Balance Barre Fitness – Wine Tasting on North Fork Long Island

Wine Tasting on North Fork Long Island

Posted July 21, 2013

Hello all! Hope you had an excellent weekend! We wanted to do something a little different this weekend so The Hubs and I decided to head out to Long Island to go wine tasting. While it’s no Naps Valley, North Fork Long Island can hold its own. Unlike its southern cousin the uber-popular, celebrity filled Hamptons, North Fork is much more laid back and a little less pretentious. True, you’re not going to go shopping for designer clothes out here or hit up your favorite boutique fitness studio, but that’s what the city is for, right?

North Fork is like a totally different world from Manhattan. Less than two hours away and you are in farm country. This area is rustic, beautiful and such a nice break from the busy streets of NYC.

We started our Sunday sipping champagne at Sparkling Pointe. The atmosphere was I credibly relaxed and we snagged a table on the back patio overlooking the vineyards. We shared a tasting flight of four champers. Absolutely delicious! It was perfect for a hot day- the slightly sweet yet crisp bubbles tickled our throats as we lounged admiring the bright blue sky.

I snagged some photos of the grapes growing on the vine at Sparkling Pointe. This vineyard is the only exclusive sparkling winery in the North Fork region.

After the winery we headed west for some lunch at Scrimshaw overlooking the water.

I dined on some great fish tacos while The Hubs had salmon cakes and duck confit spring rolls. I don’t know what it is about eating on the water, but its just so relaxing.

After lunch we walked around town a bit and ended up at this cheese shop, Cavaniola’s. Lucky for us they had free samples available! We ended up purchasing two cheeses to take home with us. Oh they were so good!

We decided to visit one more winery before going home. We stopped at Raphael’s which had this serene fountain out front and gorgeous flowers lining the walkway. Unfortunately the interior ambience didn’t quite match the exterior atmosphere. It was more like a bar than a relaxing winery.

We decided to move on and randomly decided to stop at Palmer Vineyards. It was nothing special on the outside but out back where the tastings were conducted, it was the most tranquil scene. We chose a flight of four wines and plopped into some backyard chairs in the grass.

We could have stayed there all day watching the sunset over the vineyards but we had to move on so we could visit one of the many local farm stands before it closed.

The produce out here is so fresh! We loaded our basket with some fresh corn, berries and heirloom tomatoes. I absolutely live the farm stands- they’re worth the drive alone!