Dans Hamptons

Less than an hour from Manhattan, the Brotherhood Winery, in Washingtonville, NY , is “America’s oldest winery” having been founded by John Jaques, with its first commercial vintage released 1839.

In 1987, new owners purchased the winery and Cesar Baeza, an internationally known winemaker and viticulturist, took over as winemaker. His wines were first produced in the fall of 1987. Without any vineyard holdings of their own in the Hudson Valley-where their tasting room is located-they source their grapes from other New York regions like the Finger Lakes and our own right here on the East End.

You have to respect their regional choices at the very least. They buy Riesling grapes from the Finger Lakes, and there is no better region in the East and maybe in the country. Similarly, you have to like their choice for merlot, cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay-Long Island. All of their wines are bottled under the New York region label, apparently to offer them flexibility.

Last weekend I tasted through Baeza’s current releases, which were-overall-underwhelming.

Two rieslings from the 2005 vintage-one dry, one not-are both priced at $10 so I really wanted to like them. The dry Riesling offers a very faint fruity nose with pear and citrus. The palate is similarly austere with similar flavors. The highlight was a clean, appetite-whetting lime note on the finish. For $10, it’s not an awful choice.

The other one was much fruitier on the nose and when I tasted it. In fact, I would not be surprised if there were some native varieties blended in-either Niagra or Cayuga. The grapey, foxy nose gives them away. Plus, it’s a little too sweet for its level of acidity. Don’t bother, even if for only $10.

Of Brotherhood Winery’s whites, a 2004 chardonnay ($13) was the best. Made with Long Island grapes, it’s nicely balanced with vanilla, honey, pineapple and butter-roasted apple on the nose. Those many layers don’t carry over to the palate, however. The balance is nice though and this is be a serviceable, gulpable white.

Moving on to their red wines, I started with a 2004 Pinot Noir ($15). It can be find to find decent pinot under $20, and this one isn’t bad in that context. There’s plenty of cherry flavor accented by sage and a little smoke. Nice acidity makes it food friendly. Not a profound wine, but okay nonetheless.

Harsh, abrasive tannins really disguise any fruit flavors in a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon ($15) but a 2004 Merlot has an outstanding nose of crushed raspberries and blackberry preserves with summer herbs. The nose blew me away, but the palate was disappointing. The tannins are angular at this stage in the wine’s development and don’t taste particularly ripe. Maybe in another few years they’ll soften. Maybe not.

And interesting wine, Brotherhood Winery’s 2005 Mariage ($30) is a unique blend of 75% cabernet sauvignon and 25% chardonnay. Very youthful on the nose-and obviously made to age at least 5-10 years, the nose featured loads of red berries, vanilla and crushed mint leaves (like the start of a good mojito). The tannins are still are a little astringent, but the chardonnay brings a creamy roundness to the mid-palate and a little buttery note towards the end. Honestly, I’m not sure what to think about this wine. It’s worth trying just for the novelty, but we’ll see how it develops in bottle.