The Merlot The Merrier," WINE ENTHUSIAST, Joe Czerwinski, September 2004 (excerpt) NEW YORK: Reaching for the Stars on Long Island. New York is the second-largest wine-producing state in the United States, and the source of some excellent wines. Although most of the vineyards are "upstate," most of the Merlot is found on Long Island, where the moderating effects of the Atlantic help protect the early-budding shoots from the spring frosts. Comparisons are often made to Bordeaux, on the other side of the Atlantic, based on similar latitude, number of daylight hours and proximity to the ocean. Several noted Bordelais have even consulted for wineries on Long Island; Paul Pontallier of Château Margaux at Raphael, Michel Rolland at Galluccio and Jean-Louis Mandreau of Château Latour at Wölffer Estate. Such is the potential of Merlot on Long Island that every winery sells one. Alas, this promise remains largely unfulfilled. I tasted 30 Merlots or blended reds from Long Island for this report and found only a half-dozen or so worthy of serious interest. Many of the others were decently made, if somewhat tart and occasionally vegetal. Consumers should be on the lookout for new releases from 2001, a generally benign vintage in which conscientious winemakers should have made their best Merlots ever. Here's one of the standouts: 88 Comtesse Thérèse 2001 Château Reserve Merlot (Long Island); $25. Admirably concentrated, with dense, chewy cassis and mocha notes that can stand up to the smoke, chocolate and vanilla shadings from 18 months in French oak. ©WINE ENTHUSIAST, September 2004
"A Riesling, Once Again, Is Named New York's Top Wine," THE NEW YORK TIMES, Howard G. Goldberg, August 4, 2004 (excerpt) A riesling made in the Hudson Valley from Finger Lakes grapes was voted New York's best wine today. The winner, a 2003 Dry Riesling from the Rivendell WInery, defeated 635 other entries, in the largest field ever entered in the 19-year-old competition among state wines. . . Another Long Island red, the 2002 Comtesse Thérèse Hungarian Oak Merlot, was chosen as the state's best merlot. The wine was produced at the Premium Wine Group, a North Fork Winery that specializes in making wine fro producers who do not have wineries. ©THE NEW YORK TIMES, August 4, 2004
"Looking at Bordeaux," SAVEUR, Roger Morris, Aug./Sept. 2004 Most winemakers in eastern Long Island take great claret as their model. The East End of New York's Long Island juts into the Atlantic just off the Connecticut coastline like a giant lobster claw. The meatier southeastern half is "the Hamptons," a storied place of multimillion-dollar estates and glitterati. The northwestern half, across Peconic Bay, is the North Fork, a place where potato farms reigned until vineyards started moving in not much more than 30 years ago. From Riverhead, northeast along Route 25, through what have suddenly become wine towns - Jamesport, Mattituck, Cutchogue, Peconic, Southold, Greenport - there are about 25 wineries and 50 vineyards producing nearly half a million cases of wine annually from a skinny strip of marine-influenced, glacial-soil flatland that is 22 miles long and seldom more than a couple of miles wide. If the Hamptons - which has three wineries - aspires to be America's Riviera, the North Fork wants to be its Bordeaux. The sovereign grapes here are cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, and, most of all, merlot, with appropriate patches of malbec and petit verdot. A few local winemakers strive to emulate the spare, cabernet franc-based wines of the Loire Valley, but most of them seem to want to produce great clarets. Australian-born winemaker Russell Hearn, who has worked in the East End since 1990 and is now winemaker or consultant for almost a dozen established or emerging wineries there, is in the mainstream when he says, "From my end, bordeaux is the ideal - the richness, developed structure, and good tannins." The sea's insulating effect in the area wards off damaging frosts while providing a longer ripening of grapes through early November. The result is a number of very good red varietals and blends with many of the signature bordeaux characteristics - and some bordeaux price tags to match. Most East End reds have engaging up-front fruit with bricky, red cherry flavor; tannins tend to be well integrated, and acidity is generally in balance. Now, if they could only develop more depth, structure, and complexity . . . COMTESSE THÉRÈSE HUNGARIAN OAK MERLOT 2002 ($15). Very big, yet balanced. Full, with ripe cherries, some black pepper, and tons of agreeable tannins, suggesting that this one be laid down. ©SAVEUR, Aug./Sept.2004 
