Posts Written OnMay 02, 2005

In the interest of bringing the many faces and personalities of New York wine to my readers, I’ve decided to start doing bi-month (or so) posts about the amazing number of interesting, intelligent and supremely talented people in the New York wine world. For the first "bottling" I’ve chosen Lousia Thomas Hargrave, who I often call the "founding mother" of Long Island wine. She was the co-founder of Long Island’s first vineyard, Hargrave Vineyards, planting the first wine grapes on the North Fork in 1973. She is also a founder and a member emeritus of the Long Island Wine Council…

Route 48 on the North Fork is home to some of our region’s best wineries. Now, it shares a name with one of the newest. A year ago, Italian-born Rose Pipia purchased the former Bidwell Winery in Cutchogue, Long Island’s second oldest vineyard, and has renamed it Vineyard 48.                     I never liked Bidwell’s wines much, so this is great news. Pipia and her son, Joseph Pipia, the winery’s general manager, are obviously dedicated to turning the winery around, having hired some Long Island wine heavyweights to help exorcise the demons of bad Bidwell…