lgsjr – Page 45 – Power Tasting – The Wine Tasting Experience

Don’t Try to Visit Everyplace All at Once

There are two types of locales in Wine Country. Some are places with a small number of wineries, often not of the very highest grade. Areas like Temecula Valley, Long Island’s North Fork and Jerome, Arizona fall into this category. Then there are the sectors where the world’s great wines are made, such as Bordeaux, Napa Valley, Stellenbosch, Barossa, Tuscany and the Cote d’Or in Burgundy. These are enormous territories with hundreds of wineries and tasting rooms. (For example, there are more than 400 wineries in Napa Valley alone.)

Here’s a little non-secret: you can’t visit them all. Probably not in a lifetime and absolutely not in a day. So if you’re visiting one of these legendary wine-making areas and you only have a day (especially if you only have a day) there are some tips that will make your visit more enjoyable.

Do some advance planning. Figure out where you will be starting from that day, how long it will take to get to Wine Country and when you need to be back. Many thanks to Google Maps; everyone can be an expert in these matters nowadays. You also must factor in the number of wineries you intend to visit, which is governed more by your tolerance for alcohol than in the number of hours you’ll be in the area.
Choose just one section to visit. Or maybe two, at the most depending on the geography. The point is that you want to spend your time visiting wineries, not driving long distances from place to place. [Exception to this advice: Maybe you do want to drive around in order to take in the scenery. Maybe you want to see the vineyards surrounding castles in the Medoc or the gracious hills in Sonoma County or the Route Touristique in Champagne. That’s a great idea, too, but then plan to minimize your winery visits.]
Figure out where you’re going to have lunch. If you are going wine tasting, you are going to have lunch. This may be a picnic by the side of the road in a Burgundian village or a fine repast at a South African wine farm. But these meals don’t just happen. You need to plan ahead if you’re bringing lunch with you or know where restaurants are if you intend to dine that way. Some of the best bets are knowing where the local delis are. These days, many have gone gourmet, which isn’t bad at all.
Go to the best wineries in the section you choose. This is easy if you’re familiar with the area, but what do you do if the wineries are all just names to you? There are several answers. Again the Web is your friend; look up “best wineries in ______” and you’ll have an excellent chance of tasting something worthwhile, at least to someone’s taste. Or just ask people. We have often pulled into the first winery we see, tasted their wines and then asked the people there where else we should go. These folks in wineries are usually very generous with advice and have often led us to some of the greatest wine tasting experiences of our lives. (See Valpolicella Follies, for example.)
Do your wine tasting in a town, not at the vineyards. As a general rule, tasting rooms in towns are inferior to what you’ll be able to try at the places where the wine is actually made. But that is not universally true. For example, you can have a very pleasant experience walking down Grand Avenue in Los Olivos, stopping at a few (just a few) of the 25 tasting rooms in town. You can do the same thing at the degustaziones in Montalcino. If you happen to be staying in those places, you don’t have to worry about getting behind the wheel of a car, so your day is optimized.
Don’t worry about what you didn’t get a chance to see. It is far better, to our minds, to get the most out of a small sample then just to skim a larger selection. We realize that not everyone feels this way, but consider the fact that having visited one corner of Wine Country, life has a way of giving you another chance one day.

Meeting the Winemaker

As we state on our front page, Power Tasting is not about wine as such, but about visiting Wine Country. We offer advice to travelers, not connoisseurs. The people we generally talk with when we go visiting are servers and tasting room managers, not winemakers. Still, over the years we have had the occasion to meet many winemakers who just happened to be in the tasting room while we were there.

Perhaps our warmest memory was meeting two generations of the Charavin family at their winery in Rasteau, Domaine des Coteaux de Travers (www.coteaux-des-travers.com/index.php/en). We were already familiar with their wines and made a point of visiting them. The winery had only a simple bar in front of the production area. The young woman who served us was the both the wife of the present winemaker and the daughter of the family that had owned the estate in previous years. While we were talking with her, her father-in-law, Robert Charavin stopped by and we learned a bit more about the history of the winery. And then his son, also named Robert, came by in his mud-covered boots. They were all excited to meet Americans who loved their wines, but not as excited as were to meet them. It was a unique and educational experience.

