Other North Fork Highlights

The tasting bar at Sparkling Pointe

While Sparkling Pointe wasn't #1 it was definitely a good stop. The bubbly was delightful, and the tasting room was clean and crisp with bright Brazilian inspired paintings. The tasting was $17 for four sparkling wines and bottles were $37-$42, however if you were to purchase 2 bottles the tasting was complimentary.  Good, but still a bit pricey when we had lots to see on the island. They also host Carnival each spring and sell perfume made with two of their wines the Topaz and Seduction, the first is a light fresh scent and the later is a warmer fragrance.  Surprisingly the clientele while we visited were all much older then the tasters we saw else where, and I'm not talking baby boomers, I'm thinking more like their parents that came on a bus. Not that they shouldn't enjoy their wine too, but it made for a very mellow stop. Perhaps visiting on one of their "Bossa Nova Fridays" would be a more ideal time for younger generations to visit.

Pindar Vineyards has some enjoyable sweet wines that are good for sipping on their porch, this stop was just so overwhelming. There are two long tasting bars with servers quickly running back and forth between customers, our service was fine, we just really didn't have an opportunity to engage our server in conversation about the vineyard. They clearly do industrial sized production and sell about every wine accessory available. My favorite part about this vineyard was finding the wine crackers that I so love!

Croteaux, where the theme is "Rose on Purpose," had great French themed ambiance and an enjoyable out door space, unfortunately the wines we tried just didn't thrill us. I believe we tried 3 wines for $10 and the second flight included all 6 wines for $15.

Tasting garden at Croteaux

Lastly, we tried a 2011 Cianco di Pinot Noir at Castillo di Borghese that was bright yet dry and seriously worth a taste, however the bottle will run you about $45.