After leaving Roanoke Vineyards we headed to Paumanok Vineyards for a sampling of their wines. The tasting was more casual in style than the Roanoke tasting as we milled around in the tasting room as their wines were poured for us. As the spitting commenced, and the wines were poured, each one was discussed in brief by either owner Charles Massoud or his son and now wine maker Kareem.
My Tasting Notes –
2007 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay (8 months in 15% new oak)
nose: ripe tropical fruit, flinty and honey
taste: apple, Asian pear, lemon rind, almond and vanilla
mouthfeel: medium to full body, bright acidity
finish: medium in length and fruity
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
nose: tropical “sweet” fruit, citrus
taste: grapefruit, lemon, sweet pea
mouthfeel: medium body, crisp and tart
finish: short to medium in length and clean
2008 Chenin Blanc
nose: crème fraiche, apple, Asian Pear
taste: tons of citrus, tangerine, ugly fruit
mouthfeel: full body, nice acid across the back of the palate
finish: long and fruity
2005 Merlot
nose: tight nose with hints of red cherry
taste: cherry, boysenberry, brussel sprout, leather
mouthfeel: medium body, velvety tannins
finish: medium in length with mostly red fruit flavors lingering
2004 Assemblage
nose: black currant and blackberry
taste: boysenberry, blackberry, red currant
mouthfeel: very full bodied, fuzzy mouth coating tannins
finish: long and drying
2005 Tuttles Lane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
nose: black cherry, leather and espresso
taste: black pepper, olive, green bean, cassis
mouthfeel: full body with good acidity and big tannins
finish: long in length with a cocoa aftertaste
After tasting through the wines in the tasting room, we headed down to the barrel room to taste some of the reds from the amazing 2007 vintage.
Barrel Sample #1 2007 Assemblage
nose: “sweet”, ripe dark fruit, black currant and boysenberry
taste: baking spice, cardamom, vanilla and blueberry, oak
mouthfeel: full body, loads of tannins
finish: long and fruity
Barrel Sample #2 2007 Tuttles Lane Merlot
nose: dark cherry and blueberry
taste: blueberry, boysenberry, black cherry
mouthfeel: big, round and full
finish: long and tight
Barrel Sample #3 2007 Petit Verdot
nose: tight nose, hints of dark fruit and molasses
taste: almond, blackberry, leather
mouthfeel: full up front but a little thin in the middle, needs time to round itself out
finish: long, lean and leathery
The barrel tasting showed the depth of what the 2007 vintage will have to offer for Paumanok as these wines were big boys in the barrel. Barrel tasting is always a great experience especially when you can refer back to your notes down the road as you taste the wines again upon release. Although we tasted some great red wines, the high light and surprise of the day was the Chenin Blanc. This was a fabulous wine and the one that we purchased from our visit to the winery. If this is an example of how well the Chenin Blanc grape can perform in Long Island, more wine makers should be working with it.
Thanks to the Paumanok staff for a great tasting and second stop on our North Fork journey.
Cheers!
You always pick up such cool notes. I don’t know if I’ve gotten ugly fruit, I only tasted it in-the-flesh recently!