Eat Drink Local Profile #22: Long Island’s 1st Wine Auction & Harvest East End

The Party:

Long Island’s first wine auction and two-day Harvest East End festival.

What it’s For:

About a year ago, winemaker Roman Roth told me — over a glass of gewürztraminer — that he was thinking about proposing Long Island’s first wine auction. These sorts of symbolic events can be important milestones for wine regions — helping to attract wine collectors and critics, and to help mark the vintages.  They can also raise a ton of money for a good cause — consider the annual Hospice du Rhone in Paso Robles or the Napa Valley Wine Auction. So, in keeping with this tradition, just a week or so from now, over the weekend of September 24 and 25, the wineries of Long Island (and many enthusiast wine drinkers) will be gathering for an unprecedented auction of barrels of Long Island merlot at Wolffer Estate in Sagaponack. The live auction of Long Island wines, including barrels of recent vintages, will be led by auctioneers from New York auction wine houses Morrell & Co. and Zachys.

The auction will benefit East End Hospice and the Peconic Land Trust, and culminates a two day festival to include a now sold-out gala dinner and 10-mile dinners (tickets still available), as well as  the more proletariat wine salons and a Festival Tasting prepared by 14 of the East End’s favorite chefs. And we just happened to get our hands on the leaked final deets on what chefs are dishing up, from mackerel sashimi to espresso-smoked duck breast to late summer succotash. (See the full list at the bottom of this post.)

The thinking behind the food for the Festival Tasting was, of course, to serve dishes that showcase the bounty of the region (fresh fish, juicy veggies) and provide a perfect partner for the wines that will be sampled — 27 wineries on the Island will be represented. Veteran chefs like John Ross, an early supporter of his wine region, have recognized that this “Long Island cuisine” is naturally equipped for sipping with Long Island wines. And so the Festival organizers invited a dozen ingredients-minded chefs from both forks to bring dishes designed expressly to be tasted with Long Island wines. And to further seal the bond of place, each chef chose a farmer, fisher or food maker to provide the major ingredient–be it Greenport oysters, Riverhead duck or Mecox Bay cheese.

How to Go:

Among the vines and polo fields at Wolffer Estate and at restaurants, winery tasting rooms and other appropriate locations around the East End. The big party is Saturday night, 4-7 p.m., featuring 14 restaurants and 27 wineries.

During the day on Saturday, Edible East End and its contributors are involved in a few of the food-focused Wine Salon classes, including Locavore Pour: Eating and Drinking in Your Own Backyard, to be held at Channing Daughters Winery from 11 a.m.-12 p.m., featuring farmer-poet Scott Chaskey, Farmgirl Angst columnist Marilee Foster and Edible editor Brian Halweil, and moderated by Channing Daughters owner Larry Perrine. Just before that Wondering Winemaker (and actual Channing Daughters winemaker) James Christopher Tracy will be leading Long Island and the World Wine Map: A Comparative Tasting, at Channing Daughters Winery from 10-11 a.m. And later that day Tracy will join restaurateur David Loewenberg at the waterfront Beacon restaurant in Sag Harbor for the Fundamentals of Food and Wine Pairing.

On the North Fork, Castello di Borghese will host What Grows Together Goes Together: Cooking with Long Island Wine with chef, restaurateur and author Tom Schaudel, from noon to 2 p.m. And Bedell winemaker and “terroirist” Richard Olsen-Harbich will host Terroir-East: The Indigenous Characteristics of North Fork Merlot at Bedell from 1-2 p.m.

Get the complete people, place, program rundown at harvesteastend.com, where you can also buy tickets to all the different events, dinners and classes.

