Much like previous summers, we sampled several wines and beers across the month of July.
Lenz Winery, Peconic
We’ve been members for years now, and Lenz always has some interesting wines available. The barn interior was open this summer, but we opted for a shaded outdoor spot on each of our visits.
On our first visit our focus was tasting, and they were very busy on a holiday Sunday. It took a long while for us to get started, but once we did we had an enjoyable time. so we each worked through a flight. The 2021 Lenz Firefly Petillant Naturel wasn’t on the flights, but we bought a bottle to try at home, and quite liked it.
A few days later we hosted our friend and enjoyed the beautiful weather and a bottle of the 2015 Cuvee!
Vintage Mattituck Wine Shop, Mattituck
Given the cost of tastings it can actually be cheaper just to buy bottles… so just as we did last year we bought multiple wines to try at home. We also grabbed a few bottles from Michael’s in Riverhead – they have some wines not available in Mattituck.
- 2021 McCall Wines Marjorie’s Rose Corchaug Estate was a favorite this year, with the 2020 McCall Wines Pinot Noir Whole Cluster Corchaug Estate also quite nice
- 2019 Lieb Cellars Pinot Blanc Reserve Sparkling – nice summer sparkling
- 2019 One Woman Grüner Veltliner
- 2021 Jamesport Vineyards Albariño – tasty, but a little pricey
North Fork Brewing, Riverhead
Probably our favorite brewery in the area, usually offering sours and dark beers with interesting flavor combinations. This year I enjoyed the blackberry saison.
übergeek – Housed in the former Mustache Brewing space, übergeek has a fairly large selection. I got Play Like a Girl, an IPA showing off grassiness without the bitter, paired nicely with food. Leandra got the Dealing With Dissonance, dark but not really tart, it did have interesting flavor. We also split a buffalo chicken pastel from a local food truck which was light and delicious.
Jamesport Farm Brewery – We didn’t make it here in 2021, and in the intervening two years they’ve increased their tented space. Lucky for us, we found two Adirondack chairs in the shade which let us enjoy a nice breeze. And since they allow dogs, Pasha had a great time meeting several other dogs and accepting pets from a few people. Tired her out! I had the mango madness sour (fruity and a little hoppy but not sour), while Leandra first tried the Kurgan Scotch ale (thumbs up from her), then we split the Gentleman Joe porter which was a little too much on the bitter coffee side for me.
Moriches Brewing – New to us, and located on the way back from MacArthur airport, we stopped in on our last Friday. I had to try their Wildbolt Sour (pink, nicely sour) while Leandra went for the Threes and Nines (a Belgian Tripel). We also tried the Kickin’ Bock, which was quite malty and nice. The music inside was rather loud, but outside was fairly quiet. We’ll definitely return in the future.
