Saturday morning I had the privilege to assist one of Long Islands most talented and skilful winemakers, Roman Roth at a “Wine Salon” (or seminar) to kick of the 2011 Harvest- East End event. This year’s event unlike last year (which was just a single weekend, which happened to fall literally during the grape harvest) is being spread out over three weekends. Wine Salons started September 3rd, they will continue on Saturday September 10th and the 17th. They are seminars given by winemakers, farmers and purveyor, topics include educational and intellectual programs given at various times and locations throughout the East End.
Friday September 16th is the 10-Mile Dinners where one can experience an unforgettable ultra-local wine dinner with an East End wine estate owner (and/or winemaker) and top regional chef. These will be held at private spectacular homes across the East End (The Hamptons, Shelter Island and North Fork).
To cap things off on Saturday the 17th starting about 4:30 pm at the beautiful Ludlow Farm in Bridgehampton will be the Festival Tasting and later in the evening the Harvest Moon Gala- Dinner and Wine Auction.
Anyone interested in finding out any more information about this event could check out the following web site http://harvesteastend.com/
Now back to the events of Saturday and a little back ground. I live more or less directly in the center of Long Island in Western Suffolk. (Some who know the area will probably think who in their right mind will take a ride out east on Labor Day weekend?) I was told to arrive at the location of the “Wine Salon” 1 hour to 45 minutes before the start time (location was the American Hotel on Main Street in Sag Harbor (South Fork of Long Island) and the start time was 11 am). I woke up early had a nice breakfast read the newspaper and checked my computer for any last minute updates from the event organizer. I was on my way by 8:30 am. I knew that Friday late afternoon that there was a problem on Sunrise Highway (Rt 27) due to downed wires, so I jumped on the LIE (Interstate 495) and headed east figuring to cut to the south at exit 70 or 72. Traffic started getting a little heavier even for this time in the morning so I cut to the south using exit 70 (County Rd 111). Jumped on Sunrise Hwy (Rt 27) and headed east. Shortly after passing Shinnecock Canal Sunrise Hwy becomes County Rd 39 this is where traffic seems to slowly crawl (especially on Labor Day weekend) through the towns and hamlets of the South Fork. You could try to cut to the north on the roads off of Co Rd 39 and zigzag your way north to Sag Harbor, but this is like taking the hypotenuse of a right triangle and adding quite a bit of distance to your trip. Besides taking this alternate route I wouldn’t be able to check on the vineyards to see if they sustained any damage from last week’s hurricane. So I choose to stick with Co Rd 39 get over the RR tracks, get just pass the point where Co Rd 39 merges with Montauk Hwy (Co Rd 80) and “officially” becomes Rt 27 again. Pass the hamlet of Watermill and The Duckwalk Vineyard (on your right, quickly checking the vines for “damage”(which there seemed to be very little) from Hurricane Irene). Just before the Bridgehampton Commons I made a left onto (now heading northeast) Scuttle Hole Road (real easy to find just look for the Long Island wine country sign pointing in the direction of Channing Daughters. Passing Channing Daughters and again checking the vines for “damage”, which again I saw very little, Thank God! I took Scuttle Hole Road to the end, making a left onto Bridgehampton Sag Harbor Turnpike. Taking this north into the Town of Sag Harbor limits where it becomes Main Street. All said and done I made it safely to my designation in an hour (approximately 9:30 am). So I had 30 to 45 minutes to kill.
Sag Harbor is a wonderful little maritime village and is very historical. The village is mentioned in the novel, “Moby Dick”, written by Herman Melville. John Steinbeck, the author of “The Grapes of Wrath” lived for some time in Sag Harbor (get back to this in just a minute). During colonial times and Early American times, Sag Harbor was a major East Coast commercial port, more important than the ports in New York Harbor. The Sag Harbor Customs House is a historical landmark building which was built in 1765 and in 1793 it became the home and office of Henry Packer Dering, the first custom officer appointed in New York State under the federal constitution by President George Washington. In the War of 1812 the British attacked Sag Harbor. The home of the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum is another “American treasure”. It was built in 1845 originally the home of a leading citizen of Sag Harbor Benjamin Hunting who was the owner of whaling ships and made his fortune from the whale oil that was brought “home” on his ships. The American Hotel itself is a historical landmark building, which dates back to 1846.
So after strolling the quaint maritime village lined with its boutique shopping, cafes, restaurants and fisherman’s wharf on a fairly cool partly sunny Saturday morning at around 10:15 to 10:30 I strolled through the porch of the American Hotel. On this fine September morning the porch was filled with patrons enjoying coffee, orange or grape fruit juice and a mid morning meal. Walking through the front door of the hotel I found a small inside sitting area, eating area and the bar. Thinking to myself where’s the hotel’s reception desk and manager? The bartender, the only one not “running about” taking care of the needs of the patrons, assured me I was at the main entrance and reception area of this quaint European-looking hotel. I asked the bartender if Roman Roth was present and if I was at the right location for the 11:00 am Harvest East End Wine Solon event. He said he knew nothing, but the manger will be down in a few minutes. A few minutes later hotel manager Thomas Allnoch greeted me; and confirmed that I was at the correct location and that Roman Roth should arrive shortly. He kindly directed me to a larger dinning area where tables were already set up with wine glasses and showed me a delivery of two boxes to the hotel in care of Roman Roth. Among the boxes I found my volunteer “package” and a list of pre-paid participants. I quickly compared this list with the list I copied from my email from the event organizer. I laid out the Harvest End Almanac brochures, the Food & Wine Harvest East End post card, and the handouts Roman Roth provided on a small narrow table entering the dinning area. Now being the wine geek my curiosity turned to the case of wine that was delivered and that winemaker Roman Roth was going to kindly share with the group. It is now nearing 11:00 am, do I prepare the wines (popping the corks to let the wines breathe) or do I wait for the arrival of Roman. Shortly Roman arrives and we both prep the wines. Roman requests spit buckets, pitchers of water and bread to be placed on the tables and we both do some ‘finishing” set-ups on the tables. As the late morning was turning to the early afternoon traffic on the South fork was getting heavier and heavier. Pre-paid participants started arriving sometime after 11:00 Roman didn’t official start the Wine Salon until about 11:30 am. The last of the pre-paid participants dropped in almost a quarter to twelve.
Roman Roth is the head winemaker of Wolffer Estate Winery and as of today is also a consultant winemaker for some of the other wineries all across the Long Island wine region stretching from the East End to Brooklyn. So after all these years of making his mark as a leader in the winemaking community of Long Island in 2001 (which (up until this time) he thought was one of the best vintages he experienced on Long Island) he branched off in a new direction and started producing small quantities of unique, handmade wines (some might consider these “cult” wines) of the highest quality which basically he could truly call his own. In 2006 the label “Grapes of Roth” (actually Roman is taking pun of the fact that the author of ‘The Grapes of Wrath” once called Sag Harbor home) came into existence with the release of the 2001 “Grapes of Roth” Merlot. His goal was basically to create something in between a Napa wine and an “Old World wine”. In other words a wine composed of both the best of a “New World wine” with the best of an “Old World wine”. (To make concentrated yet balanced and elegant wines). Roman truly believes that such a wine can be created and Long Island might just be the place. With paying close attention to the grapes in both the vineyard and cellar one could achieve this balance, maintain a good concentration of the fruit while getting good structure with nothing in excess. With the vertical tasting Roman presented us 2001 to 2006 “The Grapes of Roth” Merlot I think he did a great gob pleading his case. (Thanks, Roman)
Salute