Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
it, pip for the $50 private tour and tasting,
which is much more thorough and educat-
ing. Chateau Ste. Michelle produces a
wide spectrum of wines, everything from
inexpensive grocery-store wine to top-
notch boutique labels—and that's music
to everybody's ears.
Chateau Ste. Michelle,
14111 NE
145th St., Woodinville (
&
800/267-6793
or 425/488-1133; www.ste-michelle.com).
(
Seattle-Tacoma International (26 miles/
41km).
L
$$$
Willows Lodge,
14580 NE
145th St., Woodinville (
&
877/424-3930
or 425/424-3930; www.willowslodge.com).
East Coast U.S.
305
Bedell Cellars
A Cab from Long Island
Cutchogue, New York
Take the wrong turn coming out of Ken-
nedy airport and you are in for a surprise.
If you keep going long enough, the noise
and bustle of the world's greatest city will
fade behind; instead you will find a gentle
coastal plain punctuated by clapboard
houses, tall white churches, and seem-
ingly endless vineyards. Yes, vineyards in
metropolitan New York. As you cruise into
the east end of Long Island, the Big Apple
becomes the Big Grape.
Kip Bedell was one of the first pioneers
in the area to recognize its potential for
producing excellent wine. He began mak-
ing wine in an old potato barn in 1985.
Now Bedell's cellars have become a high-
tech, gravity-based winery with a growing
legion of fans. Long Island has come a long
way too, with more than 50 wineries,
mostly clustered along a 20-mile (32km)
stretch on the North Fork of Long Island,
and over a million visitors per year flocking
to the area to tour them.
Bedell Cellars leads the way in style and
comfort. The renovated farmhouse and
barn has a breezy summer feel, with a wrap-
around veranda surrounded by lush bor-
ders of flowers. The house has bright stylish
interiors with white walls, big windows, and
dark wood floors and furniture; a beautiful
covered walkway crosses the garden,
entwined with vines and creepers. The
pavilion-style tasting room has a large plat-
form overlooking the flat vineyards, where
soldierly vines stretch out before you, as if
ready to invade Manhattan. But the tasting
bar leaves the old world behind—it is slick
and minimalist, with a silver bar counter and
soaring black bottle shelves. Cutting-edge
art hangs on the walls.
Not only have the Bordeaux-style blends
of Bedell earned some especially high
scores from the wine critics, Long Island in
general has lately been producing some
remarkable wines. Reds like Cabernet Sau-
vignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot can
compete favorably with the best of the
West Coast; the area's whites are noted
for being intense and elegant, and Long
Island rosés are praised as both subtle and
complex. Though it is still hard to find a
New York wine in New York—the trendy
restaurants of Manhattan have yet to
accept that there can be a prestigious
wine region right on its doorstep—surely
it's only a matter of time before they too
are catching a Cab from Long Island.
