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News articles from 2003 and earlier (click on title of article or scroll down): -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Long Island's First Multi-Winery Tasting Room Opens in Peconic," DAN'S PAPERS, Susan W. Simm, May 30, 2003 In an unintentional nod to the past, a new tasting room has opened on Peconic Lane just steps from the old purple-shuttered offices of the late Michael Todd's popular Grapezine magazine, the first North Fork publication to focus entirely on the local wine industry. But any connection to the past ends there, as this room, a multi-winery tasting facility, is the first of its kind in our wine region. Managed by Robin and Karen Meredith of Broadfields Wine Cellars in Southold, The Tasting Room features, in addition to Broadfields wines, vintages from Sherwood House, Schneider Vineyards, and (coming soon) newcomer Comtesse Thérèse, all of which, for varying reasons, lack their own tasting room facilities. Said Robin, "This is the only place on Long Island where any of these wines are available for tasting. Here, you can taste wine that you can't taste anywhere else." The Tasting Room is a stylish but understated renovation of an old double storefront that shares a block in Peconic, between the North Road and Route 25, with the tiny Peconic Post Office and two majestic Victorian B&Bs. By nature of its somewhat off-the-beaten path location, it is a destination unto itself. But given its goal of friendly exclusivity, that's not necessarily a bad thing. © Dan's Papers, May 30, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The
Tasting Room - The Newest Place to Taste Wines on Long
Island," LONGISLANDWINECOUNTRY.COM, Christopher J. Davies,
May 30, 2003 This is an excerpt from the article on May 30, 2003, for complete article click here NOW OPEN! THE TASTING ROOM. On May 21, 2003, The Tasting Room opened its doors in Peconic, the heart of the LI Wine Country. This brilliant concept, already in practice in Napa and Sonoma, blends a wine store with a tasting room showcasing small production wines. It seems appropriate that Long Island, "The Napa of the East," now has a place to taste boutique wines under one roof, near some of Long Island's most respected and established wineries. Consumers may also purchase mixed cases of these wines for home consumption...qualifying for a 10% case discount to boot! The Tasting Room is located on Peconic Avenue, a north/south road that crosses between Sound Avenue and Main Road in Peconic. They are located steps away from Peconic's postage stamp-sized Post Office, as well as the Long Island Railroad crossing. Less than a mile away on Main Road are Osprey's Dominion Vineyards, Raphael, Lenz and Pindar. Several of PWG's boutique wineries are now showcased at The Tasting Room, which offers tastings and sales of wines produced by Schneider Vineyards, Sherwood House Vineyards and newcomer Broadfields Vineyards, which released their wines with the opening of The Tasting Room. Tasting Room owners Robin and Karen Meredith also operate Broadfields. Ms. Meredith is an attorney and co-author of the application for the Long Island Appellation. Her husband Robin is a management consultant who runs The Tasting Room. The Merediths own an 18-acre vineyard estate in Southold planted exclusively with red grapes, primarily Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Broadfields wines were made at PWG under the supervision of French-born winemaker Gilles Martin. Mr. Martin has earned a great reputation for his award-winning wines for Macari Vineyards and Sherwood House; he recently became winemaker for Martha Clara Vineyards. The Tasting Room offers tasting flights consisting of up to six different wines; visitors may taste recommended flights or create their own flights for 75 cents per wine. Robin Meredith commented, "You can get wines here that you can not get anywhere else. In some cases we are the exclusive tasting room for these wines". Mr. Meredith plans to continue looking at any new projects. My guess is that he'll have plenty of new wines to choose from in the coming years. Another new producer, Ms. Theresa Dilworth of Le Clos Thérèse Vineyards of Mattituck, plans to release her wines this summer. There are four different Comtesse Thérèse wines due for release shortly; 3 different styles of estate grown Merlot and a rosé will be featured at the Tasting Room. Le Clos Thérèse logo is already stenciled on The Tasting Rooms window along with the other producers' brands. A trip to the North Fork warrants a stop at The Tasting Room. It's housed in an old restored retail store that has been retrofitted with wine racks and a tasting bar. Not a glitzy place, but highly functional and convenient. You will find some delicious new wines to tantalize your palate! © longislandwinecountry.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Striving
to Make Bordeaux Wine: Japanese Descent Lawyer on Long
Island," ASAHI SHINBUN, North American edition, Kaoru
Ishiguro, December 7, 2002 JAPANESE DESCENT LAWYER IN LONG ISLAND Theresa-san of New York State releasing the fist "La Comtesse" in the coming spring. New York State is one of the biggest wine areas, next only to the West Coast in the United States. Theresa Dilworth (41), a lawyer whose mother is a Japanese, is one who got hooked on wine-making. She spends her weekends in her vineyard on Long Island and is releasing her first wine in the coming spring. "My dream is to make the same level as Bordeaux wine," says energetic Theresa. She started the vineyard with two other Japanese partners. Theresa and Chizuko Tomita, one of the partners, used to work together at one of the major accounting firms in New York. They purchased a 160,000 square meter (about 40 acres) pumpkin farm in Long Island. Long Island's soil and climate are similar to Bordeaux's. She visited Bordeaux many times and met a local wine consultant who gave her advice that "Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon will grow well." These are the major grapes for Bordeaux red wines. She ordered nursery plants from California and planted. This summer, she spent more than 10 hours per day every weekend sitting and entwining baby vine trees to wires in the vineyard, as this will be a discriminating factor for good grape harvesting. Vintage will be done by a company that specializes in fermenting and maturing. Her first release of wine next spring will be named "La