Nine of us are seated at high bar tables in a corner nook of Gaslight Brasserie du Coin in Boston's South End, paying attention as guide John Fiola (also known as a "wine ambassador") demonstrates how to open a bottle of bubby. "You twist the bottle, not the cork," he instructs the group. "Six twists." On that final turn, the cork releases with a gentle thwup -- not the explosive pop many expected. "Anticlimactic, for sure," Fiola quips, "but better than half the bottle gushing onto the floor." The group chuckles. He pours. We sip the pink sparkler and nibble steak tartare on mini toasts. This is the first stop on a two-hour tour.

City Wine Tours was founded in 2011 by entrepreneurs Daniel Andrew, Rick Goldberg, and Christian Iannucci, to offer afternoon walking tours, year-round on weekends ($56 to $66 per person). They hit three destinations -- usually restaurants, sometimes a wine shop -- where two glasses of wine and small plates are served at each stop. Local sommeliers and wine educators lead the groups, offering helpful hints about wine and insights about neighborhoods.

From the Brasserie, we head out into the sunshine and walk up Harrison Avenue. In a sky blue collared shirt and red cap, we won't lose Fiola in a crowd. Fiola is a wine educator, certified by the internationally recognized Wine & Spirit Education Trust. Participants have arrived mostly in pairs; with all of the hand-holding, it appears to be a romantic afternoon for most of these couples.

At Cinquecento, a Roman-style trattoria that opened this spring, we fan out down the length of the bar. The ceilings are high and it's hard to hear. Fiola is at one end, sharing tips about spotting values on a wine list. One attendee pipes up with a question about Orvieto, the white we are sipping with salumi and cheese. Then a carafe of nero d'avola prompts a couple to talk about a trip to Sicily. Finally, the group is warming up, and dialogue continues as we walk through Peters Park. We learn that the South End used to be a strip of land surrounded by tidal marsh before it was filled in with soil from Needham. Then came the stately brownstones and years later, fashionable restaurants.

Masa is our final destination. Salsa music is playing on the sound system and conversation flows as we taste a Spanish rosé and a sturdy Chilean carmenere. The tapas have withered under a heat lamp before our arrival. But the tasty pours and the walk in the sunshine have put everyone in a festive mood.

At a nearby booth, a family has ordered sparkling wine. Their server struggles, and the cork dislodges with an explosive pop. Fortunately, no frothy dribble.

We look at one another. That wouldn't have happened to any of us. Six turns of the bottle. Worth the price of admission.

City Wine Tours are held Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the South End, North End, Back Bay, and Harvard Square. Call 855-455-8747 or go to www.citywinetours.com.

The instant a wine professional hears this from a customer: "I don't like chardonnay, too buttery, too much oak," it's the perfect opportunity to introduce chablis. This classic Burgundian white offers a fresh, steely profile that manages to change minds, even with the delightful irony that chablis is made with the chardonnay grape. The customer probably doesn't have a quarrel with the grape, but with how New World winemakers barrel-ferment in new oak or overuse oak chips.

Sommeliers and retailers agree that chablis and seafood of every stripe is a match made in heaven. Ralph Hersom, wine director of Ralph's Wines & Spirits in Hingham (now in a new location on Lincoln Street), loves these bottles. "Chablis is the truest expression of chardonnay," he says. "It's a wine with a sense of place." A former wine director at New York's Le Cirque restaurant, Hersom says the best chardonnay in the region grows on sun-catching, southwest-facing slopes with Kimmeridgean soil underlying the best vineyards. In some, fossilized oyster shells are in the limestone and clay, deposited millions of years ago when the land was an ancient sea bed. Could this be a reason why these pours are so delicious with shellfish?

Hersom's wife, Kim, a personal chef, will offer in-store food and wine pairings this summer. Chances are good that chablis paired with seafood will be on the docket. And if a $42 chablis premier cru is out of your range, Hersom recommends a $15 La Chablisienne "Pas Si Petit" Petit Chablis 2011 (a category grown in less prestigious vineyards, but quite nice from this producer). He's enthusiastic about pairing tasty bites with stellar pours. "Once a somm, always a somm," he says.

Recently, we met visiting Christian Moreau, owner of the domaine that bears his name, at Island Creek Oyster Bar. The winemaker lived in Canada for 11 years, then returned to Chablis in the 1970s to help his father, Guy, with the vineyard. Today, Christian Moreau's son, Fabien, the sixth generation, runs the domaine. "I tell him, 'Make the chablis that you like,' " says the father, heartily endorsing his son's skills in the cellar and decision to move toward organic viticulture.