"Super Tasting Rooms," FOOD & WINE, Ray Isle, May 2004 (excerpt) "Housed in an old storefront, the Tasting Room captures the laid-back, bucolic aspect of Long Island's North Fork rather than the glitz and glamour of the nearby Hamptons. . . Try the Comtesse Thérèse Merlot, a wonderfully concentrated and ripe example of the grape." ©FOOD & WINE, May 2004 "90 points Comtesse Thérèse Traditional Merlot," WINE & SPIRITS, April 2004 2001 Long Island Traditional Merlot. A concentrated, cool-climate merlot, this wine's flavors have achieved full ripeness. If you've traditionally thought of the region's reds as light and green, this one is more robust, its tannins fully matured to a chocolate richness. The fruit gives a deep scent of currants and flavors of blackberry jam while the structure keeps it light and fresh. Comtesse Thérèse, Mattituck, NY ©WINE & SPIRITS, April 2004 Comtesse Thérèse 2001 Traditional/North Fork of Long Island, New York Medium bodied with nice ripe plum and cherry flavors. Roast chicken, steak. Comtesse Thérèse 2001 Château Reserve/North Fork of Long Island, New York Earthy and full with smooth, soft tannins. Rack of lamb. ©SANTÉ, June 2004 "A Man's Drink: Pink Wine can be the Blood of a Summer Meal," THE TABLE, Slow Food USA, Cliff Batuello, Summer 2004 (excerpt) As spring turns to summer on the North Fork, there's a certain excitement in the air. Restaurants are full again; produce stands are almost hidden behind the cards from near and far; and winery tasting rooms are suddenly the tourist magnets that draw so many to the East End . . . With all the wonderful cab Francs, chards, and sauvignons being produced out here, it's easy to overlook rosé wines. Easy for you (if you're not already a fan), not for me. Not all our local producers offer rosé, but many of those who do, do well. A recent trip to the Tasting Room in Peconic rewarded me with a lovely offering from Comtesse Thérèse, a result of saignée. Slighlty perfumey, and floral, it has a moderate sweetness on the finish, but with good balance. In fact, there was enough acidity to stand up to a good balsamic vinaigrette over some exquisite salad greens from the ever-popular Sang Lee Farms stand. ©THE TABLE, Summer 2004
Okay, I admit that agriculture today is different from agriculture a generation ago. But that doesn't mean it's obsolete. As an example of a new kind of farmer, take a look at one of Long Island's newest vintners, Theresa Dilworth. Theresa is an international tax lawyer, trained at the London School of Economics. She owns 40 acres of farmland in Riverhead, and her partners are two women from Japan. I suppose you could say that makes them speculators. But you should see the amount of work Theresa herself has put into her fledgling vineyard, spending her weekends out in the field herself. Besides that, she's gone to great lengths to educate herself on French grape-growing and winemaking techniques. Theresa is an opera buff, with a great sense of the dramatic. She calls her vineyard "La Clos Thérèse," and her wine is called "Comtesse Thérèse." One might argue that those names are hyperbolic. I thought so, until I tried her wine. I was even thinking that maybe the Long Island wine scene was reaching its capacity for the quantity of brands the market could absorb. But there will be room for more wines if they are of this caliber. So looking ahead to 2004, I suggest that you keep a positive attitude, and make a point of seeking out wines from some of the new producers in town as well as the old. While you're at it, pick up some baby bok choy at Sang Lee; get some microgreens from Satur Farms; look for jams by the Garden of Eve or Edible Petals; drink some cider from Woodside Farms; seek out containerized plants by Conni Cross's Environmentals and, above all, be a believer in North Fork Farms. ©The Suffolk Times, January 1, 2004 When Theresa Dilworth is not deeply immersed in the intricate international tax affairs of one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, she is either engaged in keeping the administrative side of her wine making enterprise up to date or at weekends doing what for her is very obviously a labor of love as she tends the 10 planted acres of the La Clos Thérèse vineyard in Aquebogue that she co-owns with two Japanese business ladies resident in Japan who visit a couple of times a year but have regular contact each week. After completing her Masters Degree in International Law at the London School of Economics and starting to work in Manhattan, she and her husband started spending time out on the East End of Long Island and then built a house out here. Theresa admits that she has always loved to garden from a child growing up in Lloyd Harbor and that she and her brother made wine and beer at home. She envisaged one day growing grapes and making wine on a somewhat larger scale but soon realized that on the East End smaller parcels of land were unobtainable or zoned for building so she ended up, with her partners, buying 40 acres of farmland. The size of the project was quite daunting. Theresa explained that she had no real knowledge of farming on this scale with the need for tractors and other forms of mechanical equipment. Then came the time to put all the research she had made into the intricacies of viticulture and wine making into practice. Theresa is very obviously not someone who follows the crowd. She spent time in France touring wineries and talking to many people and engaged a consultant who specializes in soil analysis as well as being a qualified oenologist. One of the key factors to emerge from this was that the first grape vines she had planted according to local practices and advice the consultant told her were on the wrong side of the property so they were all transplanted to the preferred location. Theresa