Taste Camp East; Long Island Wine Country - A wine Region Away

I attend Taste Camp East this weekend that was hosted by Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours. Lenn did an outstanding job of hosting 30 wine bloggers in Long Island Wine Country. We had weekend packed with wine tasting and activities.

We arrived on the North Fork around 1pm and turned to the GPS for a place to eat some lunch before tasting. We found ourselves at Cliff's Elbow Room Two in Jamesport, NY. Great local place. I had a marinaded burger that was wonderful!

Afterwards, we headed up the street to Laurel Lake Vineyards which we had a nice tasting at. Then we went to Peconic Bay, Jamesport and Pellegrini Vineyards. We were just in time for Bud Break..the start of the season where the buds burst on the vines.

One thing I have to say is we found the tasting fees and wine prices quite inflated. At Pellegrini we opted for the reserve tasting of $12. So we received a tasting of 4 wines and some oyster crackers. $12, I don't think it was worth it, but for the $7 tasting we weren't offered some of the reserve wines we wanted to taste. We found most of the wines were price over $20.

Friday night we were treated to a wonderful reception and dinner at Raphael Vineyards sponsored by the Merlot Alliance. A wonderful reception it was. We had some nice tastings of Merlot and a great dinner. They brought out the big ones for us. One that really stood out to me was a 1998 Wolffer Merlot.

Thank you Long Island Merlot Alliance!

My next few post will be about my weekend with TasteCamp, complete with winemaker video. It was a great weekend and wonderful to put faces to many people I speak with during the course of the week. I am looking forward to the next gathering.