Simply Merlot Paradise
Long Island merlot wins high praise
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If you drink a lot of merlot, you're not alone. It's currently the most popular red wine variety in the U.S. This grape, which originally hails from France's Bordeaux region, adapts well to many climates and has been transported from its ancestral home to almost every wine region, with nearly 470,000 acres planted worldwide and close to 1,000 on Long Island. Yet this adaptability is not synonymous with homogeneity; where the grape is planted greatly impacts the style and flavor of the resulting wines.
For example, in marine-influenced climes — such as Bordeaux and Long Island — the grapes experience more rainfall and cooler temperatures. Because of this, they achieve modest ripeness at harvest, resulting in wines that are more restrained in fruit character. These wines have finesse and an elegance frequently lacking in merlots from warmer, drier climates, where the grapes attain much higher sugar levels and riper fruit flavors.
Despite its popularity, merlot's diversity of styles and prices and the vast array of wines from around the world can cause consumer confusion, which may account for the negative view of the variety expressed in the 2004 movie “Sideways.”
However, while Miles — the merlot-hating character in the film — was mad at merlot, recent praise from Appellation America shows that these Napa, Calif.-based wine critics are mad about merlot, specifically Long Island merlot.
Appellation America focuses entirely on North American wines and runs a “Best of Appellation” program, blind-tasting wines to define the characteristics of a particular wine from a given appellation. In June 2009, Appellation America ran a feature article titled, “Simply Merlot Paradise,” in which they extolled the virtues of Long Island's merlot wines. Of the 39 wines tasted by Clark Smith and his two colleagues, 35 received either a gold or double-gold medal.
PHOTO BY JANE STARWOOD
Merlots from other regions at the Classic.
Mr. Smith confessed that before the tasting he had limited expectations for the Long Island wines, anticipating an “impactful wine style” with “baked-fruit aromas.” However, he said he was pleasantly surprised to find, “extraordinary aromatics, imparting great complexity and distinctive sense of place … maintaining remarkable grace and balance.” Mr. Smith also noted a feminine quality in the wines, which he said exhibited “round and velvety” tannins, along with the ability to age well.
Mr. Smith's assessment of Long Island merlot came as no surprise to Sherwood House Vineyards winemaker Gilles Martin. “We have a unique terroir for the East Coast,” explained Mr. Martin. “Our soil and climate work well with this variety to create a very soft tannin profile that really suits the palate of today's consumer.”
While the winemaker acknowledges that he collaborates with Sherwood House's owners, Barbara and Charles Smithen, to create wines in an Old World style reminiscent of Bordeaux, he recognizes that there are differences. “My wine philosophy is to create the same quality elements [as Bordeaux] — the aromas, fruit and structure — while respecting our own terroir profile. For me, the challenge and focus remain in the balance and the harmony of our wines.”
The panel praised the consistency of Long Island merlot and acknowledged that, unlike Bordeaux, Long Island produced good wines even in lesser vintages, such as those marked by cooler and/or wetter weather. Moreover, the Appellation America tasters clearly recognized that Long Island merlot differs significantly from California merlot, which Mr. Smith referred to as “amped-up offerings.”
Finding differences between North Fork wines and those produced in the Hamptons, Mr. Smith said, “…the North Fork struck me as much more unique, with distinctive and special attributes very different from both Bordeaux and California, whereas the Hamptons wines we tasted had much in common with Pomerol [in Bordeaux].”
Appellation America's tasting notes on North Fork merlots described “pervasive orange peel” and an “exotic Asian flavor complex,” while Hamptons' merlots had flavors of “tea and cherry,” along with “green grapefruit, tobacco and lots of rhubarb,” and were “more fruit-based than savory.” While the reasons for the divergence in style between the two forks isn't entirely known, Mr. Smith proposed that soil and climatic differences could account for it.
Mr. Smith and his colleagues selected wines from Clovis Point, Harbes Family, Macari, Palmer, Peconic Bay, Pellegrini, Raphael, Scarola and Sherwood House vineyards and the L.I. Merlot Alliance, grouping their North Fork “Best-of-Appellation” picks into three categories:
• “For Current Drinking — A combination of young wines from cool to average years and older vintages which are now ready;”
• “Collectible Style — Top-quality wines which, due to hard tannins or closed aromatics, stand to improve with age;” and
• “Exotic and Distinctive — Wines of special character and unusually distinctive wines of place.”
The Hamptons merlots, all from Wölffer Estate, were categorized as “Classic Collectible Style,” with accolades heaped on winemaker Roman Roth for his consistent talent in crafting these wines. Mr. Roth agrees that small differences between the two forks exist, but suggested that those are minor details; for him, the real issue is that people are recognizing the quality of Long Island fruit.
PHOTO BY JANE STARWOOD
Wolffer Estate merlot at the Merlot World Classic.While the Appellation America report is among the more recent press extolling the virtues of L.I. merlots, many local winemakers have been proponents of the grape for quite some time. A group of them formed the Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA) in 2005 to establish quality standards for the production of classic merlot in the region. The group's members produce a cooperative blend called Merliance from each vintage. In July 2009, Castello di Borghese became LIMA's seventh member, joining Clovis Point, McCall, Pellegrini, Raphael, Sherwood House and Wölffer Estate vineyards.
Responding to the Appellation America report, Gilles Martin said: “I think it's a great thing to happen to Long Island. Our wine and style of wine is being appreciated around the country, both on the East Coast, but also in California. It has helped us to put Long Island on the wine map of the world.”
Mr. Roth echoed the sentiment, noting that, “Merlot is especially suitable for Long Island ... it is something special for the United States and [our wines] can stand up to the best merlots in the world.”
Clark Smith and his panel seem to agree. Summing up the tasting for his report, Mr. Smith wrote, “Long Island merlot has achieved a very high standard of consistent trueness-to-type which, in my opinion, surpasses most of Bordeaux, dollar for dollar.”
Tracy Ellen Kamens, Ed.D., holds a Certified Specialist of Wine credential from the Society of Wine Educators and a Diploma of Wine and Spirits, with merit, from Wine & Spirits Education Trust. She passed WSET's intermediate and advanced certificate exams with distinction and holds the International Bordeaux Instructor title from L'Ecole du Vin de Bordeaux. In addition, she has completed the Napa Valley Vintners' Wine Educators Academy and Wine Australia USA AusWISE programs.
As a wine journalist, Ms. Kamens has written for Wine Enthusiast, Long Island Wine Press, Long Island Wine Gazette and Wine Sediments. She also writes a monthly educational newsletter, Grand Cru Grapevine, and a blog, Grape Matter. With her husband, Jared Skolnick, she runs Grand Cru Classes (GrandCruClasses.com), a wine-education concern based in Mattituck.