How Does Long Island Riesling Age?
A 10-year vertical delivers pleasant surprises
Posted: Oct 4, 2010 12:00am ET
Long Island is young, as wine regions go; the first vinifera grapes were planted in 1973 by Alex and Louisa Hargrave. But it's old enough to be a lifetime for some of the people involved.
For example, Alex's brother Charlie, who helped plant those first grapes, is now vineyard manager at Peconic Bay Winery, founded on the North Fork in 1980 by Ray Blum and now owned by Paul and Ursula Lowerre. And Peconic Bay's winemaker since 1999 is Greg Gove, who launched his career at Hargrave nearly 30 years ago.
On a recent autumn Saturday, Gove led a tasting of 10 vintages of Peconic Bay Riesling, for one of the "wine salons" that were part of Harvest East End, a celebration of Long Island's wine and agricultural bounty that benefited local charities. A dozen people attended for a look back at one of the region's earliest-planted, yet least-heralded, white grapes.
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