Robin Meredith as LENNDEVOURS’ newest contributor. He is the former owner of Broadfields Wine Cellars and The Tasting Room on the North Fork of Long Island. He is now preparing to begin his Master of Wine education. If you’ve ever had a glass of wine that smelled of moldy cardboard, wet dog, or dingy basement, you’ve experienced a "corked wine." Saldy, corked wines are ruined and there’s no resuscitating them. Most of the time, corked wine is caused by 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), a hard-to-pronounce compound that taints the aromas and flavors of…