Comtesse (meaning Countess) Thérèse." Translated by Yuni Han, December 16, 2002 © ASAHI SHINBUN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Dreams on the Vine: Hundreds of Newly Planted Acres Promise Growth for Wine Industry," (excerpt) NEWSDAY, Alan J. Wax, July 17, 2000 Theresa Dilworth is not a Francophile, but her newly planted North Fork vineyard definitely has a French theme. The 40-acre property, a former pumpkin farm along Route 105 in Riverhead that she purchased earlier this year with her father and two Japanese partners, has been dubbed Le Clos Thérèse - French for Theresa's Field. "The French are at the top of their art...in terms of wine," said Dilworth, a tax lawyer in Manhattan for Pfizer. She said she believes that by using French methods she will be able to find what she believes is missing from Long Island wines. Her vineyard will have more than just a French name. Each plot, each gentle slope, has its own name, too. In French, of course. Each name reflects the variations of the land. Her 1-acre pinot noir plot, planted this spring, is called Premier Clos, or first field. A hill with more-sandy soil has been called the Cote Nord Est, or northeast hill, and next year will be planted with cabernet sauvignon. The Petite Cote, or small hill, where the soil is drier, will be planted with syrah. The Cote Mileiu, or middle hill, will be an acre of merlot. The French theme continues. Her vines are spaced a meter apart with 1.5 meters separating each row, as in France. Dilworth also has hired a French viticultural consultant. The grapes she intends to plant will all be French varietals that she said will be grown using French techniques. "Everybody has to have a model [for grape growing]. I don't want to follow the California model. I don't want to follow the upstate model," Dilworth said. "The French model was closest in terms of our climate. Also, they have a really great commitment to quality and a long tradition." Dilworth, who studied French in high school, has already made two trips to France since her interest in owning a vineyard intensified late last year, visiting both Bordeaux and Burgundy, France's great grape-growing regions. She leaves on another journey next week. She also favors French wines "because they have a lot of finesse." She said she hopes to reproduce that quality in her own wines 10 years from now. Dilworth has become savvy about the fine details of growing wine grapes. "I've spent hundreds of hours and only in the last few months," she said. "I read about grape growing - books, magazines, the Internet...I think there are some secrets there to be learned." Dilworth said it may take up to 10 years to plant the entire property. Like others new to the region's viticultural business, Dilworth is aiming high. "I'd like to see if I can do it better," she said. © NEWSDAY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Basically Bordeaux," THE NEWS-REVIEW, Tim Kelly, June 1, 2000 AQUEBOGUE - Only whip thin, the newly planted vines stand supported by a protective sheathing of blue plastic tubing. They share the field with more sturdy wooden posts that will hold the wires that will hold the maturing pinot noir vines above the ground and in the sunlight. The view offered by a quick drive-by of the former pumpkin farm on the east side of Route 105 seems like that of any of the other new vineyards sprouting up along the length of the North Fork. But looks can be deceiving. The owners of these grape plants say their place will be unlike any other on the East End. What was once known as the Schotsky property is now Le Clos Thérèse, a small private vineyard. While most of the region's grape growers have adopted the California model of vineyard design, Le Clos Thérèse is following the Bordeaux example. That means rows of less than half as far apart as in most local vineyards and an emphasis on a smaller grouping of varieties. This year they planted just one acre. Five more will go to grapes next year. "We're not so concerned with huge commercial plots with long, gigantic rows with everything done by tractor", said Theresa Dilworth, the vineyard's namesake and one of its four owners. "For us, a one-acre plot is plenty big." That land can never be developed. Last year, Suffolk County paid nearly a half million dollars to purchase the building rights to 62.84 acres then owned by Melville attorney Arnold Schotsky. The Le Clos Thérèse group purchased 40 of those acres. That includes a 3.5 acre parcel holding full development rights where a winery building could rise. During the 1950s, the land belonged to investors who bet, incorrectly, that the state would eventually acquire it to extend the Long Island Expressway. The new owners looked specifically for land included in either the town or county farmland preservation program. They paid $10,000 an acre for the protected fields and twice as much for the other 3.5 acres. Price wasn't the only factor. Their research showed average temperatures in Riverhead to be slightly higher than in farm areas further east. That, Ms. Dilworth said, is important in growing Bordeaux reds, which take longer to ripen than other varieties. "We want to ripen our stuff early, in the Indian summer when it's nice and warm and dry," she said. In some years with less than optimum growing conditions, area growers delay harvesting their red varieties until November. That's risky, since a sudden storm or quick frost can cause extensive crop damage. The long-term goal is for Le Clos Thérèse to produce a quality "cult wine" of a very limited vintage. One marketing option is to "lease" rows of vines to Japanese investors, who would then receive a proportionate share of the wine. The more immediate concern is developing the acreage by the Bordeaux design. That includes following the French concept of "terroir," which seeks to closely match vines with site and climate. Each area is to be a separate "clos," French for vineyard, or "cote," which means slope. If possible, they'll avoid chemical sprays. © THE NEWS-REVIEW
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Comtesse Thérèse
Union Avenue and Route 105
P.O. Box 2799, Aquebogue, NY 11931
Katie Golder, Sales. Cell 516-455-8116
Comtesse Thérèse BISTRO
739 Main Road, Aquebogue, NY 11931
For Bistro Reservations
Phone:
631-779-2800
Email: reservations@comtessetherese.com
© Comtesse Thérèse
For reservations, email Bistro Manager & Sommelier Dianne Delaney at reservations@comtessetherese.com.