We stopped by the winery for a brief visit this afternoon and had a glass of the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. It was delightfully fresh with tropical fruits that turned citrusy and had great length and acidity. A beautiful sipping wine that I could see enjoying on its own or with assorted cheese.
We brought a bottle of the 2007 Merlot Tuthill’s Lane to friends we were visiting after leaving the winery, and opened it after an afternoon and evening of too much wine, and I was afraid that it would be hard to appreciate this fine effort of the Massouds. We definitely noticed it, and it was a serious wine. Young and compressed, it was complex and showed a meatiness I don’t often find in domestic merlot. It was very impressive.
We didn’t have the time to stay and taste anything else, but that only means we’ll have to go back.
We’re seriously thinking about driving out there tomorrow to check out the current offerings. Looks like they dodged the Earl bullet.
Diane,
We met with Charles almost a year to the day of this post. I love his white line up, especially the sweetie 2008 Paumanok Riesling Late Harvest.
His 2008 Paumanok Chardonnay Festival at $15 was delicious (have an 09 in the house), and his 2008 Paumanok Chenin Blanc is awesome at ~$25 (have an 09 in the house). It was a wine bulletin board such as this one that tipped me off to Paumanok.
Maybe we can do this as a starter next time our friend Merrill Lindquist from EMH is in town. ![[whistle.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/87d24eb81ec6dc01d84f3d6c19fa9a357e90218e.gif "whistle")
Dan - I love the Sauvignon Blanc Late Harvest (I don’t know if I’ve tried the Riesling LH), and the Chenin Blanc is always excellent. This year I was interested in the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc for ourselves and to bring to our friends for dinner on Rosh Hashonah. It should be lovely with the gefilte fish. ![[basic-smile.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/83717c74df9b0ce202453063bc4f11baf0ee6b8a.gif "smile")
Paumanok Chenin Blanc is one of the most interesting whites I’ve had in a long time.
It is a solid lineup of reds; even the occasional single-varietal Petit Verdot is worth a spin.
We just got back from a day trip to Paumanok, Shinn and Macari. The Paumanok Sauvignon Blanc is excellent. Higher acid than most SB’s. Kareem Massoud told me that there is actually a tiny bit of residual sugar in the 2009 SB but that you do not notice it because of the acidity. I agree. My wife’s comment was that it would go very well with fish and seafood, so I think Diane’s gefilte fish pairing should be very good. I wanted to try the Chenin Blanc, but it was all gone.
The Shinn and Macari Sauvignon Blancs were also very good, but they both lacked the acidity of the Paumanok. They reminded me more of the New Zealand SBs. The Macari had a strong guava fruit component.