Brooklyn Uncorked 2009: Some Notes. Some Favorites.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Brooklyn attending Brooklyn Uncorked at BAM Cafe. Uncorked has really become the most comprehensive walk-around tasting of Long Island wines. Most of the best Long Island producers were there pouring and several tables were being worked by winemakers and owners rather than other staff.
This year, partially because of TasteCamp a couple weeks ago, there weren't many wines on hand that I hadn't already tasted, but it was great tasting those that I hadn't (and also re-tasting some favorites). Some of the highlights included:
- Raphael Winery's 2007 Cabernet Franc. A new release, it's made without any oak and combines bright fruit, herbs and great acidity.
- The Old Field's 2005 Cabernet Franc. This is earthy, funky Long Island cabernet franc at its best.
- Pindar Vineyards' 2008 Viognier. A nice surprise. Newly released it has nice acidity and distinct quince-citrus character.
- Roanoke Vineyards' 2007 Marco Tulio. This blend of cab sauv, cab franc and merlot will be released this summer. Less oak was used and it really shows off the ripeness of the vintage well.
- Channing Daughters Winery 2008 Sauvignon Blanc. No surprise here, but the new vintage is delicious.
- The flight of Osprey's Dominion Vineyard's "Flight" Meritage. Getting to taste the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2006 in succession was fun and shows just how well these wines can age.
Kudos to the Long Island Wine Council and the local Edible magazines for putting the event together. I think they did a great job interspersing the food vendors with the wineries and the flow of people between floors seems to work much better this year.
