Dan's Papers - September 26, 2008

If you've visited wine country over the past couple of weeks, you've probably noticed that the grape harvest season has begun. So far, wineries are mostly "bringing in" grapes that will go into sparking wine - mostly pinot noir and chardonnay. But, all of the grapes for still wines will start coming in very soon, as early as this week.

It's the busiest time of the year for local vineyard managers and winemakers, and there is a lot going on. Here are just some news and notes of things going on and coming up:

Despite what was until recently a humid, wet growing season, local producers are seeing clean, ripe fruit in their vineyards - even if yields are lower than last year. Rich Pisacano, owner of Roanoke Vineyards and a long-time grape grower, told me in an email earlier this week that he'd seen some berry analysis numbers that show that "Things are moving fast. Merlot is at 21 Brix. Whites are over 21 Brix. I am already seeing Cabernet Sauvignon at 20 Brix." Brix is a unit measure for the amount of sugar in grapes (and other fruit). These are very good numbers for this early in the fall. If the weather stays relatively dry, this could be another great year for Long Island wine - the third in four years.

Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate recently awarded several local wines high scores. Three wines from Channing Daughters Winery, their 2007 Pinot Grigio, 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2007 Tocai Friulano received 87-, 89- and 90-point scores respectively. Roman Roth's private label riesling, the 2007 Grapes of Roth Riesling, scored an 89. The 2005 Cabernet Franc from Paumanok Vineyards received a 90 and Shinn Estate Vineyards' 2007 Coalescence rated as an 87-point wine.

Following the successful 2008 Jazz on the Vine program, free jazz performances will again be at the center of the 2009 Long Island Winterfest. The organizers, which include the Long Island Wine Council and East End Arts Council, have extended the once month-long event to six weeks for 2009. It will start Saturday, February 14 and run through Sunday, March 22. Steve Bate, executive director of the Wine Council said " "We were thrilled with the results of the 2008 program. Our participating wineries experienced an increase in sales of between 20 and 200 percent during this normally slow time of year. The promotion also exceeded our expectations in drawing new audiences from the New York metropolitan area, across Long Island and New England." Check out www.liwinterfest.com for more details as they become available.