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The parents of youth athletes know one thing about Mother’s Day—there’s a better than 50/50 chance that one (or both) of your kids will have a game. With my daughter playing her final youth lacrosse game the week before, however, this was our first Mother’s Day in probably a decade without being on one field or another.
I’m very lucky in that my wife wanted to spend her Mother’s Day the exact way I’d want to spend most any spring Sunday — in wine country.
We visited four tasting rooms which, affords me plenty of fodder for “What I Drank” — so lets step through the day winery-by-winery.
Macari Vineyards: 2022 “Horses” Cabernet Franc Rosé Pet-Nat
We started our Sunday at Macari Vineyards for a lobster roll pairing with the winery’s newly released 2023 Rosé and the 2022 “Horses” Cabernet Franc Rosé Pet-Nat. The still rosé needed a little air to really open up, but the sparkling was gorgeous — fresh and clean with bright red fruits and subtle savory layers. This is a wine that I typically like, but some vintages lean too far into the earthy and savory side of cabernet franc (even for me). The 2022 is as good or better than any vintage I can remember.
After the tasting, we ordered a bottle to enjoy with lobster rolls from The Catered Fork and a charcuterie board curated by the winery. It’s good enough that you just might see it in an upcoming Cork Club shipment.
Roanoke Vineyards on Love Lane: 2022 Rosé
We had a little extra time before our reservation at Lieb Cellars, so we stopped in at Roanoke Vineyards’ satellite tasting room on Love Lane in Mattituck. My wife wanted to try the 2022 Rosé and I ordered the 2022 Site-Specific Rosé. We both preferred the steel-fermented regular rosé. Mostly merlot with some cab franc, cab sauv, and chardonnay; it’s peachy and red-berried with great acidity and good concentration.
Lieb Cellars: 2021 Estate Sparkling Rosé (and the Charcuterie)
It wasn’t an intentional theme, per se, but my wife does love sparkling rosé so that was her pick here too.
It was our first time visiting the Lieb Cellars tasting room after was purchased by the owners of Suhru and renovated (it looks great, by the way) — and my son was concerned that his favorite winery food item — Lieb’s burrata with pesto — may not be available anymore. As you can see above, he needn’t have worried.
Palmer Vineyards: 2023 Sauvignon Blanc
As seems to happen more often than not, as we head back west to our house after a day in wine country, we stopped in at Palmer Vineyards. By this point, the sun had come out, and Palmer is always a great spot to relax in Adirondack chairs with a glass of wine out on the lawn. Nena drank — you guessed it — sparkling rosé, but I tried the 2023 Sauvignon Blanc for the first time. It was citrusy and tropical with undertones of grassy herbs and saline minerality.
Somehow, our son — who had already eaten a lobster roll and fries, plus two rounds of charcuterie, was still hungry, so he ordered a mushroom pizza that he raved about, too.
With school and youth lacrosse done for the year but travel season right around the corner, I don’t know when we’ll get our next family day in wine country, but I’m thankful we got one on Sunday.
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