also came to the conclusion that to produce the type and quality of wines she is striving for, the spacing of the vines should be in accord with French custom, which is much closer than is the norm on Long Island. This close spacing of 1 x 1.5 metres results in around 2500 plants per acre compared to the usual 900 to 1200. Apart from the increased cost of planting each acre the narrow spacing brings with it problems in selection of narrow width tractors and other plant. Another area where Theresa showed her individualism is in her choice of Cabernet Sauvignon as her main varietal, rather than Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon is regarded as one of the most difficult grapes to ripen fully on Long Island but Theresa is convinced that her choice of planting site and style of viticulture will overcome these potential problems. Next year will start to see how well founded her plans are for that is when the first harvest from her own vines should be ready. So far the wines marketed under her label of "Comtesse Thérèse" have been made by her at Premium Wine Group's custom crush facility using grapes bought from other Long Island growers. Again Theresa, in her wine maker persona, learned from extensive study and also friendly advice from Russell Hearn and John Leo at Premium. This year she released her first wines, three Merlots and a Rose, where again her individualism shows in the choice of Hungarian oak barrels for one of the Merlots. These are all available at the Tasting Room in Peconic. Sales are also taking place through an increasing number of liquor stores and restaurants on Long Island and Manhattan. La Clos Thérèse, owned by Theresa Dilworth and two other women, with Theresa as vineyard manager, wine maker and business manager, with a vineyard crew of two women and one solitary man and with a woman sales manager, using vineyard techniques more traditional to France and concentrating on one of the more difficult grapes to grow has many challenges to meet and overcome but when asked about the longer term, Theresa Dilworth not unexpectedly has very firm goals and expectations "This is very much a commercial venture, in which my partners and I have a considerable amount of capital invested. We are in this for the very long term and we intend to run the business in a profitable manner but we all know that we have to have patience. We lost some fruit this year from our vines due to mildew early on and then from birds in September when some netting became loose after the winds associated with hurricane Isabel and we have learned a lot from these mistakes. Long term I want our wines to gain both national and international recognition. We want to be part of the drive to get New York City wine drinkers really enthused about Long Island wines. I also have the objective of seeing our wines receive a high 90's rating from acknowledged sources such as Robert Parker and Wine Spectator."
La Comtesse Thérése
La Comtesse Thérèse wines are available at the Tasting Room in Peconic, or on line at www.LCTwinery.com RB ©longislandwinecountry.com, October 1, 2003 "As French As the Seine," THE NEW YORK TIMES, Howard G. Goldberg, Sunday, September 14, 2003 LONG ISLAND VINES As French As the Seine The Francophilia of Theresa K. Dilworth, a new North Fork producer, seems as pronounced as the French tricolor Ms. Dilworth's vineyard is called Le Clos Thérèse (in France, a clos is an enclosed vineyard). Her brand is Comtesse Thérèse. And St.-Emilion's main grape is central to her first major releases, three merlots. She began planting a 10-acre vineyard, at Union Avenue in Aquebogue, in 2000. It consists of seven acres of cabernet sauvignon, two of merlot and some orange Muscat intended for semidry and dessert wines. The agriculture is mostly organic, she said. Ms. Dilworth's merlots - solid, intensely flavorful reds - only hint at her stylistic ambitions, because the fruit was bought elsewhere on the East End. Once all her grapes are farmed under her full control, she can more thoroughly define the Comtesse Thérèse wine style. The hands-on winemaking is done by others at the Premium Wine Group, a custom-production winery in Mattituck. The first indications are positive. Ms Dilworth's 2001 Hungarian Oak Merlot ($15) - full of dark fruits, almost sweet, agreeably woody - shows hints of lead pencil and licorice. Her 2001 Traditional Merlot ($18; half bottle $10) is heavily concentrated, smooth, boldly flavorsome and smoky. It needs a beef dish to soften its firm tannins.Her best wine is the aromatic 2001 Chåteau Reserve Merlot ($25): smooth, silky and plush. Look for flavors of dark fruits (some cabernet has been added), hints of chocolate in the aroma, and licorice and cinnamon in the taste. All possess more depth than their youth lets them display; a year more in the bottle will unlock the nuances. Decant them now. In addition, a virtually dry 2001 merlot rosé ($14), with a tea-rose bouquet, is berryish and amiable. Ms. Dilworth, a 42-year-old tax lawyer for Pfizer in Manhattan, is the principal owner; two Japanese businesswomen in Tokyo are partners. In 2004, Ms. Dilworth plans to release about 100 cases of 2002 cabernet, which was made from purchased