How to rent the North Fork’s chicest private wine tasting rooms all for yourself

Macari Wine’s new personal tasting suite has sweeping views of the vines at their Mattituck location. (Picture Credit score: Carl Timpone)

Strolling into the personal bungalows at Macari Vineyards feels much less like strolling right into a tent and extra like getting into a homey front room. Gentle wooden tables with benches and comfortable white furry blankets are off to 1 facet. An opulent tan sofa decked out with fluffy throw pillows and blankets encompass a espresso desk. Behind that may be a buffet with artwork, vases and wine glasses on show. A rug, mirror, document participant and wicker lighting deliver the room collectively.

On the desk is a whole gourmand meal — a charcuterie board with assorted meats and cheeses, crusty bread, sandwiches, colourful salads with gems of butternut squash and farro — catered by Lauren Lombardi of Lombardi’s Love Lane Market in Mattituck. 5 glasses are crammed midway with wines shades of deep ruby to a glowing gentle yellow. 

These personal tents — six of them perched proper by the vines on the vineyard’s Mattituck location, got here to be due to the pandemic. “We needed to maintain tastings going safely through the winter months,” stated Gabriella Macari, head of distribution, advertising and wine training. “We labored with native designer Jesse Elliott, White Flower Farmhouse and White Duck Outdoor to make them a real expertise — we even had friends on the market within the snow.” (The tents are closed for summer time season, however will return within the fall.)

The bungalow expertise wasn’t the one change Macari Vineyards made through the pandemic. The vineyard additionally invested in a personal tasting suite inside. The stylish area, which seats 7-14 friends and overlooks the vines, has an analogous vibe, with gentle wooden furnishings, cozy white couches and a big farmhouse desk and benches on the middle. Downstairs beneath the tasting room is the personal barrel cellar, which presents seating round giant communal tables.

All the personal tasting areas put a heavier give attention to wine training. “Initially, these tasting areas have been imagined as areas that might facilitate social distancing between small teams and our staff,” Macari stated. “Upon arrival, friends are supplied an in depth historical past of our farm, notes about our farming and winemaking practices and details about the wines they are going to be tasting. Company textual content our staff with any requests that they’ve as soon as they enter the personal areas.”

Even earlier than the pandemic, many vineyards throughout the North Fork have been transitioning to this strategy. One of many unique wineries to change to this modelis Roanoke Vineyards. “In 2015, we felt the standard tasting room mannequin wasn’t serving our wines very properly,” stated Scott Sandell, advertising and inventive director of Roanoke Vineyards. “Our response was to shut the winery tasting room to the general public and permit members of our wine membership to return in and actually spend as a lot time as they needed with the wines.”

This shifts the main focus onto the wine. On prime of the tasting home solely being open to wine membership members, additionally they have a library obtainable for personal tastings, an expertise that’s open to non-members. The comfy tasting home has a wooden range and an extended and slim desk down the middle of the area. The library has an analogous vibe with a roaring hearth at all times lit within the winter. Every personal tasting normally contains about six wines, in addition to some charcuterie snacks, and might be tailor-made for teams from 2-12. 

On the wine library at Lieb Cellars, personal tastings might be booked as a perk to wine membership members or for a payment for nonmembers. “We all know some friends visiting the area need to have a dialog about our wine, and be taught extra concerning the area,” stated Alicia Ekeler, director of tasting rooms. Positioned simply off of the principle tasting room, the wine library is cozy and quiet. “A non-public tasting permits us to offer a extra centered instructional expertise away from the hustle and bustle of the final tasting room,” she continued.

Though the pandemic could also be non permanent, personal tastings — and the intimate rooms wineries create to host them — look to be a everlasting fixture within the wine world. “Total, the previous 12 months has allowed us to work together with friends on a way more private degree, even from a distance,” Macari stated. “From digital tastings to restricted capability within the tasting room, we’ve been capable of prolong our hospitality in a complete new manner.”

McCall Wines’s rustic transformed horse stalls

This transformed area is rustic and intimate, an ideal spot for you and 9 of your closest pals to style some reserve wines paired with a charcuterie unfold. A server will stroll you thru every wine within the $75 per particular person expertise. Particulars at mccallwines.com.

Rose Hill Vineyards’s library and barrel cellar

The Rose Hill wine library is a comfortable area providing an intimate view of the winery that connects to the barrel cellar for 10 to 40 individuals. Meals is on the market from easy charcuterie to a full dinner. Particulars at rosehill-vineyards.com.