Over The Barrel with Lenn Thompson

News. Notes. And a Clarification.

As veraison--the time of year in the vineyard when red wine grapes start looking like red wine grapes--approaches, it's time to check in on a variety of happenings in Long Island's wine country.

* A couple weeks ago, this column space was filled with "Have Tasting Rooms Really Gone Wild?" Written in response to a New York Times piece that irresponsibly led many readers to believe that local tasting rooms have become frat parties, I may have--in my passionately defensive state--inproperly implied that some wineries--I stupidly named that I thought fit that bill--encourage such behavior and for that I apologize.

Nothing couldn't be further from the truth--there isn't a single Long Island winery that encourages or condones idiotic, drunken behavior in their tasting room. In fact, Steve Bate, director of the Long Island Wine Council, told me after the column ran that many of those wineries "have been on the forefront of our efforts to develop guidelines for bus and limousine operators. Hardly an indication that they welcome rowdy groups." Bravo to them. Nobody benefits from rowdy crowds in a tasting room, and the point of my column was simply that these rare, negative events are just that--rare. Still, it's good to see the local wine community coming together to eliminate the problem altogether.

* When Harold Watts of Ternhaven Cellars sold his vineyard in Cutchogue, some worried that the new owners wouldn't keep the property under vine. Not only are they keeping the vines, they have opened Long Island's first true Home Winemakers' Center. Anthony and Sannino have been home winemakers for 15 years and in starting Sannino's Bella Vita Vineyard, they are offering wine lovers the chance to become winemakers. A $3500 per year membership gets you a barrel of wine, bottles, corks, etc. That's 23 cases (or 275 bottles). And, you can split it with up to 11 of your friends. To learn more, visit www.sanninovineyard.com.

* Winemaker Juan Micieli-Martinez, formerly of Pellegrini Vineyards and Premium Wine Group, is on the move again. As of September 1, he'll be leaving Shinn Estate Vineyards and joining Martha Clara Vineyards.

* The Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA) has sponsored a summer intern to conduct and organize local merlot research leading up to and during the 2007 harvest. Christopher Grassotti, a student in the Masters degree program in viticulture and enology at Ecole Nationale Superieur Agronomique in Montpellier, France, has been working with the group since April is currently working on two separate projects. The first is a sensory evaluation of local merlot. According to Grassotti "The goal is to identify the aroma and flavor characteristics of LI Merlot-based wines, and to see how they compare with merlot wines produced in other well-known wine regions." The other project is taking place at the Cornell Horticultural Research and Extension Center and focuses on how leaf removal and crop yields effect merlot grape quality on Long Island. LIMA plans to follow up with winemaking trials this fall. Both projects, the group hopes, will help local growers maintain and improve merlot quality in the future.

* A new state law has just been passed that allows wineries to cater weddings and other events while keeping tasting rooms and wine sales operating. This should be a good thing because it will bring more money to the wine industry--hopefully meaning that more wineries can become profitable more quickly, which will help keep them running. Successful wineries mean fewer closing and being replaced by condos and other less-beautiful real estate. This could be a real big win for agriculture. There are detractors, of course, but less regulation is better regulation to most.

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