Harvest East End To Celebrate 40 Years Of Long Island Winemaking

The North Fork of Long Island in New York is rising in the rank,s gaining worldwide credibility in the wine community as being an up-and-coming wine region. In honor of celebrating 40 years of winemaking in Long Island wine country, Wine Enthusiast Magazine is hosting Harvest East End 2013 on Saturday, Aug. 24.

The event will be held at the McCall Vineyard & Ranch, which is home to merlot and pinot grapes. Winemakers from 42 vineyards in the region will be pouring their wines and local chefs from restaurants including Grana Trattoria Antica, Jedediah Hawkins Inn, Kitchen A Bistro, Madison & Main, Main Restaurant & Oyster Bar, Mali B Sweets, Mirabelle, Noah's, and North Fork Table & Inn, among others, will be showcasing their best dishes.

Writer, sommelier, and Best Cellars founder Joshua Wesson will emcee the event, bringing awareness to the high-quality wines being produced in the region. "As a lifelong visitor to the East End, I've had the deeply personal pleasure of charting, tasting, reveling in, and now celebrating, the magnificence of Long Island's many fine wines," Wesson told The Daily Meal. "Tracing the four decades from the Hargrave's visionary vineyard to this year's harvest from over 60 producers, I'm overawed by all the deliciousness lying under that grape-stained arc."

Donnell Stires, executive director of Merliance and associate of the Long Island Wine Council, believes it's the North Fork's land, people, and environment that makes it so unique. "The region has come a long way since Louisa and Alex Hargrave planted their first grapevines and John Ross opened Ross' North Fork Restaurant in 1973," she noted. "We're honoring both John and Louisa at Harvest this year for pioneering the wine and food culture that has developed on Long Island's East End, and that is so elemental to the area's emergence as a culinary destination."

The event, organized by the Long Island Wine Council with support from Merliance, will benefit East End Hospice, Group for the East End and the Peconic Land Trust as well as new beneficiary, The Long Island Farm Bureau Promotion & Education Foundation.