Among all the Long Island wines I tasted last year, rosés topped my list of most promising. They are becoming a minor staple in the region at a timely moment. Long considered frivolous and beneath serious critique, rosés are booming internationally.
The improvements in East End rosés have been striking; today they are being uncorked all year, not just in warm weather. Rosés to try in 2009 are likely to come from Macari, Raphael, Shinn, Martha Clara, Peconic Bay Winery, Roanoke, Waters Crest, Castello di Borghese and Bouké, a new producer.
The more tantalizing local rosés become, the more they strengthen a notion that Island vintners, whose crisp whites and sparkling wines are improving by leaps and bounds, may be erring in promoting merlot as the East End’s signature wine. Instead, maybe the area should be defined by its versatility.
For years, Wölffer’s rosé has set the local standard. In 2008, Wölffer’s 2007, a deft blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and — an unusual ingredient —chardonnay, was perhaps the Island’s best. Corey Creek’s Domaines CC was next.
Three 2006 rosés released by a new vintner, Croteaux Vineyards, from three clones of merlot farmed on its property, in Southold, were striking. Each rosé was named for the clone’s international numerical designation. My favorite was 181, after a clone from Pomerol, France.
Channing Daughters again played into the pink-wine trend with its Tre Rosati (Three Rosés) program, which is inspired by food-oriented dry wines from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy favored by the winemaker, James Christopher Tracy.
All three 2007s sold out. I liked the weighty rosato di cabernet sauvignon version best; its grapes came from Mudd’s Vineyard in Southold.
