*Welcome 2008 to the Hamptons: a grateful billet doux to the winemakers of eastern Long Island filled with common sense, horse sense and nonsense. And maybe a bon mot here and there.

New Year’s 2008

I wonder if in distant Dakar or mystifying Myanmar,

Anyone reads the East Hampton Star?

If you do, I want to say, have a glorious holiday.

Lots of fun. Lots of frolic. Lots of stuff alcoholic.

I want to send my very best, as well,

To Hamptons East, South, Bridge, and West, as well,

To travelers on Route 27 and the LIRR,

To all the folks who read my column in the Star,

My felicitation, admiration, adulation and appreciation.

Let’s make the New Year great, and dreams come true in 2008.

I drink to the wineries and winemakers and the wines you make,

To Bedell and Corey Creek, to Lenz and Lieb and Laurel Lake,

To the guys at Wolffer and Palmer and Paumanok,

And, oh, you girls, Martha Clara, Comtesse Therese, and Channing Daughters,

To Jamesport and the Old Field, and Peconic Bay waters,

To Macari and Shinn and Roman’s Grapes of Roth,

Keep our glasses filled with Long Island wine,

This week, for the sake of auld lang syne.

To guys in the vineyard and gals in the cellar,

I hope the 08 vintage will be stellar.

Pour our cabs and our chards, and our sauvignon blanc,

Our pinot noir, syrah, merlot and cab franc.

I lift my glass to toast friends far and near,

Let’s share good wines and good health in the New Year.

For every continent and far overseas,

For Europeans, Russians, Pakistanis and Chinese,

I hope for pure air, clean water, bright skies and green trees.

For our endangered planet, a whole clean slate,

For the U.S.A., a new chief of state,

For all of us globetrotters, a better exchange rate,

And this being the Hamptons, a good year in real estate.

Furthermore, on a personal score, I hope to lose a little weight.

Wherever you are, on the South or North Fork,

Midnight is coming, time to pop that cork.

The tides of time are eternal, let’s not forget,

As their waves erase 07, let’s have no regret.

Lift your glass, make a toast, make 08 our best year yet.