“Southold’s wines are the type of juicy, refreshing, hard-to-stop-drinking wine with explosive aromatics that I usually look toward Beaujolais or the Loire Valley to find,” says restaurateur Steven Dilley, of Austin’s Bufalina, a recent Food & Wine sommelier of the year."
"In only a few vintages, winemaker Regan Meador has created a splash in the New York wine scene and this Bordeaux-style red blend is a testament to the hype. A deft blend of Old and New-world styles, it contrasts silky, rich black cherry and currant flavors against deep layers of granite minerality, leafy herbs and potpourri florals. It's complex and yet so effortlessly brisk and spry. The finish is endlessly meandering."
"Having picked some fruit early in the season, the co-owner of Southold Farm & Cellar is determined to catch his batch at just the right level of fermentation to bottle it and make a fruity, funky and yeasty type of sparkling wine that’s bubbling up around the world."
"I've been thrilled with this 100 percent Petit Verdot coming out of Long Island," Bogue says. "Being a Bordelais variety, it has boldness and structure to it, and it's the most tannic sparkling red I've tried, so it has the ability to hold up to and cut through fattier proteins." Try it with duck, lamb or baked ham."
"Long Island could use a few more dreamers like the Meadors. It’s not just that they are running in the opposite direction from those Bordeaux dreams; it’s that they see a wonderfully modest—and, to my mind, sustainable—path forward for the island. One that is more concerned with Tuesday-night wines."
"Southold Farm + Cellar pushes the envelope, from its cutting-edge labels to its recent release of carbonic wine. Try the 2013 Damn the Torpedoes, a fizzy red blend."
"Curioser still: Regan Meador of Long wirIsland’s Southold Farm + Cellar mixed Merlot, Petit Verdot and Pinot Noir into a fizzy red wine called Damn the Torpedoes for what amounts to a New York take on Lambrusco."
"The philosophy at Southold Farm + Cellar is to be very hands on when farming the grapes. Creating a high-quality product and yield allows the fruit to speak for itself, says Meador."
"The couple elected to plant Lagrein and Teroldego—the so-called weird grapes that are common in northern Italy but not so much the North Fork. They're also planning to plant some Goldmuskateller and a decidedly nonweird grape, Syrah."
"What he really hopes to bring to the local market is different wines. Rather than the merlots and chardonnays that dominate the fields of their colleagues, the Meadors have put in vines uncommon to Long Island."