North Fork grapes and is now being aged in French oak. She also has a 2002 barrel-fermented chardonnay maturing in Russian oak and expects to make a 2003 barrel-fermented chardonnay, all from North Fork grapes. Overall, about 600 cases of the 2001's were made; 800 cases of the 2002's are unreleased; 2,000 cases are projected by 2006. The merlots and rosé can be found at the Tasting Room, 2885 Peconic Lane, Peconic. Sales information: (631) 765-6404.To reach Ms. Dilworth: (631) 871-9194; tdilworth@LCTwinery.com; and www.LCTwinery.com. HOWARD G. GOLDBERG ©The New York Times, Sunday September 14, 2003 "The Countess Arrives: Comtesse Thérèse Releases First Wines," THE SUFFOLK TIMES, Gwendolyn Groocock, September 4, 2003 AQUEBOGUE - Vineyard owner and winemaker Theresa Dilworth has just released her first wines, the latest in a wave of small labels striving to up the ante in exclusivity and, say the boutique producers, quality in Long Island wines. Comtesse Thérèse is the name of 650 cases of three styles of merlot and one merlot rosé, all of the 2001 vintage. There's the Hungarian Oak Merlot, which was aged in barrels from Hungary, the country where historically the French obtained the finest barrels. The Traditional Merlot is a Bordeaux-style wine, aged 12 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels. The Chåteau Reserve Merlot is the top of the line, blended with 5% cabernet sauvignon and aged 18 months is French oak. "From the feedback I'm getting, people like them for different reasons," said Ms. Dilworth. "The Hungarian Oak is something a little novel, and the Traditional is smooth and drinkable now. In the Reserve, the smokiness of the oak really comes out; it's a big wine that will improve with age." The rosé is made from juice "bled off," or lightly pressed from the merlot grapes, a process that some feel improves a heavy red wine by removing liquid and thus allowing for a greater concentration when the must macerates and ferments, releasing color and flavor from the skins.Comtesse Thérèse wines are made from grapes grown at Martha Clara Vineyards in Jamesport and vented at Premium Wine Group in Mattituck, with Ms. Dilworth making stylistic decisions and joining in the hands-on winemaking. Le Clos Thérèse, the 40-acre vineyard in Aquebogue owned by Ms. Dilworth and two partners, and an adjoining 27 acres owned by Ms. Dilworth and family members has, between the two, about 20 acres planted in two-thirds cabernet and the rest in merlot. The first vines took root in 2000, and will yield a small first harvest this year. Eventually, Ms. Dilworth wants to try to produce a wining cabernet entirely from her own grapes. "I would love to keep these first grapes separate, but we'll have to see how they come out," she said. Ms. Dilworth, who during the week is a tax attorney for Pfizer in Manhattan, tends the vineyards on the weekend. "It's a totally different world in the fresh air and sunshine," she said. "I like the field work it's a great break from the law job and it keeps me in good shape." At the vineyard, the grapes are planted close together, a meter by a meter and a half, after the European model. This allows a field to produce the same yield of grapes as those more generously spaced even if each plant is allowed to ripen only a few bunches of grapes. Again, concentration of wine flavor and color is the goal. Small vineyards yielding only a few hundred cases under a boutique label are a growing part of the Long Island wine industry, which now encompasses 3,000 acres of vineyards with about 30 wineries producing over a half million cases a year. Comtesse Thérèse is the fourth label to be featured at the Tasting Room in Peconic, the region's first multi-producer tasting and retail establishment, run by Robin and Karen Meredith. Alongside the Merediths' Broadfields Wine Cellars and Comtesse Thérèse wines are offerings from Sherwood House and Schneider Vineyards. Comtesse Thérèse wines are also on the menu at La Cuvée bistro in Greenport, and will be appearing in wine shops here and in the city, said Ms. Dilworth. ©The Suffolk Times, September 4, 2003
Four small North Fork producers that do not own wineries have pooled their wines in a sales room in Peconic. Called the Tasting Room, the outlet carries wines from three new and relatively unknown producers: Broadfields Wine Cellars, in Southold; Le Clos Thérèse, in Aquebogue (in France, a clos is an enclosed vineyard); and Sherwood House Vineyards, in Mattituck. The fourth is the well-known Schneider Vineyards, in Riverhead. The Tasting Room, which opened May 21, is owned and managed by Robin Meredith and Karen Meredith, who have grown grapes on the East End since 1998 and own Broadfields. The store, Mr. Meredith said, "gives smaller, quality-oriented wineries an opportunity to connect directly with the public, and it gives consumers a place to sample and purchase wines that might otherwise be difficult to find." Mr. Meredith expects four Comtesse Thérèse wines to arrive this month: a 2001 rosé ($14), a 2001 Hungarian Oak Merlot ($15), a 2001 Traditional Merlot ($18) and a 2001 Château Reserve Merlot ($25). ©The New York Times, Sunday June 1, 2003 |
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