Over The Barrel... with Lenn Thompson

Sprightly Whites and a Rose to Boot

When you're looking for food-friendly wines, it only makes sense to head to a winery owned by long-time restaurateurs. On the North Fork, that means a trip to Shinn Estate Vineyards up on Oregon Road in Mattituck.

Owners Barbara Shinn and David Page may have sold their Greenwich Village restaurant, "Home", last winter, but Page - who served as the restaurant's executive chef, remains in the kitchen. Now, he whips up locally inspired seasonal breakfasts for guests of their vineyard-side bed and breakfast, the Shinn Estate Farmhouse, which is fast becoming the one-stop wine country destination.

Guests staying at the Farmhouse - and those visiting the tasting room - have four newly released wines - three white, one pink - to look forward to now that spring has arrived. They are the first wines made by the winery's new winemaker, Anthony Nappa.

Shinn Estate Vineyards' 2007 Coalesence ($14) is a new creation for the winery, a blend of 60% sauvignon blanc, 30% chardonnay, 5% Semillon and 5% viognier. The nose is fairly expressive with ripe peaches, white flowers and lemon zest, the primary aromas. Light and fresh, it's lemony and a little grassy with just a little minerality. It's wasn't the most flavorful wine of my tasting-that's the next wine-but it's nice and a decent everyday sipper.

The best of the new releases - it was just released on the 15th - is Shinn Estate Vineyards' 2007 First Fruit ($23), their nod to the white wines of Bordeaux. Made with 96% sauvignon blanc and 4% Semillon, this First Fruit is always the first wine I reach for when it comes to local sauvignon. The nose is expressive with fresh pear, lemon, grapefruit, and herbal-grassy notes mingling. The palate brings similar flavors-with the addition of a squirt of lime and a sprinkling of salty minerality. Medium bodied and impeccably balanced with snappy acidity, this is a wine born beside the sea and one that goes with anything from the sea.

The unoaked Shinn Estate Vineyards' 2007 Chardonnay ($17) was the only slightly disappointing wine of the lot, offering nice apple and lemon character, but little else. It pales next to its super-bright brethren.

As we discussed last week, there are many styles of rose on Long Island, and Shinn Estate Vineyards' 2007 Rose ($15) is at one end of the spectrum. Some roses are almost like white wines with food coloring, this one is really just a lightly colored red. A medium pink, it's medium bodied and brings briar, strawberry, watermelon and a faintly buttery note. Dry, but fruity, and with a little skin tannin noticeable, this is a rose to enjoy with a wide range of foods. Think barbeque chicken, think grilled salmon, think burgers. Heck, I tasted it with a barely rare steak last weekend and it worked surprisingly well.

Visit www.shinnvineyard.recipesfromhome.com for more information or to order. Get your hands on the First Fruit before it sells out - it never lasts long enough.

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