Sparkling Pointe---One Last Stop Before the Ferry

I am thinking of the clever saying that Leap Frog has on their wine label: "Time's fun when you're having flies", for us, "time was flying because we were having fun" on our short trip to Long Island. Steve Mudd recommended that we go to Sparkling Pointe that produces methode champenoise sparkling wine and we thought we had just enough time to stop there before catching the ferry at Orient Point---step on the brakes!!!! When we went into the tasting room, we were met by Mike who asked if we wanted a tasting, "Yes, indeed." We mentioned that Steve Mudd and Russell Hearn said that we must stop here so Mike asked us if we were in the business.

"Not yet", we said, "although we've ordered our vines and will receive them in the spring of 2013". The Sparkling Pointe sparklers were crisp and had good depth of flavor. As we neared the end of the tasting, Mike asked us if we wanted to see the cellar. "Yes!, but we do have a 5 p.m. ferry to catch". Mike said he would give us the 2 minute tour. In the cellar we met Gilles and cellar Mike (unfortunately not in the photo) and Gilles and my husband got into a discussion about growing grapes in Connecticut.

Gilles wanted to show us around but we demurred saying that we needed to catch a ferry. Gilles said that we have at least 15 minutes, but when we looked at the time, it was 4:40, so reluctantly, we said goodbye, but not before purchasing 2 bottles each of the 2006 Blanc de Blancs and the 2007 Brut---good stuff! We really enjoyed the tasting and for us, Mike's friendliness and enthusiasm, as well as Gille's interest in our project, made it a very memorable and enjoyable experience. We definitely need to go back to Long Island and are already making plans. We've convinced our friends that they should play hooky from work and come with us to Long Island for a day trip.