Living near NYC gives easy access to Long Island and the famed Hamptons just two hours away. Great for a wine enthusiast or anybody looking to have a pleasant day or days away from the bustle of the City! The East End of Long Island offers a variety of activities to choose from – society scenes of well-dressed people and St. Tropez style beach clubs to vineyards, farm stands, and pick-your-own peaches. Whatever your mood, pleasure can be found.
The East End of Long Island literally forks at a town called Riverhead. One narrow fork of land goes north and is fittingly called the “North Fork” and another goes south and is called the “South Fork.” The North Fork is known as the more agrarian side of the Hamptons – home to all but two of the vineyards and so many great farms where you can pick up fresh produce, pies or go pick-your-own fruits and vegetables. The “South Fork” is known more for its social scene and jet-set crowd attracted to towns like South Hampton & East Hampton.
This summer we had friends in town and wanted to try out two vineyards that were new to us. Wine Enthusiast published a good read about its favorite Long Island Vineyards in 2013 and marked Long Island’s North & South Forks as one of it’s 10 Best Wine Travel Destinations of 2013 (click here to read). We decided to visit the Paumanak Vineyards and Shinn Estate Vineyards and Farmhouse. Great places to go!
We started by sitting outside overlooking the rows of grapevines at Paumanak Vineyards (link to their website), gobbled up the fresh Long Island oysters from the raw bar and tasted four of their wines. This is one of the oldest vineyards in Long Island, established in 1983, and they have the system down. In the tasting room, you choose from six flights of wine consisting of 2 to 4 wines per flight and ranging form $6 to $12 per person. Wine Flights.
Paumanak is great at making Bordeaux style blends drawing from the Merlot grape varietal and Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. They also have some nice whites – I particularly liked the Chenin Blanc. All four of us chose the Paumanak Flight and J and I ended up with a case of the Cabernet Sauvignon and enjoyed it the rest of the summer! A big thanks to Paumanak for creating some really great wines.
Next stop, the Shinn Estate Vineyards and Farmhouse. Breathtaking! This vineyard and B&B is so beautiful and natural. The tasting room area and outdoor seating patio was redone in 2013 and gives off such good energy. If there’s a place I would like to go sit at a bar or table with friends and share a bottle through the night it is this place. The positive vibes just ooze! Fodors included the Shinn Estate Vineyards in its Top 6 Great American Wine Country Harvest Getaways.
We lingered at Shinn with the beautiful setting and dusk setting in and then parted ways with our lovely North Fork wine afternoon. The peacefulness and aesthetic landscape of the area left their touch of inner happiness on me as we drove home.
I would love to hear about your favorite Long Island vineyard and look forward to visiting!
Photo of Shinn Estate