Also in the Rhone Valley, we visited Chateauneuf du Pape, an area famed for its hearty and expressive red wines. Traveling through the sector, we stopped at a winery we had been told was up-and-coming, Domaine Paul Autard (www.paulautard.com, in French). The woman serving us recognized that our accents were from North America and when we asked a few questions decided to introduce us to the winemaker, that is, her husband Jean-Paul Autard. He explained that his father, Paul, had started the winery and that he was setting about to create world-quality wines. We discussed his trips to New York, invited him to call us when he was there the next time (he never did) and he gave us a nice corkscrew that we use to this day.

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Jean-Paul Autard (Photo courtesy of Domaine Paul Autard)

One more story. We have been drinking the wines of David Cofaro for quite some time and visit his winery often. We’ve gotten to know him and his wife Pat a bit over the years. In 2015, we got to meet his new assistant winemaker, Josh. He’s an earnest and thoughtful young man who has some great ideas about how he could improve wines we already thought were pretty terrific.

In all three of these stories, there’s a common element. There’s more to wine than barrels and terroir. There are the people and the way they think about wine, their personal histories, their way of approaching what they do for a living with passion and intelligence. We are not oenologists or critics, so our interactions with winemakers is necessarily irregular. But when we do get the chance, it adds enormously to our understanding or wine and to the pleasure we get going wine tasting.

Jocko’s Steak House

Power Tasting doesn’t do restaurant reviews so this is not a restaurant review. It is about a restaurant that is definitely a place worth a visit if you ever happen to be in Nipomo, California. Actually, no one ever just happens to be in Nipomo, so we’re really saying that if you ever are wine tasting in San Luis Obispo County or nearby Santa Maria, make a pilgrimage to Jocko’s.

A visit there is not just about the steak although the steaks are very good. It’s about the experience. For one thing, you feel as though you have been transported to a Saturday afternoon western of your youth. (You do remember Saturday afternoon movies, don’t you?) The bar is wood-paneled, with the heads of various dead animals (deer and such, not cows) shown proudly. Sorry, the door is just a door, not of the swinging variety. Surprisingly for a restaurant smack in the middle of Wine Country, the list is not particularly impressive although you’ll surely find something to enjoy with your steak.

Then there are the folks who assemble there. Ten gallon hats and boots are much in evidence. Everybody is a regular or, more likely, they treat everyone as though they were regulars, which is even better. You’d better have a reservation as Jocko’s is quite well-known locally and seems always to be crowded. Not that you’ll actually get a table at the time you reserved, but it will put you in the running to get a table and give you time to enjoy the bar. Then, when it is your turn, you’ll hear your name bellowed out to overcome the din.

The dining room is a large, open space with cinderblock walls and Formica covered tables. This is not a restaurant for gracious, elegant dining. It’s for seriously committed carnivores. Oh, they give you salad and vegetables, too, but the raison d’etre of Jocko’s (not that they’d ever use a phrase like raison d’etre) is enormous slabs of meat, mostly of the bovine variety. There are some fish items as well, but really, why bother?

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The firepit at Jocko’s. Photo courtesy of A. Rios on Flickr.

So now you’ve ordered your dinner. You can go out back and watch them cook it in a great, wide open, wood fired barbecue pit. There are dozens of steaks and ribs and chops being cooked at any one time and at least one of them is yours. The fellow tending the grill must be able to stand the heat, because he’s staying in the kitchen.

Go to Jocko’s for the experience. Don’t worry, if you’re a meat-eater, you’ll love your meal.

Beringer Vineyards

There’s a lot of history in Napa Valley. And then there’s history. If you’d like to get a glimpse and a taste of Napa Valley’s past and it’s transcendent present, there are few places more suited for that than the Beringer winery in St. Helena (www.beringer.com). Some may think that successful California winemaking started with the so-called Judgement of Paris in 1976. And indeed the Beringer brothers were making wine in ’76…1876 that is.