Results show in a glass of Domaine Christian Moreau Chablis 2011, an elegantly structured wine with refreshing acidity, pear and citrus notes, and tasting unmistakably of the region's mineral aroma and tang. Restaurant general manager Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli explains that these crisp whites show off the oysters' "merroir" (a play on the word "terroir").

For a splurge this summer, Schlesinger-Guidelli recommends chablis grand cru with lobster dipped in butter. This top-level of chablis is matured in oak -- but artfully so, lending dimension and richness.

So you'll love chablis, and you may also learn that you love chardonnay aged in oak -- just done the right way.

Vinho verde is wine we only thought we knew. Fruity and refreshing with a hint of fizz, most of these budget-friendly, low-alcohol wines from northwest Portugal offer tasty, albeit simple, sips. But recently at The Blue Room in Cambridge's Kendall Square, we tasted two beautiful bottles that opened our eyes to what vinho verde (pronounced "veeng-yo vaird") can be. We just had to meet the right producers.

Pedro Araujo, owner of Quinta do Ameal, explained how vinho verde wines were traditionally produced by small estate farmers. Grapes were picked young, even a bit unripe (hence the descriptor "verde" which translates as "green"). Naturally occurring bubbles cushioned the rustic acidity of these wines. Today, he says, and doesn't seem particularly happy about this, the region is dominated by big companies whose methods of mass production leave unexplored the character and potential of these wines. When he began making wine in the 1990s in the subregion of Lima, using the indigenous loureiro grape, he was determined to farm organically and reduce yields for better fruit. "This region can produce the greatest of white wines," he insisted. "This," he said, pouring his Quinta do Ameal Branco Seco 2011, "is a serious white." Pale yellow and silvery in hue, this wine has no bubbles. Aromas are fresh with floral and mineral notes. Acidity is moderate -- restrained compared to the rollicking acid of other styles from the region. Subtle and refined, this is serious winemaking indeed.

We also met Jose Diogo Teixeira Coelho, winemaker at Quinta da Raza, and chatted with his wife, Mafalda, a petite force of nature. Their estate, located in Basto, the most inland of the Vinho Verde subregions, has been at the center of the family's winemaking since the 1860s. About 20 years ago, they relocated their vineyards to hillside slopes for better sun exposure and made cellar improvements. Their Raza Vinho Verde Branco 2011 is crafted from native grapes arinto (for complexity) and azal (for citrusy tartness). Day-bright in the glass, this white conveys aromas of lemongrass and pear with a citrusy palate of spritz. The winemaker called it "an honest wine" that expresses the best these grapes have to offer.

A warm spring evening found us at Oleana, chef Ana Sortun's homage to flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean in Cambridge. Lauren Friel, wine director, is offering the Raza Vinho Verde as a "blackboard wine" for $9 a glass. These special pours change with the seasons and are on offer only at the bar. Paired with crisp battered fiddleheads on creamy tahini and crostini of spring peas and octopus, the wine complemented these dishes winningly, playing well with fragrant spices like coriander and cumin. Soon after our first sip, we opted for a bottle of this honest wine. It was too good for just one glass.

Quinta da Raza Vinho Verde Branco 2011 available at Formaggio Kitchen South End, 268 Shawmut Avenue, Boston, 617-350-6996. Quinta do Ameal Branco Seco 2011 at Concord Provisions, 73 Thoreau Street, Concord, 978-369-5555; the Branco Seco 2010 at Social Wines, 52 West Broadway, South Boston, 617-268-2974.

Wine professionals live to serve. So it's no surprise that the Boston Sommelier Society is doing all it can to help those hurt by this week's marathon bombings. This down-to-earth group of wine professionals and enthusiasts will host its first Spring Bottle Bash 2013 tomorrow, Sunday, April 21st, from 6pm to 10pm at Moksa in Cambridge's Central Square. Tickets, available online, are $50 each, and all proceeds will go to The One Fund Boston, Inc., announced by Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino to aid those most impacted by the bombings.

For the leadership of the Boston Sommelier Society, it was an easy decision. The board of directors decided Tuesday morning to make aiding bombing victims the event's priority. "All are on board," says John Fiola, secretary of the organization. "It was a quick decision." Teaming up with the somm society for this event is Boston-based Drync , which will donate proceeds from Spring Bottle Bash wines purchased via its smartphone app.

