Christmas Eve Feast

We attended Christmas Eve service and then headed home to celebrate Christ's birth with some friends and our family. I was cooking beef tenderloin filets with bleu cheese on top. We enjoyed chunky mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. I planned to make green bean bundles, but my kids talked me into green bean casserole.

Our middle daughter was excited because we were finally going to enjoy some of my fresh baked bread. She had been smelling it for a week, but never got to eat it because I was giving it away to teachers, friends & family.

The men had Coronas, but I enjoyed Lenz Merlot. It was one of our favorites from Long Island. Smooth with a slight flavor of oak. Warms you up as you enjoy!

Christmas Party

With a few friends over, we enjoyed Lava Cap Chardonnay and Dunham Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, both from our wine clubs. As usual, I loved the Lava Cap. Well, I like almost every wine we get from Lava Cap. The Chardonnay is less fruity with some full body I can enjoy.

The Cabernet was a bit piney. Although it is much better than some of the cheap wines we enjoy, I haven't been as impressed with Dunham's wine since our wine tasting last February. We have one more bottle of their wine that we'll try. If it isn't outstanding, we'll probably cancel Dunham's wine club. The wines are good, but not worth $40ish a bottle.

Private Winemakers Walk

Marco is the winemaker at Castello DiBorghese so we decided to join his tour at 11am. There were only four of us; the other couple was from the Harvest Inn, too. We've taken tours of other wineries, but thought this would be different. Marco drove us to the back of their property where the wine is produced.



We also met his lovely wife, Ann Marie who told us about the pinot grapes nearby. She showed us the green grapes had not changed because they haven't received enough sun. A branch or cluster is hiding them from enough sun. As she says, pinot are the heartbreak grape...they can cause more problems than any of the others.

Marco drove us to other vines and grapes so we could see the difference in clusters. He reminded us that his vineyard is the first one on Long Island, planted about 1973. Thus, he has the oldest vines around. We drove back to the tasting room to get a real taste of what they make.



Marco poured each wine and told us about it. We started with their 06 Chardonnay that was stainless steel fermented. It was good, but not the type we really enjoyed.

Their 05 Chardonnay is oak barrel fermented and we really enjoyed it. Why? Because it has a slight oak taste that reduces the fruitiness of this wine. Chris and Marco call it their Steak White wine because they pair it with steak in their Wine Pairing Dinners. In other words, they don't follow the old saying "Reds with red meat and whites with white meat." This Chardonnay really will stand up to a steak.

Next was their Rose - a mildly dry and elegant Rose made from Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc grapes. This wine complements fish, poultry or just plain cheese and crackers. "Think Pink" and serve it slightly chilled. I'm not into roses, but this one was quite nice. Did you know the rose gets it light pink color from the red grape skins?

Moving on to the reds, we tried their Pinot Noir which was light and smooth. You can serve it with most anything.

Breakfast at Harvest

Breakfast was served around 9am in a wonderful setting. It was true New York style with the noise level growing in intensity. In other words, it was getting louder as we ate. All the others at the table were from New York. We enjoyed visiting with past Wine Campers and learning about their winery experiences in California and New York.

We also enjoyed Chris' wonderful breakfast, fresh fruit, banana/blueberry bread, frittata with home grown zucchini, and potatoes. All of it was delicious. I never thought about putting zucchini in eggs, but I really liked it!

We felt so at home at Harvest Inn. When we return, we will probably spend all our nights with Darolyn & Chris!



If you are interested in learning about wine, wineries or getting the scoop about North Fork, then stay at the Harvest Inn. Twice Chris called the owners to see if we could do something special. He called North Fork Table and Castello DiBorghese winery for us. We took him up on the special tour of DeBorghese vineyards, a winemakers walk with the winemaker, Marco!

Let me just say that Chris & Darolyn know the wineries in the area and can give you expert advice for your North Fork stay!

Jedediah Hawkins Inn

We got lost going to Jedediah Hawkins, but finally pulled into their gorgeous driveway. The Inn was the Designer Showcase a few years ago where several designers pulled together their talents and refurbished this house that was falling apart. Let me just say, this inn is beautiful. It is worth going just to see how beautiful it is.

We waited for them to reset our table and enjoyed a quiet meal. We split the soft-shell crab. I had a bowl of wild mushroom soup that was great along with their spice rolls. The sauce under the crab was wonderful. We're both not sure about eating the soft shells, but we did anyway.

I had a glass of Martha Clara Shiraz that really grew on me as I enjoyed it. Steve had a glass of Cabernet, I believe from Macari.

Although I enjoyed another evening of chef cooked food, I think I would have enjoyed at least one casual dinner. We already ate at Bobby Flay's and Scrimshaws and we plan to eat at the Frisy Oyster tomorrow night. If I could do it again, I would have found a cool, casual restaurant that had fried shrimp or hamburgers. Something not too fancy and down to earth.

Harvest Inn Bed & Breakfast

This is the one place I knew I wanted to stay on our visit. I'm so glad I did. When you stay with Chris & Darolyn, you feel like part of their family. As we walked up to the house, Chris put down his wine and showed us into their home. Previously, he was entertaining past Wine Campers on the porch. Darolyn showed us our room and told us we might want to visit with the Wine Campers outside.



I wanted to take a nap so I laid down for awhile. Steve joined everyone on the front porch. That's where he learned about various wineries on the island.

After my nap, I joined Steve on the porch and talked with others about their winery visits. Chris even called North Fork Table to see if they could squeeze us in tonight. We decided to keep our reservations at Jedediah Hawkins.

Paumanok Winery

Everyone recommended Paumanok. I don't know if it was just being the end of the day, but we weren't real impressed with their wines. I wanted to go back tomorrow, and see if we tasted them differently first thing in tomorrow. Oh well...

If I remember correctly, we tasted their red wines. They were good, but I still liked Macari Merlot for 9.99. You just can't beat that deal.