The overall effect of the first view of the Beringer property is that is not so much a winery as a park. The grounds are adorned with fountains and ancient trees that keep everything cool even on the hottest summer days. There are two venues for tasting, the Old Winery and the Rhine House, the latter the 19^th century home of founder Frederick Beringer. (His brother’s Hudson House is also on the property.) So even if you have people in your party who are not wine drinkers, there’s a lot to see and do.
Still, Power Tasting is about wine tasting, so let’s talk about that. Now owned by Australia’s Treasury Wine Estates, Beringer makes wines that range in quality from everyday table wines to some of the finest wines in California, if not the entire world. We recommend that serious wine enthusiasts choose the reserve tasting at the Rhine House, which gives you a chance to sample the famous Beringer Private Reserve. This wine was the creation of former winemaker Ed Sbragia, who propelled Beringer to the front ranks of American winemaking.

The Rhine House at Beringer Vineyards

Let us relate a few stories from our previous visits.

On warm afternoons, you can take your tasting to tables on the porch surrounding the Rhine House. On our first visit, we arrived late in the afternoon with about an hour to go until closing time. We found the wines to be spectacular and took our time, with Steve going inside to collect the next pour while Lucie stayed at the table. After luxuriating in great wine and the shafts of golden afternoon sunshine piercing the trees, Steve went to pay…and all the staff had left for the day! We do recommend a late-afternoon visit but also encourage you to pay for your tasting.

We have previously discussed Christmas in California’s wineries; Beringer is one of the loveliest. For one thing, Rhine House looks as though it could be made out of gingerbread. For another, they erect a magnificently decorated Christmas tree in the center hallway. Their shop also has many lovely gift items. It’s impossible not to feel the spirit of the holidays.

Christmas at Beringer

We have found the servers at the Rhine House to be knowledgeable and helpful. We have long enjoyed Beringer’s Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and one time wanted to taste it in comparison to the reserve wines. However, the Knight’s Valley is not served in the Rhine House. So an attendant hopped in a golf cart, drove off to the other tasting room and brought a bottle back for us. How’s that for service?

We have always found that if you are obviously interested in fine wines, the servers at Beringer have some special treats stashed away. So if you particularly admire, say, the 2010 Private Reserve, there might just be a 2004 under the bar for you to compare it with and get an idea of how it will age.

Beringer is one of our favorite destinations in Napa Valley. We recommend that you visit it too. We think it will become one of your favorites, too.

Old Times in California #2 – Napa Valley Under Water

In these days of drought, it’s hard to believe that not that long ago the issue facing winery owners was too much rain, rather than not enough. Beginning on January 8, 1995 there was heavy rainfall in Napa and Sonoma counties, causing the Russian River and the Napa River to overflow their banks. This had a major impact on tourism as many likely visitors were scared away. It was not as much of a crisis as it would have been in the summer or at harvest-time, but news reports were pretty frightening anyway: 500 people displaced; roads closed for as much as two days; lost sales for those vintners who only sold at their wineries.

In the midst of all this, Steve was to attend a major conference in his field (that is, information security, which he does when he’s not tasting wine). The conference was in San Francisco. Not only that, but his boss was planning to attend with him. The boss knew that Steve had visited Napa Valley often and suggested that they get to San Francisco a few days before the conference and go wine tasting. This is how Steve became a chauffeur and sommelier for his manager and said manager’s girlfriend, who came along as well.

Now the relationship among the three was quite cordial but it’s never a good idea to get one’s boss stuck on a road that has been flooded out. Keep in mind that many well-known wineries had closed in deference to the rising waters. The Napa River had crested just north of Yountville and the Yountville Cross Road, one of the Valley’s major east-west thoroughfares had been washed out. That meant that several wineries were difficult to reach and a few were inaccessible altogether. Steve well remembers pulling up to the old Silver Oak winery, north of the worst inundation, only to find the doors boarded up with sandbags outside.

