WINE & SPIRITS

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During his tenure as winemaker at Paul Hobbs, 20 of his wines earned scores of 92 points and up (out of a possible 100) from either Robert Parker or Wine Spectator. "Throughout the industry, you don't see fruit forward and mid-palate structured wines with length," he said. "In an exceptional year in Bordeaux you might get that vivid fruit, or in a cooler year in California maybe you'd get less alcohol." To translate again, these are sexy, flavorful, mouth-filling wines. For Levenberg, hitting the mid-palate is like finding the wine's G-spot.

Bedell is in the throes of a second coming. In the past few years New Line Cinema CEO Michael Lynne, owner of Bedell Cellars and the nearby Corey Creek winery, has made a huge investment in his Long Island properties, buying top-of-the-line equipment and recruiting world-class winemaker and consultant Pascal Marty (former winemaking director for Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Opus One). Along with their regular cuvées, Lynne's team has been releasing exciting red and white blends under limited-edition artist series labels with artwork by Barbara Kruger, Howard Schatz and Eric Fischl.

I go back a long way with Bedell Cellars. For the last six summers I've been covering North Fork wine, and Bedell was the first winery in the area that caught my attention. Peggy Lauber, who handled Bedell's press at that time (after selling her own winery, Corey Creek, to Lynne in '99), was the first to introduce me to the entire Long Island wine scene. Over the years, Peggy and I brought various wine experts and sommeliers on tours of the region to get their take on what was noteworthy. Four Seasons restaurant owner Julian Niccolini and sommeliers from Lespinasse, Daniel and The Breakers in Palm Beach all picked their favorite wines. Eager to propel Long Island wines onto the national and international stage, Lynne looked to garner as much attention for the entire region as his own wineries.

And indeed, the profile for Long Island wine has surged, with major critics handing out increasingly impressive scores. As natural as it is to drink Napa wine in Napa and Provence wine on the Côte d'Azur, it's time to add some mid-palate Long Island treasures to our summer wine list.