Dan's Papers - August 31, 2007

Charming Cottage Among The Vines Is The Stage For Excellent French-Style Whites at Sherwood House

My introduction to wine occurred while I was living in Germany as a teenager. Wine is an integral part of European culture, even in Germany (it's not all about the beer), and it was regularly served with dinner, even to teens. One of my first great wine experiences was a road trip to the vineyards of Alsace, a short drive from my home. There were wineries, naturally, including famed ones like Trimbach and Hugel, along with what basically amounted to roadside wine stands with a vineyard out back. Very rustic, rural and beautiful. Sometimes the wines were stunning and other times they were not, but either way well worth the visit, and the family manning the stand was always very gracious.

This wonderful experience can be had in smaller, less renowned wine regions where, unlike Bordeaux and Napa Valley, vineyards are not often attached to fancy wineries. We've all seen showy, tourist-attracting operations, even here on Long Island. But with some diligence smaller venues, like many of those in Alsace, can be found right here on the North Fork. One such gem is Sherwood House Vineyards in Mattituck. It seems that the owners of Sherwood House, Dr. Charles and Barbara Smithen, have similar memories of quaint vineyards with small tasting stands, and they have recreated this charming experience on their farm on Oregon Road in Mattituck.

Sherwood House is not a winery. It is a farm and vineyard. The wines are produced down the road at what is called a 'custom crush' facility by French winemaker Gilles Martin, who began his career on his native soil before becoming winemaker at Roederer

Estate, the great sparkling wine producer in Anderson Valley, California. The vineyard was developed and is still managed by long-time North Fork vineyard specialist Stephen Mudd, so there is plenty of great experience involved here. The tasting room is small. In fact, it is so small that there are only tables and seating available when the weather cooperates. So the tasting experience is had while basically hanging in the vineyard, an experience that is usually only offered to VIP guests at most wineries or vineyards. The tasting room is open on weekends from noon till six, and this is where I recently had the pleasure of tasting many of the Sherwood wines while enjoying the lovely scenery.

The Smithens live in the property's old farmhouse on Oregon Road, so they are hands-on proprietors. On my visit Dr. Smithen informed me, prior to tasting the wines, that his original goal was to produce white wines reminiscent of Burgundy. This is why he hired M. Martin, who brings with him his invaluable experience in France and at Roederer. The Chardonnays that Gilles has fashioned from the Smithens' vineyard certainly offer some of that Burgundian balance, nuance and character, along with a bit of New World essence of fruit and high quality oak. I tasted four vintages of the Estate Chardonnay and found them all to be of very high quality and, just as important, very consistent vintage to vintage. This means that each vintage, though having slightly more nutty characters and less oak with age, had the same profile from 1999 through 2003.

As I was tasting the wines, I thought about Dr. Smithen's desire to make French-style, balanced Chardonnays with a Burgundy profile. While it is difficult to replicate Burgundy outside of that region, the profile could certainly be discerned. I also thought that the whites had the clear advantage over the reds, partly due to the older vine age of the Chardonnays in the vineyard, but possibly also due to the experience of M. Martin, whose background has focused primarily on Chardonnay in his sparkling wines produced both here and in Anderson Valley.

The 1999 Chardonnay was the vineyard's first vintage, and for Chardonnays from outside of Burgundy this would be considered quite old, yet I found it still lively and consistent with the ensuing style of the portfolio of wines. Though I would guess that the supply of 1999 is long gone, tasting it shows the finesse and breed of the site for Chardonnay. I found the wine just starting to show some oxidized apple notes and a lovely nutty component and thought at the time that the wine was heading towards what I call a Puligny style. It was very impressive for its age. The 2002 Chardonnay has notes of toasty French oak along with a bit of a lees character that is reminiscent of Champagne. The palate is clean, crisp and lean, and I think the wine will evolve a bit slower than the 2003, which was more obvious with notes of ripe apple, pear, a hint of honey and even a slight pepper note along with the toasty oak notes. The palate is riper and the oak seems sweeter but it still has a Burgundian streak to it. Other wines of note are the Provencal-styled 2006 Rosé and the spicy 2003 Cabernet Franc with red berry aromas.

(Interesting aside: I took a bottle of the 2002 Chardonnay to a friend and had him taste the wine blind, and he pegged it as a $30 bottle of northern California Chardonnay. So considering Sherwood's price of about $23, I thought that to be quite a compliment. Thanks, Tom for being my blind taster on that little experiment.)

Spending some time at the tiny cottage in the vineyard tasting wines, which are clearly very much at home in their Old World setting, is a lovely way to while away a late summer or early fall afternoon. It's like a little bit of France landed right here on the East End.

Sherwood House Vineyards is located on Oregon Road in Mattituck, and the tasting cottage is off of Elijah's Lane around the corner from the farmhouse. Call 631-298-2157 for directions and information about special events.