So it took some maneuvering to find roads that were dry and wineries that were open. Cell phones weren’t common in those days, so there was no chance of calling ahead and asking if anyone was serving wine that day. Steve’s manager was busily studying a map, but Steve had been around the region often enough that he was able to stick to the relatively higher Silverado Trail and then make excursions onto the crossing roads that appeared open. He also had a good enough mental picture of Napa Valley, simpler in that bygone era, to know where the better wineries were. Or at least he thought he did, which is nearly the same thing. He just pulled onto a road, found an open winery and pretended that was where he was heading all along.

Now there are some lessons to be learned from all this. First, while we don’t recommend visiting Wine Country when there’s a major flood, there is a lot to be said for going wine tasting in rainy or cold weather (which we have done several times since). There are no crowds – heck, there’s almost nobody there – and wine servers can be much more attentive and maybe offer you something they would not consider serving in better times.

Second, wine tasting has become a major tourism industry. Of course, there would be no tourists if there were no wine, but Napa Valley in particular has been described as Disneyland for adults. However, the infrastructure is still farm land. You may not even realize how congested it is until you see Wine Country with nobody in it.

And finally, that visit helped create a better relationship with Steve’s boss, not that it was bad to begin with. Still, like fishermen who can talk for hours about the big one that got away, Steve and his manager were able to tell increasingly harrowing stories about tasting wine in the face of surging flood waters.

A Wine Tasting Vacation

For some people, wine tasting is an event on a vacation. For others, especially those who live close to Wine Country, it’s an occasional excursion. Then there are some, like ourselves, who choose to take several days or even a week and spend the whole time in a particular wine region, with the primary purpose of tasting wine. We do it every year somewhere in California and have arranged our vacations that way in France, Italy and Australia. But that’s not all. This sort of vacation is also about immersing ourselves in the natural (and man-made) beauty of the region, picnicking, dining, lazing by the pool and generally relaxing.

A multi-day wine tasting excursion is not the same as a series of one-day trips. While each vacation day may stand alone, there are some significant differences with day-long outings from a central location outside Wine Country. For one thing, there is no need to rush back to wherever one came from at the end of the day. For another, one can sleep late and still be out tasting as the wineries open. And there is none of the psychological pressure to see and experience as much as possible each day; what does not happen today can wait for tomorrow. There might even be a day where the morning is spent in some other activity like visiting art galleries and the afternoon left to the wineries.

Most important perhaps is that a dedicated wine taster (anyone who spends several days going from winery to winery is by definition dedicated) can approach the wines differently and gain a more focused perspective. One day might be given to comparing an unfamiliar grape, such as Syrah or Pinot Gris, at multiple wineries. Another could be dedicated to comparing different winemakers’ approaches to Bordeaux blends or Chardonnay. Visitors with some knowledge of the best-known labels might enjoy a day of tasting only wines from unfamiliar vineyards; there is no better way to deepen one’s understanding of the region and its products.

As with day-trippers, a multi-day vacationer should limit visits to a concentrated region. Napa Valley, for example, aside from being a geographic region is also an American Viticultural Area (or AVA). There are 16 sub-appellations from Calistoga in the north to Carneros in the south. (Just to confuse matters, the area around Napa City does not have a sub-appellation, although we think it should. And to carry the confusion even further, most people refer to the sub-appellations as AVAs anyway.) It is possible for a vacationer with several days to spend to return to just one AVA and learn how adjoining properties growing the same grapes make very dissimilar wines, adding fuel to the argument that it is winemakers’ skills that make the difference.

Oh, but wait… When you actually see the properties, with minute differences of sun, elevation, proximity to water and other aspects of microclimate, you will be able to say that it is all about terroir. Only by giving yourself the opportunity to go into depth within an AVA does one get the knowledge to participate in the argument at all.

