Dan's Papers - March 14, 2008 - Over the Barrel... with Lenn Thompson

Peconic Bay Winery, located in Cutchogue - the heart of the North Fork wine world - has renovated their once-rustic tasting room and made it one of the Island's more sophisticated wine-tasting locales.

The barn-style room has been reconfigured and refaced with beautiful dark hardwood floors, white wainscoting and a beautiful wall-length vineyard mural. It captures the feel of wine country well - elegant and refined, but still comfortable and inviting. It reminds me of a cottage on the bay or sound.

Winemaker Greg Gove and general manager Matt Gillies have also updated the way that the wines are poured, offering two separate flights - one with dry, fine wines and the other with everyday, entry-level ones. Reserve wines are also available for $3 per additional tasting.

My group did the "Flight 1" which includes five dry wines for $8, a more-than-fair price when you consider the quality of the wines on offer - and the two gratis pours that we were given as well.

Our first taste was of the well-regarded Peconic Bay Winery 2005 La Barrique Chardonnay ($28), named best barrel fermented chardonnay at the 2007 New York Wine and Food Classic last summer. It's a little unorthodox to start a tasting flight with an oaked chardonnay, but this well-balanced, nuanced wine - certainly one of the better barrel fermented chardonnays on the North Fork - was impressive nonetheless.

Next in the flight was Gove's 2005 Steel Fermented Chardonnay ($18), which provided a stark, educational contrast to its barrel-born brother. Almost sauvignon blanc-like, it's fresh with lithe body and loads of citrus and terrific acidity. The finish lingers just a bit with an intriguing minerally note. It's not a wine to be pondered or - heaven-forbid, cellared - but it's a mouth-watering, food friendly wine for sure.

Dry and straightforward, the Peconic Bay Winery 2006 Rose of Merlot ($14) offers citrus, watermelon and lots of strawberry flavor within medium-light body. Simple and dry, it's a good picnic wine as we all look towards the warmer months.

Our second complimentary taste - Peconic Bay Winery 2004 Cabernet Franc ($20) was poured along side the just-released 2005 Cabernet Franc ($28) offering a rare mini-vertical that tells a tale of two vastly different growing seasons. The 2004 is light bodied and Chinon-like in its earthy, vegetal character. The 2005 - made after a hot, dry growing season - shows much more ripe fruit character and body. It's an impressive wine that is well worth the extra $8.

The next-to-last wine in our flight was a surprising one, Peconic Bay Winery's 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon ($24). Medium bodied, in stark contrast to most New World cab, it has a nice combination of cherry, blackberry and oak flavors. Subtle herb flavors, medium-grip tannins and subtle acidity make this a versatile food wine too.

Peconic Bay Winery's 2004 Merlot ($18) is a soft, balanced merlot from a cooler year. It doesn't stand out as one of the region's best, but it's well-priced.

Before we picked out a few bottles to take home, I wanted to taste the winery's top red offering - the Oregon Hills Merlot ($38) - again; and it was well worth that extra $3. Extremely aromatic, it offers plum, cherry, spice, and cocoa aromas with subtle herb notes that I hadn't noticed before. Ripe and very "Old World" in style, there are some plum and cherry flavors, but secondary flavors of tobacco, dark chocolate, and spice set this red apart. Mature, slightly dusty tannins linger on a lengthy finish after a soft, lush mid-palate. This very well may be Gove's best red in his time at Peconic Bay Winery.