The sybaritic pleasures of being in a tent in Cutchogue with a stellar array of chefs and wines to match.
Epicurean Life on the North Fork
I was under a tent in a field in Cutchogue sampling a bit of 2003 cabernet franc from the barrel in which it had been aging. I wanted a little nibble before tasting the merlot in the next barrel so I stepped over to a table nearby and asked Larry Forgione for a small bowl of Peconic Bay scallop and Ipswich clam pan roast. Then after tasting the merlot I strolled over to another table and asked Todd Jacobs for a taste of smoked Long Island duck with local greens. Larry Forgione is the chef of An American Place in New York and St. Louis, and generally acknowledged as one of the most important and influential chefs in America. Todd Jacobs is also widely recognized in the food world, and, more locally, is the chef and owner of Tierra Mar in Westhampton Beach.
All these tastes and people in one tent would have been hard to imagine just five or six years ago, but it is now part of the wine and food life of Long Island. It is a sign that the area has come of age and should be viewed seriously in the competitive winemaking industry where traditions often go back for hundreds of years. The tent in Cutchogue was the site of the third annual Peconic Bay Winery Barrel Tasting, a benefit for the New York Institute of Technology Culinary Arts Center. It’s an event that gets bigger and better every year.
I might say the same for Peconic Bay Winery itself. Every time I visit I am further impressed with the quality of their wines. During the summer I went there to taste and report on their chardonnays, but I found myself so taken with a new riesling that I wrote mostly about that. It’s a good sign when wines jostle for the attention of a reporter, especially when they are affordable wines.
Paul Lowerre has a day job as a banker, but as the proprietor of Peconic Bay with his wife Ursurla, he clearly has a passion for wine. And the two of them also have a commitment to education, as reflected in the scholarships they sponsor at the culinary school. Greg Gove is the winemaker behind the several versions of chardonnays, merlots, rieslings, and cabernet francs, as well as the single cabernet sauvignon produced at the winery. The wines have won numerous awards during his tenure there. Michael Meehan, a noted chef on Long Island, recently became Culinary Director, and with Matt Gillies, the General Manager, is working on establishing a restaurant in a farmhouse on the vineyard property. This is a winery with impressive credentials.
Mirabelle, the widely celebrated restaurant in St. James, was represented at the Barrel Tasting by its chef and owner, Guy Reuge, with an incredible hors d’oeuvre selection: baked clams with chorizo, polenta and almond pesto; duck confit risotto cakes; and mini vegetable tartlettes. And it didn’t stop there. Taylor Alonso of the Bellport, Tom Schaudel of Coolfish, Steven DeBruyn of Polo Restaurant, Gerry Hayden of Amuse, Kerry Heffernan of Eleven Madison Park, Michael Dean Ross of Fiddleheads, and Brad Steelman of The River Café, chefs from top rated restaurants on Long Island and in New York, were all cooking.
The wine and foods pairings all worked well—though I have to admit at a social event like this, when we are busy drinking, eating and talking, the focus is not on details but on the overall impression. It’s gratifying to be on Long Island and to experience all the sybaritic pleasures of our wine culture. We’ve seen bon vivant habits brought to the Hamptons by the New York crowd, but did you ever think the bucolic North Fork would become the turf of an epicurean lifestyle?
