To celebrate my birthday, I went to Macari Vineyards & Winery in Mattituck, Long Island, NY. There I tasted their Vintage flight at $20/flight and became instantly impressed with the quality of the wine. Macari wines are Old World style wines produced in the New World. You literally taste the confluence of the two styles blending together.
The vineyard opened in the late 1990s and is now a 2nd generation family business. The family is committed to the land and the wines they produce echo their roots. The wines have been named after the land, landmarks, and roads. The tasting room is large with a nice wooden bar area, shop, and covered outdoor patio where you can take a glass of wine and food you purchased at the shop. The vineyard surrounds the outdoor seating area and the whole experience from the great wine to the venue is a lovely way to pass some time in the North Fork of Long Island.
The ladies who serve the tastings are knowledgeable and generous with their information and pours. You can feel that everyone enjoys working at Macari and likes the product, too. I spent well over an hour chatting with a lady named Chelsea who was pouring my tasting. We both were able to get excited about the wines and have fun pulling out the different characteristics. If you are a wine lover or a pleasure drinker, you will enjoy yourself here.
My favorite premium white wine of theirs is the Macari Dos Aguas at $27/bottle. Named after the two bodies of water that surround the North Fork (the Peconic Bay and the Long Island Sound), this is the first time Macari is doing a white blend and it is delish. There is honeysuckle and some grapefruit on the nose and it smells like a Riesling or Viognier, but drinks like a dry white wine similar in style to a Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a predominately Sauvignon Blanc blend with a touch of Chardonnay that adds nice body and roundness to the wine that also comes from being oak aged.
My favorite table wine of theirs is the Collina Chardonnay (named after the Mattituck hills). The current bottles sold in their store were bottled in 2013 and are a multi-vintage blend of 2010, 2011, 2012. Lightly oaked, refreshingly acidic, balanced. Drinks fantastic for $9.50/bottle.
There are many notable premium red wines and their Bergen Road 2010 has received much praise from Robert Parker. While I do love the Bergen Road (which tastes like Bordeaux married Chianti to me with it’s dusty tannins, dark chocolate, red fruits, herbs, and vanilla), my personal favorite is the slightly less expensive Merlot Reserve 2010 priced at $36/bottle. To me, the Merlot Reserve smells like St. Emilion has come to Long Island. Aged 26 months in French oak barrels you can smell the cedar box, red fruit, and white pepper. The tannins are medium fine grained and the wine has a medium acidity. It is lovely and balanced and worth the $36.
Swirl, sip, sigh.
Images are personal photographs.
