Wine Recommendation
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Wine Recommendation

Wine:Roanoke Vineyards 2006 Chardonnay  (North Fork of Long Island)

Roanoke Vineyards

2006 Chardonnay
(North Fork of Long Island)




Roanoke Vineyards is still relatively new on the North Fork scene, but its red wines are already among the best available. In time, I believe they will prove to be among the most long lived wines as well. I have one bottle of their 2000 Merlot left and the last time I tasted that wine, it wasn't even close to peaking yet.

But, no matter how good any winery's red wines are, most eventually realize that they need at least a white wine or two for tasting room visitors. That's probably particularly true when those red wines start at $30 and go up from there.

With those reasons in mind, Roanoke introduced their first Chardonnay (and a nice Rosé) last year. That first Chardonnay effort was good, straightforward and gulpable, but it didn't knock me over.

This year's Chardonnay, however, was the surprise of a recent trip to wine country.

This is an extremely young wine, just bottled a month or so ago, but at $18 is already among the best Chardonnay values on the North Fork. 60% fermented in steel with 40% barrel fermented it overflows with fresh pear and golden delicious apple, blanched almonds and just a little tropical fruit. The balance is impeccable here and this is a wine that expertly merges the freshness of steel fermented Chardonnay and the richness and complexity brought about by oak barrels. To find such complexity in such a young wine is special – and this is a special wine.

Reviewed May 8, 2007 by Lenn Thompson.

The Wine

Winery: Roanoke Vineyards
Vintage: 2006
Wine: Chardonnay
Appellation: North Fork of Long Island
Grape: Chardonnay
Price: 750ml $18.00

Review Date: 5/8/2007

The Reviewer

Lenn Thompson

Lenn Thompson writes about New York wines for Dan's Papers,
Long Island Press, Long Island Wine Gazette, Edible East End
and Hamptons.com. Two words describe his taste in wine — balance and nuance. Lenn prefers food-friendly, elegant wines to jammy, over-extracted fruit bombs and heavy-handed oak. When reviewing, Lenn tastes each wine three times — alone right after opening, with food, and again the next day — believing that 90-second reviews are unrealistic and not how the average person enjoys wine.