Even if you're a big Long Island wine fan, you may not know Miceli Vineyards. And you probably won't either.
I hadn't heard of them either until I ran into Chris Miceli at a wine shop where he was pouring some wines a couple years ago. For years, he grew merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc in his vineyard in Mattituck and sold the fruit to local wineries, including Pellegrini Vineyards.
In 2001, presumably because it was such a good year, he decided to make some wine of his own.
He has since sold the vineyard, but there are a few bottles of his wines floating around at shops. I received this bottle a gift from Anthony Sannino of Sannino Vineyard.
Medium crimson red in the glass with a thin, slightly lighter, aged rim, the nose shows a nice amount of fruit, mostly blackberry and black raspberry, with earthy background aromas and just a little leather.
On the lighter side of medium bodied, there is some sweet black raspberry and cherry fruit on the palate, especially on the finish, with secondary earthy and black pepper flavors. It's a bit hollow however, with nice flavors on the fore palate and finish, but a surprisingly thin mid-palate.
Still, there's a little bit of tannin left here, so it might last another year or two before truly going down hill.
Producer: Miceli Vineyards
AVA: North Fork of Long Island
Price: N/A
Rating:
(2.5 out of 5 | Average-to-Recommended)