Toast the Season with Long Island Fall Wines

With the weather cooling off it’s time to sample some delicious fall wines. Gone are the days when a good chardonnay meant something you could only get from California. Long Island is now producing some absolutely beautiful chardonnays.

The first is from Wolffer. It’s the 2022 Perle Chardonnay. This is a wonderfully, smooth wine with all the nuances one expects in a high-end chardonnay. Notes of peach, apple, and vanilla, and a creamy texture make this succulent wine unforgettable.  The wine is aged “sur lie” for up to eight months. This process is also known as “on the lees.” And what it means is the wine remains in contact with dead yeast and other grape sediment rather than being immediately filtered out.

The process often also includes stirring, giving the wine a creamy texture. It’s suggested this wine be served around 55 degrees, rather than ice cold so the flavors can truly express themselves. The Wolffer 2022 Perle Chardonnay retails for $35.

Our next chardonnay is from McCall. It is the 2021 Reserve Chardonnay. This is a substantial chardonnay, full of oaky notes, apple, pears, toast, nuttiness, and spice.  This wine is aged for 14 months in year-old French barrels. The significance in the age of the barrels is that the younger, newer, barrels impart more of those rich oak notes, like toast, almond, and vanilla. This fabulous wine retails for $39. They’ll be more Long Island chardonnays to look forward to in our upcoming columns.

For now, let’s switch to some fun autumn reds while we celebrate what has become one of Long Island’s signature grapes, cabernet franc. Our first one is the 2022 Macari Cabernet Franc. This is a silky smooth wine that can easily soften the edges of a rough day. Dark cherry is on the nose, with dark cherry, milk chocolate, and anise notes on the palate. This wine retails for $38.

Another fantastic expression of the cabernet franc grape is the 2015 McCall Reserve Cabernet Franc. This is a rich, smooth wine full of dark chocolate, dark berry, and brambly fruit notes. Whether you pair this luxurious wine with an elegant steak dinner or s’mores by the firepit it’s a perfect autumn red. The 2014 McCall Reserve Cabernet Franc is listed as retailing on their website for $54.