If you do spend several days winetasting, it is important to avoid a certain jadedness. If all you have been tasting has been wine of an extremely high quality, the bottle you can afford to order at dinner may seem a little bland, or maybe more than a little. Of course, there are many winemakers in the great winemaking areas in the US and abroad who aspire to greatness and not a few who achieve it. If you focus only on tasting the very best that one particular region of Wine Country has to offer, you will miss many excellent wines that you will be able to buy once you get home. You might try one of those wines and say to yourself “Gee, this awfully good. I wonder why I didn’t care for it when I was on vacation.” It’s all too easy to become an instant wine snob. Don’t let the superb be the enemy of the very good.

The Temecula Valley

California is, as everyone knows, the apex of wine making in the United States. There are now, according to Wine Spectator, wineries in all 50 states and some are making wine that has promise. Napa and Sonoma counties have already realized that promise and are even still continuing to improve, with many vineyards producing products of world class caliber. The regions are easy to visit from San Francisco.

Then there are other areas in the Golden State that are cracking into the big time, notably in Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, the so-called Central Coast, which stretches so far that it’s hard to call it a single wine-growing region. It’s at least a two-hour drive from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and a minimum of three hours from, well, anywhere to Paso Robles. In other words, if you want to visit these regions it will probably mean at least one night in a hotel, not a day trip.

Then, if you’re in Southern California, you also have a destination for wine tasting. San Diego is a wonderful city with perhaps the best climate in the United States. If you go, drive north on I-15 to the Temecula Valley, about an hour away, to experience the local Wine Country.

temecula

Photo courtesy of Temecula Wines.org

Don’t expect the same level of quality that the great Napa and Sonoma vineyards produce, nor the glorious vistas you can see in the northern and central parts of the state. But it is very definitely Wine Country that you’ll be in, with all the attendant opportunities that go with such a region. What’s most amazing is that the local grape farmers have used the popularity of wine drinking in America to make the desert bloom. This is not the sort of Wine Country with the lush verdure of, say, Russian River nor with the grand chateaux of Bordeaux, Burgundy or, in its way, Napa Valley. Part of the allure of Temecula is that you have a chance to see it and taste it before it becomes famous, which is a good reason to go.

If you are among those that think that the quality of a wine comes exclusively from the skilled hands of the farmer and the wine maker, then Temecula has a chance at making it big. If, however, you are like us and think that terroir – the soil and the climate – are the dominating factors in a wine’s character then it may just be that Temecula is reaching its apogee. Of course, don’t take our word for it; taste for yourself and make your own evaluation.

Two of the wineries we like best are conveniently closest to the Interstate. If the name Callaway is familiar to you, you must be a golfer. The club maker and the winery owner are the same folks. Depending on your perspective, they are either the best or the most pretentious winery in Temecula Valley. They are the only one there with a wine, the Owner’s Private Reserve, that runs $175 per bottle. Is it worth it? Only your mouth can tell.

Just next door is Hart Family Winery. It is one of the oldest wineries in the valley, going back to 1970. The Hart family are farmers and winemakers, with no corporate empire behind them. A visit to their winery, even today, brings back thoughts of what Napa Valley was before Robert Mondavi and other pioneers brought that region to the forefront. And they are still among the few who will let you drink a glass of wine and take the logo-engraved glass with you.

A very nice feature of a visit to Temecula Valley is that many of the wineries have restaurants, running from Meritage at Callaway, which is similar to a sophisticated urban restaurant, to salads and flatbreads at Lorimar’s Pairings bistro. Flower Hill is at Miramonte; there’s Café Champagne at Thornton (guess what the specialty wine might be); and Avensole has a “restaurant and marketplace” of the same name.

We enjoy visiting Temecula because we enjoy outings in Wine Country, wherever it may be. We have tasted some pleasant wines but nothing that has ever excited us. Your experience may be very different in that regard. So come for the experience, keep your mind (and your mouth) open and have wonderful day so near to San Diego.

Rombauer Vineyards

The wines at Rombauer are undeniably BIG, but the experience of visiting their winery for a tasting is definitely an intimate one. Maybe it’s because the proprietor’s family is descended from the Irma Rombauer who wrote The Joy of Cooking, which was once America’s basic cookbook. There’s something homey about a visit to the Rombauer winery. It’s still family-owned and operated and has been a part of Napa Valley’s wine history since 1980.

