Winterfest hitting the right notes
Thousands descend on North Fork as jazz and wine festival kicks off
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A lively crowd gathers at Paumanok Vineyards' tasting-room bar early Saturday afternoon.
Fine wine, pleasant weather and hot jazz -- all wrapped together on Valentine's Day -- enticed large crowds to the North Fork for the kickoff weekend of the 2009 Long Island Winterfest.
"We had great crowds. Some of the smaller wineries had to turn people away," said Steve Bate, executive director of the Long Island Wine Council. "We had great talent performing. We had very nice weather. And we had the benefit of Valentine's Day and a great holiday weekend."
Stan Wright of Riverhead (left) and Mark Gatz of Hampton Bays perform at Paumanok Vineyards Saturday afternoon.
"It has definitely bumped us up retailwise," said Corey Creek Vineyards operations manager Holly Palm. "Winterfest is bringing in new customers who in the past might not have come here at this time of year. Word of mouth is getting around, and people are really responding to it."
Conceived three years ago, Winterfest will run for six consecutive weekends, through March 22. This year's Jazz on the Vine theme features jazz performances on weekend afternoons at numerous East End wineries and eateries.
"We had a lot of people from western Long Island and Manhattan and, of course, from the local region," he said. "I was at Diliberto Winery [in Jamesport] and actually watched as [owner] Sal Diliberto told people 'Sorry, we're full. But please head right down the road to another winery.'ââ"
Rows of grapevines peeking through the window provided the appropriate backdrop for a local jazz duo performing in a corner of the tasting room at Paumanok Vineyards in Aquebogue. Hundreds of patrons had the room teeming with laughter and conversation.
"We already had a good turnout last year," said Kareem Massoud, the winemaker at Paumanok, who was expecting a big crowd based on the buzz created last year, when Winterfest adopted a musical theme. "For us, Saturday was the perfect storm of Valentine's Day. It was a Saturday of a three-day weekend. It was a beautiful day in terms of the weather and, on top of it all, we had the Mark Gatz Duo performing here as part of the Winterfest series."
Many of the jazz performers found the heated environments -- tents, barns and tasting rooms -- a welcome change from the usual city gigs in clubs and dance halls.
"When you go from one lead player to the next and people clap and they get up and whistle, that makes the guy up at bat feel like a superstar," said Fernando Benardo, a bass player with Mundo Clave, a Latin jazz group that performed Saturday in a barn at Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead.
"That's like a theater event, and we have never felt that before," added Mr. Benardo, of Whitestone, Queens.
"It was tremendous," he said. "Everybody loved it. The place was gorgeous."
Mr. Benardo enjoyed the atmosphere so much, he said, that he's planning to return this Saturday with his wife and another couple to see another Latin jazz group, Bronx Horns, perform at Osprey's Dominion Vineyards in Peconic.
Local inns and restaurants are also reaping the benefits of Winterfest, even getting in on the act.
"Just driving around, we saw many people at the wineries, and when questioning customers at lunch and dinner, a lot of them were at the event," said Matt Kar, owner of the Jamesport Manor Inn in Jamesport. "We're having music this Sunday and giving out free wine and cheese. I think it will be as successful as all the wineries were this weekend. I'm excited about it."
Liz MacNish, owner of Andrew's Legacy, a bed and breakfast in Cutchogue, said she was booked all weekend and is even taking some reservations already for March, usually her slowest month.
"We are within walking distance of six of the wineries, so that helps," she said. "Guests will usually go out to about three of them and then walk back and take a nap and go out for dinner."
Back at Corey Creek, Ms. Palm has her sights set on a repeat performance.
"Hopefully, we can carry the momentum into this weekend," she said.
bharmon@timesreview.com
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