Updated: 10/14/2009 - 1:25 PM

Welcome...
to Long Island Wine Country

You're holding a very special issue of the Long Island Wine Press, full of features we hope you'll take the time to appreciate as you would a glass of fine Long Island merlot.
Speaking of Long Island merlot, that's the subject of Tracy Kamens' article, “Simply Merlot Paradise,” highlighting the recent accolades from Appellation America for this regional champion. Also in this issue I profile two exciting new North Fork producers, Onabay Vineyards and One Woman Wines & Vineyards. In these pages you'll find a pictorial tour of new tasting rooms, stories on “passing the cork” and Long Island wine in Florida, lots of exciting news from the wineries and, to top it all off, our handy Wine Country guides. Enjoy!


Tasting wine on a sensual and intellectual level has become one of the enduring pleasures of my life. The more I learn about wine and its journey from vine to glass the more fascinated I am, and the more I want to know. This summer I decided to augment my on-the-job learning with a little formal education, starting with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust's three-day intensive Intermediate Certificate course at the International Wine Center in NYC. It was, in a few words, intense, exhausting and exhilarating.
I'm happy I took the course and pretty sure I passed (the results aren't in yet), but one thing is for certain: From now on I'm going to leave the intensives to the younger generation. Life may indeed be short, but that's not going to stop me from savoring to the full every moment of my ongoing wine education — in the classroom or tasting room — from the first enticing whiff to the last lingering drop. 

To your health!
Jane Starwood, editor