The view from Rombauer’s porch

To get to the winery, you have to turn off St. Helena’s Silverado Train and climb a long hill until you are greeted by an astonishing view of Napa Valley. (See our previous article on wine with a view.) Visitors are invited to bring your lunch and sit at one of their eight outdoor tables overlooking the valley. You don’t have to buy anything from them, but it would be impolite not to get something. As we said, it’s a bit like going to Grandma’s for a picnic. You feel very welcome.

The tasting room is very “country” style, in keeping with the Rombauer family’s overall attitude. It’s in a long, narrow room that doesn’t accommodate many people at the same time so they don’t take parties larger than six people. There are no buses and no stretch limos; which is a distinct plus as far as we’re concerned. It would be hard to fit more than a dozen people in the room but you can take a glass out onto the porch if it ever gets squeezed (which it never has in our experience).

We must say that those who serve you are more pourers than educators, but they make up in enthusiasm for what they lack in detailed winemaking knowledge. There’s usually someone around who does can answer your questions if the server gets stuck.

Now, as to the wines themselves there is some controversy. You’d better like a very distinct California style, from back in the good ol’ days, or you’re going to be overwhelmed at Rombauer. They are best known for their Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay and these all have considerable depth and flavor. And they all have a lot of alcohol; almost all their wines are over 14% alcohol and a few of their Zins top out at 15.9%! ‘Nuff said.

It would be one thing if they just poured you a few meager sips. But the Rombauer folks are very generous, indeed, especially if you take their Proprietor Flight for $30. You’ll get everything they offer you and then someone will say, “Well, which one did you like best?” Upon answering, the server will often say, “In that case, I think you’d like this”…and this, and this, and this.

Knowing that this is likely to happen, one of holds back a little in order to drive away safely. The idea of sitting down for a picnic at that point sounds very attractive. In all seriousness, each of us has walked away from Rombauer at one time or another feeling just a little woozy.

We don’t think that Rombauer will ever build a Napa Palace unless the family
decides to sell out to an international wine conglomerate. Given the history of the winery that seems very unlikely. But who knows? If you like your wine tasting experience to be rustic, friendly and welcoming by all means include Rombauer in your wine tasting plans. If you prefer glitz, there are other places in Napa Valley that are likely to fit your bill.

Food and Wine at Di Palo’s

There are plenty of wine stores in Manhattan and no lack of specialty food stores either. But Di Palo’s Fine Foods on Grand Street and Enoteca Di Palo next door are something special.

There is a long and wonderful history for the food store. Starting in 1903 as a store for dairy products, the store is run by the fourth generation with the fifth working there as well. Aside from the wonderful smell of cheeses, dried meats, sausages and prepared Italian specialties, Di Palo’s exudes a sense of place and time. This is Little Italy, now greatly reduced in size from its height in in the first half of the 20^th century, still alive and real, even considering the incursions of New York’s Chinatown. The three Di Palo’s (Lou, Sal and Marie) preside behind the counter over an empire of foods that are uniquely chosen in their many journeys back to Italy.

Sure, you can buy prosciutto and mozzarella elsewhere. But where else is the mozzarella made every day in the back of the store? You can see them bringing out trays of freshly made balls all day long. The sheer amount of prosciutto sold here ensures that what you buy will definitely be fresh. And in case there was any question, they will always give you a slice up front. In Lou’s book, Di Palo’s Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy: 100 Years of Wisdom and Stories from Behind the Counter, he writes that it’s only fair to give the customer a chance to taste before he or she buys.

Lou di Palo giving a customer a bit of Piave cheese (Photo courtesy of dipalos.com)

What differentiates Di Palo’s is the connection they have established between the Old World and the New. The members of the family are acquainted not only with the major producers but also – and especially – with the farms that keep the old traditions alive in their food in a way that only individual hand crafting can achieve. You sense that the Di Palo’s know not only every farmer in Italy, they know every cow!