Festival Tasting Menu  as of Sept. 13

Chef Kevin Penner, 1770 House & The Grill on Pantigo, East Hampton
Dish: Atlantic Mackerel Sashimi w/ marinated local tomatoes
Purveyors: Balsam Farms, Amber Waves Farm, EECO Farm, Fairview Farm

Chef Thomas Schaudel, A Mano Osteria & Wine Bar, Mattituck
Dish: Espresso-smoked Jurgeilewicz duck breast w/ North Fork Peach, Satur Farms’ Bulls Blood micro greens & pickled watermelon radish
Purveyors: Jurlgielewicz Duck Farm, Satur Farms

Chef Jason Weiner, Almond, Bridgehampton
Dish: Long Island chicken confit w/ smoked ratatouille
Purveyors: Pike Farm Stand, North Sea Farms, Koppert Cress

Chef Lia Fallon, Amarelle, Wading River
Dish:  Chartreuse of East End vegetables w/ Mecox Bay cheese & spice oil
Purveyors:  Mecox Bay Dairy, Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, Andrews Farm

Chef Colin Ambrose, Estia’s Little Kitchen, Sag Harbor
Dish: Chilled Long Island potato soup
Purveyors: Foster Farm

Chef Bryan Futerman, Foody’s, Water Mill
Dish: Late Summer Succotash of cherrywood-roasted East End corn & seasonal vegetables
Purveyors: Fairview Farm, Bayview Farm/Hayground Market, Halsey Farm, Koppert Cress

Chef Gretchen Menser, Fresno Restaurant, East Hampton
Dish: Crudo of Atlantic fluke (or striped bass) w/ local tomato & Koppert micro lemon cress
Purveyors: Balsam Farms, Gosman’s Fish Market, Koppert Cress

Chef Sam McCleland, The Beacon, Sag Harbor
Dish: Chilled East End corn soup w/ confit of local Heirloom tomatoes
Purveyors: Green Thumb Organic Farm

Chef Eric Nodeland, red/bar brasserie, Southampton
Dish: Publick House pumpkin ale braised Mecox pig w/ Milk Pail apples & pumpkin
Purveyors: Mecox Farm, Green Thumb Organic Farm, The Milk Pail, Southampton Publick House

Chef Deborah Rivera Pittorino, The Greenporter/Cuvée Bistro & Wine Bar, Greenport
Dish: “Loc” au vin, braised Miloski’s Farm chicken w/ medley of veggies on a bed of North Fork roadside potatoes, finished w/ truffle oil
Purveyors: Miloski’s Poultry Farm, Garden of Eve Organic Farm, Satur Farms

Chef Matthew Kar, Jamesport Manor Inn, Jamesport
Dish: Blue Cheese Wickham’s pears, endive & candied pecans w/ balsamic syrup
Purveyors: Wickham’s Fruit Farm, Harbes Family Farm

Chef Ben Warner, Love Lane Kitchen, Mattituck
Dish: Long Island duck tagine w/ East End vegetables & Israeli cous cous
Purveyors: Cooper Farm, Koppert Cress, Crescent Duck Farm, Satur Farms

Chef Joseph Realmuto, Nick & Toni’s, East Hampton
Dish: Cornell Oyster Marisco w/ tomato, jicama, lime, micro cilantro & red onion
Purveyors: Quail Hill Farm, Fairview Farms, Cornell Cooperative Oyster Farm, Koppert Cress

Chef Noah Schwartz, Noah’s, Greenport
Dish: Pipes Cove oyster w/ Wickham’s apple & Topaz Brut granita, crème fraiche & caviar
Purveyors: Pipes Cove Oysters, Wickham’s Fruit Farm

From September 26th to October 6th Edible Manhattan, Edible East End and Edible Brooklyn — in conjunction with Edibles statewide and GrowNYC — present Eat Drink Local week, our celebration of the local food chain through heirloom vegetable auctions, wine tastings, DIY challenges, lectures, garden tours, farm to table dinners and countless other events. Over the next few weeks we’re highlighting a few of the restaurants, wine shops and wineries, breweries and beer bars, farms and food artisans and cultural institutions that the week is meant to celebrate.