How Long Island's Wine Region is Maturing on 50th Anniversary
Head far enough east and you’ll find yourself smack dab in the middle of Long Island’s wine region. It’s celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, which means it’s old enough to have an Old Guard and new enough to want to shake things up. It’s an intoxicating mix.
Standing on a patio adorned with string lights and hugged by robust bursts of magenta rhododendron, you can see the gently rolling fields at Corey Creek Tap Room spread out in an emerald sea. On this North Fork spring morning, Marin Brennan, Corey Creek’s soft-spoken mad scientist of a winemaker, is talking through her philosophy of making small-batch wines in Southold. With a glass of tap rosé in hand — all of Corey Creek’s wines are on tap, a first in the region — it’s hard not to drink in the surrounding beauty and marvel at how far the Island’s wine country has come in half a century.