Long Island Wine Country Hosting 50th Anniversary Celebration August 19

Long Island Wine Country is hosting its 50th anniversary grand celebration set for Peconic Bay Vineyards in Cutchogue on Saturday, August 19.

“This is going to be like a who’s who of the wine industry, the winery founders and owners are going to be there, winemakers, a lot of insiders,” said Kareem Massoud, president of the Long Island Wine Council. “Anyone who has any interest at all in the Long Island wine industry, and meeting some of the people here, this is a not-to-be-missed event.”

Indeed, the event promises to be a celebration of half-a-century of Long Island wine history — and the East End vineyards that remain its heart and soul. Each winery participating in the event will be pairing a style of wine with a “taste” from a local North Fork restaurant or purveyor.

This is a walk-around event that encourages revelers to eat, drink, and mingle amid the pastoral grandeur of Peconic Bay Vineyards.

Featured names long associated with LI Wine Country in attendance will be Roman Roth from Wölffer Estate and Russ McCall from McCall Vineyards, and the newer generation will be represented as well, like the RGNY family of winemakers.

All this as well as sips from sundry regional vineyards like Borghese, Osprey’s Dominion, Bridge Lane (which just won an award for canned wine), Channing Daughters, Duck Walk, Jason’s, Lieb Cellars, Sannino and Suhru, among a host of others with roots across the East End. 

“I’m 31 years now as winemaker here on Long Island and Wölffer Estate, and certainly have seen huge changes over the years. It’s a milestone, to have a moment to think of the humble beginnings and take stock of how difficult it was to break down prejudice barriers, to say, ‘Look, LI wineries can make world-class wines, we make some of the most food friendly wines in America … and on top of it, we can make wines with fantastic longevity,'” said Roth, the well-known winemaker at Wölffer Estate. “It’s also a nod and a look at the next 50 years, what’s the future, and what a great position Long Island is in climate-wise. We have plenty of water, good soils … we have frost protection … I think we have a really good future going forward.”

Interestingly, each of the participating wineries will be sorting their offerings at stations according to style. There will be a Long Island Bubbles station with méthode traditionelle sparkling white wines, rosé, and red sparkling wines; Cellar Treasures, with reserve red wines, like Merlot, Cabernet Franc, red varietal wines and blends; as well as stations dedicated to Maritime Minerality; Fermentation; Shades of Pink; and Fresh Fruits; and, of course, Sweet Sips, including ice wines.

Good Food with Good Wine

All these gorgeous varieties of local wine will be complemented by a mouth-watering array of small plates provided by some of the biggest names in North Fork hospitality, and we hear they’re pulling out all the stops.

Tom Schaudel, chef-owner of aMano Restaurant and A Lure Chowder House & Oysteria, both on the North Fork, organized the powerhouse roster of chefs from top restaurants like North Fork Table & Inn, Love Lane, Noah’s and Southold Social.

“How can you do anything with 15 chefs? It’s like herding cats,” joked Schaudel. He’s making blackened swordfish tacos from A Lure in Southold, and duck ravioli with late harvest cabernet franc from his menu at aMano.

Other dishes on the menu for the event include: Oysters Friskafella from The Frisky Oyster (with garlic, chipotle, spinach, and parmesan aioli); sungold tomatoes with parmesan custard, focaccia crostini, and black summer truffle from the Jedediah Hawkins Inn; Smoked Eel Hushpuppies with horseradish and Osetra caviar from PAWPAW; as well as sweets like Rhubarb Squares from Briermere Farms and apple cider donuts from Wickham’s.

So, long story short, bring your appetite.

Added Schaudel about LI Wine Country’s 50th: “I’ve seen this grow from its infant stages to where it is now, which is world class, you know? So it’s exciting for me to see what’s happened over the last 50 years. I was around in ’83 when it started … there were some clunkers back then, you know, and then everybody started sharing information instead of being secretive, and you had people come in from all over the world, and the info got around, and now it’s just like any other wine region … people are starting to realize that whoa, good wine is coming out of here.”

Also on hand to mark the occasion will be some of the early pioneering figures in the history of Long Island winemaking, like Louisa Hargrave, who owned the area’s first vineyard with her husband Alex in 1973, and Massoud’s parents, Ursula and Charles, who founded Paumanok in the early 1980s; Paumanok recently won both the Winery of the Year award and the 2023 Governor’s Cup, the top prize at the 37th annual New York Wine Classic competition. 

Jason’s Vineyard also won Best Sparkling Wine for its 2021 Bubbly Rosé, and Wölffer Estate Vineyard won Best Pink Wine for its 2022 Estate Rosé.

Long Island Wine Country as a whole is now a network of 57 distinct wine producers concentrated primarily on the North Fork, and extending onto the South Fork and western Suffolk County. About half-a-million cases of wine are produced each year from grapes raised on more than 3,000 acres.

The region was named among the world’s “10 Best Wine Destinations” by Wine Enthusiast magazine, and literally hundreds of local wines have been awarded 90 or more points by wine critics. 

The 50th anniversary celebration will also include an auction featuring special prize experiences like private cellar tours, a dinner at a Michelin 3-star restaurant, and a trip to France. 

Added Joshua Schneps, CEO and co-publisher of Schneps Media, which owns Dan’s Papers: “North Fork wineries are world renowned and Dan’s Papers is thrilled to be a part of the 50-year anniversary.”

The celebration will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 19. Tickets are $160 per person and can be purchased at liwines.com/event/liwc-50th-anniversary-grand-celebration.