Cheers! A Banner Harvest

Merlot grapes at the Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack last Thursday are likely to be off the vine by now, as the East End wineries complete their 2014 harvest. Once picked, workers hand-sorted these cabernet sauvignon grapes (below), removing stems and bad berries before they went into the press.

Mark Segal Photos

“It was a summer without humidity, just an amazing start and middle of the growing season. As a result, we have completely healthy fruit, no disease pressure, and that translates into pure fruit flavors and aromas and flavorful wines.”

Nov. 4, 2014

Mark Segal

Oenophiles, rejoice! This year has been another excellent one for the Long Island wine industry. “It was a dream,” said Roman Roth, a partner and winemaker at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack. “It was a summer without humidity, just an amazing start and middle of the growing season. As a result, we have completely healthy fruit, no disease pressure, and that translates into pure fruit flavors and aromas and flavorful wines.”

Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton also reported very good quality and quantity. “This was probably the driest growing season on record,” according to Larry Perrine, a winery partner and C.E.O. “I have a professional climate gauge here and I tracked it in July, August, and into September. It was really dry and a little milder than average, and with all the sun we had an excellent growing season.” The grapes at Channing Daughters were 95 percent picked as of last Thursday.

Wolffer Estate still had copious clusters of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and chardonnay on the vine as of last Thursday. “Because there has been such low disease pressure, we just kept hanging, hanging, and hanging,” said Mr. Roth. “We still have 12 tons of chardonnay hanging. We really push hard to ripen extra fruit. That’s what’s so nice on Long Island; we have these Indian summers. This whole week has been amazing.” Mr. Roth expects to be finished with the harvest today.

Ami Opisso, general manager of Lieb Cellars in Cutchogue, echoed her South Fork colleagues. “We’re not done harvesting yet,” she said. “I’m actually running out now to help pick, but I can tell you that it’s been a pretty incredible year in terms of the quality and quantity of fruit we’re bringing in. We’re seeing bunches that are 40 percent larger than average, and our winery is literally bursting at the seams!” The winery had to rent tanks to accommodate all the grapes.

Mr. Roth said that 2013 was the most amazing growing season in the history of the Long Island wine industry. “Probably one of the greatest in the world, like 1945 in Bordeaux or 1976 in Germany. 2012 was also very good. I don’t know if this year will beat 2013, but it will be close. Everybody made good wines on Long Island, so it’s great for everybody.” Mr. Roth added that since he came to the South Fork in 1992, the area has not had a direct hurricane hit during the growing season.

Ms. Opisso summed up the consensus. “We won’t be able to comment on wine quality until all of the fruit is in and all of the ferments are complete, but so far 2014 is looking to be a record-breaking vintage.”