Naturally, more than a dozen great wines from around the globe will be poured. We spied a chateauneuf-du-pape, an Australian cab-shiraz and our state's very own Westport Rivers RJR Brut among the offerings. Tasty Pan-Asian bites will be served up from the kitchen. Raffle prizes and a silent auction will add to the fun. And if wine is not your beverage, Noon Inthasuwan-Summers, Moksa's beverage director, promises to mix up a scintillating cocktail; and Craft Brewers Guild of Boston will provide beer. Let's all raise a glass to hope and healing for our city.

When the doors of Park Plaza Castle opened at 7 o'clock, these rioters hit the floor, eager to learn about wine along with hundreds of fellow hipsters.

Wine Riot, a twice-yearly tasting produced by Second Glass kicked off its 2013 national tour in Boston on Friday night. This event (sold out the entire weekend) is not your average walk-around. Crowds of 20- and 30-somethings in skinny jeans, stemless recyclable glasses in hand, were entertained by a DJ pumping out tunes on a club-worthy sound system. (We assure you it was bumpin'.)

Armed with the Second Glass smart phone app to rate each pour, they sampled more than 250 wines from 70 winemakers from New Bedford to Bordeaux. Ooey gooey treats from Roxy's Gourmet Grilled Cheese and Aussie meat pies from KO Catering and Pies were on offer to soak up the sips. And did we mention the photo booth with props like sombreros and feather boas? Or if posing for the camera is not your thing, how about a temporary tattoo?

But lest you think this is all mindless revelry, it's really wine education (we swear!) packaged for the next generation of wine drinkers. No stuffy wine-speak here. Just ask John Hafferty of Bin Ends, on hand to provide wine education. Under the banner of "Old World vs. New World," he and his crew conducted a compare-and-contrast of two merlot blends -- a Haut-Medoc Bordeaux vs. a Napa Valley Meritage. "We designed it so tasters can try them [side-by-side], taste the differences, and see what they like." Rioters could also attended 20-minute seminars. The one we attended was hosted by Tyler Balliet, founder and CEO of Second Glass, highlighting California wines from Paso Robles. Although cordoned off from the main exhibit floor, the ambient soundtrack curtailed any in-depth education. But no worries. It was probably no worse than studying with your ear-buds in.

Most tasters rolled in with friends. We spotted a group of four sporting Wine Riot T-shirts they silk-screened themselves. Asked how they heard about the event, Cassandra, a talented designer of steampunk jewelry, pointed to her wine enthusiast friend Greg, who spearheads their urban wine adventures along with friends Stephen and Ana. Adam and Maria, a young couple sampling wines at the Languedoc booth, shared that this is their "crash course" before a summer trip to France.

Fred, from JP, along with pals David and Nat from the South End, are all west coast transplants. You couldn't shut them up about Boston's food and wine scene even if you tried. Like us, these friends can't wait until October. That's when Wine Riot returns to Boston for a groovy round #2. We'll be there -- skinny jeans and all.

Get your glasses ready. The juggernaut that is the Boston Wine Expo rolls into town February 16th and 17th, President's Day weekend, for its annual run. Thousands will converge upon the Seaport World Trade Center and Seaport Hotel to swirl and sip more than 1,800 wines poured by 185 exhibitors from all over the globe. Beginners and long-time enthusiasts will also flock to seminars covering everything from wine basics to vertical tastings (successive vintages of the same wine). There will be cooking demos by celebrity chefs, keynote speakers, a new smart phone app to scan and purchase wines, a bloggers' lounge....you get the idea. It's big.

First-time attendees always ask how to navigate this theme park of wine. It's smart to plan, especially since a two-day grand tasting ticket will set you back $145, seminars extra. Here are three tips for making the most of tastings as a first-timer.

Begin at the beginning, avoid the end. Each day's Grand Tasting opens to the public at 1pm, and we like being there when the doors open. Wine reps will have warmed up by pouring for wine trade professionals; they will be raring to educate about their wines. Arriving at the beginning rather than the end allows us to avoid attendees who who don't moderate their intake. The last half-hour can devolve into a drunky fest. We avoid it like the plague.

