Dan's Papers - October 30, 2009 - Over The Barrel: The Harvest Season

I have a love-hate relationship with the harvest season on the North Fork. On one hand, it's an exciting time filled with hope for a new vintage of local wines after a - and this is especially true this year - hard-fought growing season. There are few smells in the world that make me happier than the smell of new wines fermenting accompanied by an orchestra of bubbling air locks. The tomatoes are mostly gone for another year, but hearty winter squash is peaking now, too - and finding its way onto my dinner plate a few nights a week.

I love the fall season on the East End.

And I hate it - mostly because of the throngs of pumpkin-picking day-trippers who clog the roads between me and the wineries I want to visit and the wines I want to taste. Of course, those seasonal customers help support local farms and also, I hope, support the same wineries. They are a necessary evil.

Of course, they don't stop me. I still find myself on Main Road and Route 48 almost every weekend, trying to taste at a few wineries before the traffic slows to a halt. And several wines I've tasted lately are well worth the time spent navigating pumpkin- and mum-filled wagons and roasted corn chompers. Here are just a few of them. Palmer Vineyards 2006 Proprietor's Reserve Cabernet Franc ($25). Spanish-born winemaker Miguel Martin has been a great addition to Palmer Vineyards, and this, one of his first red releases, impresses. Sweet red cherries dominate the nose with brown spice, black pepper and hints of smoky oak. There is a subtle dried-herb component underneath that emerges a bit more after the wine has been open for several hours. Medium-bodied, it has a core of sweet red cherry and raspberry (tasting almost of cherry hard candy) with dusty black pepper, cinnamon spice, light vanilla and leather that carries through on the long finish. The tannins are smooth and well integrated.

Onabay Vineyards 2007 Wild Ferment Chardonnay ($27). It's easy to write off barrel-fermented chardonnay as a category because so many are done poorly. Not so with this one. As its label hints, it is fermented (two-thirds in oak) using the indigenous (aka "wild") yeast that is naturally found on the grapes when harvested. The nose offers lots of ripe pear with baking spice, light sweet corn and white flower aromas layered beneath. Mouth-filling, spice-roasted pear flavors lead the way on the fuller-bodied, round-but-balanced palate, with lemon curd stepping forward on the creamy mid-palate. The finish is long and crisp, with nice acidity and an intriguing spicy lees note.

Sparkling Pointe 2005 Topaz Imperial ($33). Owners Tom and Cynthia Rosicki opened their new tasting room on Route 48 last weekend and as we tasted through their three bubblies, this one - for the money - stood out. A faint topaz color (thus the name), this sparkler made with pinot noir and chardonnay offers beautiful, high-toned cranberry, white cherry and pear flavors with a slightly cream mid-palate and terrific acidity. I bought a bottle to share with my family at Thanksgiving.

Long Island Merlot Alliance 2006 Merliance ($35). Co-produced by the members of the Long Island Merlot Alliance, this cool-year red has a layered, complex nose of red cherry, raspberry and blackberry fruit sprinkled with a generous array of herbs (thyme, mint and lavender), a little baking spice, leather and a soft vanilla note. Medium-bodied with understated fruit, the palate has flavors that closely match the nose with a faint eucalyptus note added to the herb salad. The tannins are well incorporated and relatively light with light acidity bringing just a bit more structure. The leathery spice is a bit more pronounced on day two and steps forward on the longer-than-expected finish.

This is just a handful of the wines that are worth noting lately. Get out there and explore wine country - even if it means playing a real-life game of Frogger with all those pumpkin pickers.