So here you find speck from the Alto Adige; pecorino cheese from a specific dairy in the hills outside of Florence; truffled cheeses from Tuscany and Sicily; select olive oil from the Musso family in Sicily; balsamic vinegar from Giusti, the oldest in Modena; Spinosi pasta, well worth waiting for; ravioli made not by the Di Palo’s but by a cousin…and on and on. Every few weeks, whenever it’s a good day for a walk or if we’re running out of parmigiana, we go for an Italian or a Chinese lunch and a pilgrimage to Di Palo’s.

And when we buy what we want, we always ask Lou, “What wine should we drink with this?” For Lou’s son Sam has opened a wine shop adjoining the specialty store. Again, you won’t find the big producers here, no Bolla or Frescobaldi or Antinori. In their place are unusual finds like La Salette, Filinona and Tiburzi. You may not always think these are the best but the selection is certainly the most unique.

They often host wine tastings at Enoteca Di Palo, where you get a chance to meet the owner/winemaker of what you are sipping. For example, they just held a tasting of wines from the Colli Orientale of Friuli, where Giorgio Colutta poured wines from his vineyard. We don’t know Friuli very well nor Signore Colutta’s wines but that’s exactly the point. Here you get a chance not only to taste and buy wine but to get an education in Italian wine, which was certainly the case for us. Our appreciation for the wines of Italy came late and was largely gained by the tips we got at Di Palo’s.

Castello di Borghese

It’s not every day that you can buy a bottle of wine from a prince. Yes, a real live prince and members of his family for that matter. Oh, sure, you’ve had wine from vineyards owned by princes, dukes and counts but we’re talking about handing a prince some money and he hands you a bottle. Such is the opportunity you have at Castello di Borghese in Cutchogue on Long Island’s North Fork.

There are quite a few reasons to visit Castello di Borghese besides hobnobbing with Italian royalty. The foremost is that it was the first winery in this sector of New York State, when it was known as Hargrave Vineyard. Alex and Louisa Hargrave had the wacky idea in 1973 that the land that had been used to grow potatoes for generations would also be suitable for wine. Today there are more than 50 wineries there.

For more than 25 years they made a variety of wines and sold them in bottles a distinctive lattice label. They tried quite a few varietals, including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir. It was our opinion (and still is, to an extent) that the terroir of the North Fork favors Cabernet Franc more than other grapes and so this Hargrave was our favorite.

(A little side story: The first time Steve invited Lucie to dinner, he wanted to serve his girlfriend from Québec something she had never tasted before, so he opened a bottle of Hargrave Cabernet Sauvignon.)

In 1999, the Hargraves sold their vineyard and winery to Prince Marco Borghese and his wife Ann Marie. That is how it came to pass that we bought a bottle from a prince. Marco and Ann Marie have passed away, but the winery is run by his heirs, so you still have your chance.

Another reason to taste Castello di Borghese’s wines is that they still rank among the best in Long Island. Their wines continue to win awards among local and national competitions. Now, the North Fork isn’t Bordeaux and the best of the region do not compare with the world’s greatest wines. But then again, New Yorkers don’t have to take a flight to sip a bit from some pretty respectable vineyards when they go wine tasting on Long Island.

Photo courtesy of North Fork Weddings

Befitting its status as the North Fork’s first winery, the tasting room is, well, tasteful but unassuming. The building is a little pink ranch house with a simple bar for tasting, in a room big enough to withstand weekend crowds. People have been tasting here for many years and so it is a popular destination. Castello di Borghese does require reservations for buses and stretch limos, but here as elsewhere it can get quite crowded on summer weekends.

A few wines bear some attention. The Petit Chateau (a red blend); Chardonette and Fleurette rosé pay homage to the winery’s history with a bit of the lattice design. Allegra, their dessert wine, is often quite good. It’s not truly an ice wine, since they chuck the grapes in the freezer rather than letting nature take its course. But it comes out pleasantly sweet all the same.

If you don’t mind an hour or two on the Long Island Expressway, a sunny day on the North Fork is always pleasurable. And if you do go, you should definitely visit the Prince’s own Castello di Borghese.