Taste by region, grape or cuisine. It's impossible to taste everything, so having a plan is key, say local wine experts featured on the Wine Education Network. One video on the Wine Expo homepage encourages three different approaches: concentrating on one of four wine regions (Mediterranean, the rest of Europe, North America, Southern Hemisphere); tasting by grape varietal; or with a preferred cuisine in mind. Genius! They also encourage drinking lots of water throughout the day.

Spit to your heart's content. Enthusiasts who are just getting started often hesitate to spit wine poured for them. Some feel embarrassed that they can't spit like the pros do -- presumably in a thin, elegant stream. We think it's fine to spit into a paper cup (we bring a stash with us) and then empty into the spit buckets provided. Not only does this avoid awkward moments -- crowds around the bucket; the dreaded "splash-back" -- but we keep our senses sharp to learn and enjoy. And isn't that what it's all about?

Looking forward to seeing you there.

An invitation to taste the wares of nine Massachusetts wineries catches our eye.
But it's the promise of warmth that seals the deal. "Shoppers enjoy being in a warm greenhouse setting on a cold winter's day," enthused farmer's market manager Peg Mallett in a recent email. Envisioning sips of local wine among potted violets, food vendors and a cornucopia of root vegetables, we headed out last Saturday to Massachusetts Farm Wineries Day at the Wayland Winter Farmers' Market. This winter market, one of the forty operating this time of year throughout the state, is truly special.

Held at Russell's Garden Center on Boston Post Road, the greenhouse environment -- a warren of farm vendors, bakeries and purveyors of jams and salsas -- allows us to shed our bulky coats soon after arriving. The nine wineries, from north and south of Boston as well as Central and Western Mass, are doing brisk business. Customers sample half-ounce pours, purchase bottles for dinner, and chat with winemakers like Donna Martin of Mill River Winery in Rowley. She affirms the importance of a 2010 Massachusetts law allowing farm wineries to sell at farmers' markets and agricultural events.

Martin talks about the law as a catalyst for growth -- not only for her winery, but for nearly forty others in the Bay State. Wineries participating in a 2011 survey conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources reported doing more than $500,0000 in wine sales that year, an average overall sales increase per winery of 66 percent over previous years. These oft-repeated figures underscore how the law helps increase business and raise the visibility of these wineries among Massachusetts wine consumers, whose per capita wine consumption is double the national average.

Trudi Perry, winemaker of Alfalfa Farm Winery in Topsfield loves selling her wines at farmers' markets. She observes that some towns are reluctant to allow wine sales at events like these. (The law requires the approval of the local jurisdiction.) Are some towns afraid that selling wine will attract a bad element? Scanning market goers, many relaxing at patio tables set up among the lush plants, nibbling on grilled cheese and tomato soup, it's hard to imagine rowdy behavior from this bunch. All we see are contented folk, happy for the chance to feel cozy on a January day. Realizing that this greenhouse-turned-winter market lasts only until March 9th, we reconnect with Peg Mallett. "I tried to get permission to extend the season by one week," she says, "but the growing of annual flowers has to stay on schedule."

For more information about local wine events, check out the calendar of the Massachusetts Farm Wineries & Growers Association and the newly redesigned Wine & Cheese Trails guide. Photo, top left: Wine tasters at the table of Coastal Vineyards, South Dartmouth. David Neilson, owner and winemaker, on the right. Photo, middle right: Wines from Mill River Winery, Rowley, held by owner/winemaker Donna Martin. Photo, bottom right: Liz Koczera of Westport Rivers, Westport. The 2006 RJR Brut (first bottle to her left) has a newly designed yellow label.

The New Year is your year to learn more about wine. Whether you are a longtime enthusiast or a brand new imbiber, 2013 is an opportune time to deepen your knowledge of this lovely libation. Drop by in-store tastings. Attend a wine dinner to see how a hot new restaurant is pairing wine with food. Read voraciously. Blogs, tweets and online wine media -- along with the good old-fashioned newsstand -- make wine information more accessible than ever. And if you thrive in a classroom environment, a four session Wine 101 at the Boston Wine School is a terrific way to learn the basics. Or, if you have four semesters to spare, you can pursue the wine certificate program at the Elizabeth Bishop Wine Resource Center at Boston University.

In the midst of your tasting and reading, how do you capture what you're learning? We're big believers in writing things down. An easy system we use is actually too simple to be called a system. Let's call it an approach that reinforces learning. Get a pack of index cards and keep a pen handy. Whenever a wine question occurs to you, write it on an index card. Later, research the answer and jot it on the back of the card. Or, when a sommelier imparts some wonderful wine fact to you and your dinner companion, jot that down too. Do this a couple of times a week, every week, and in no time, you'll have a growing stack of cards. Naturally, you can keep all of this information electronically. But there is something addictive about seeing your pile of index cards grow. Its increasing height reflects your growing wine knowledge. Try it! And let us know your progress throughout the year.

When it comes to classic wine and food pairings, there are few we crave more than muscadet and oysters. So when we realized we had one more chance to partake of both as part of Muscadet Month, sponsored by the Loire Valley Wine Bureau,
we made a weekend detour to The Urban Grape in Chestnut Hill.

Stepping inside, we were delighted to find wine educator Jo-Ann Ross talking up this lively white wine. "Muscadet is a zesty, zippy white wine from Western France," she explained to customers, many of whom had their costumed trick-or-treating youngsters in tow. "It is made from melon de Bourgogne grapes, once grown in Burgundy centuries ago. It is a dry wine, not to be confused with sweet wines made from muscat grapes," she said.

When you think about where these grapes grow -- near the coast of Brittany where the Loire River meets the Atlantic -- it is easy to see how this wine evolved as a natural pairing with seafood, oysters in particular.

Attendees, eager to experience muscadet's affinity for oysters, had the opportunity to do so on the spot. Mason Silkes of Rhode Island-based American Mussel Harvesters, Inc.
shucked Canada Cup oysters from Prince Edward Island and placed them on an icy bed. Brightly salty up front, these bivalves possess a creamy texture and a saline-sweet finish that called for another sip of muscadet.

A favorite among the line-up of wines was a 2011 Louis Metaireau Petit Mouton Muscadet Sevre et Maine ($12). The bottle's label says "sur lie," which refers to wine kept on the lees (spent yeast) all winter long before bottling in the spring. Overwintering on the lees produces rounded, saline aromas and the barest hint of spritz.
As trick-or-treaters emptied the candy basket, we pledged not to forgo the pleasure of this pairing once Muscadet Month is over.

If you are visiting Long Island and find yourself grooving to bossa nova while sipping a glass of bubbly, you must be at Sparkling Pointe.

This elegant winery is done in the style of a French country manor with Rio de Janeiro as its theme. The tasting hall, with its cool white walls, vaulted ceilings and crystal chandeliers, features paintings of samba dancers and a panorama of Guanabara Bay. Gilles Martin, Sparkling Pointe’s winemaker and master oenologist, explained that owners Tom and Cynthia Rosicki wanted to combine their passion for Champagne with their love of Brazil. The couple founded the winery and brought on French-born Martin as winemaker in 2003.

Martin was a natural choice. He made wine all over the world, including Germany, Australia and California, before settling in Long Island. “We have to be proud of our New World heritage,” Martin said, pouring one of several Méthode Champenoise sparklers for a group of tasters. The wines were at once stunning and refined. Regarding a 2008 Blanc de Noir, a blend of pinot meunier and pinot noir, Martin commented, “It is like a ghost. There is an intensity of presence.” Like Martin himself, these are sparklers with true aplomb. Knowing that these wines are not distributed in Massachusetts prompted us to purchase several bottles on the spot before moving on to our next destination.

Richard Olsen-Harbich, winemaker at Bedell Cellars, is serious about sustainability. So serious, in fact, that he and a group of fellow wine producers founded, in the spring, Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing, a nonprofit organization to certify local vineyards that practice sustainable viticulture. Developed with the Cornell Cooperative Extension,
LISW builds on VineBalance, New York State’s sustainable viticulture program.

North Fork wine producers have long farmed with the eco-system in mind. For example, they have sought to minimize soil erosion and fertilizer run-off that can harm creeks and bays. Increasingly, wind and solar power are utilized as well. The certification process, which will use an independent third-party to evaluate vineyard practices, will take environmental stewardship to the next level. Certification programs are not new. Oregon and California both have similar programs. The LISW program is special in that its guidelines have been developed in place and over time in Long Island’s moist maritime climate. The new guidelines, for example, establish which fungicides can be used to tame mildew. Recommendations include best practices like trimming leafy vine canopies to increase air circulation around the grapes so fewer chemicals are needed. Several producers have signed on to the program; others are assessing whether they can comply with all of the guidelines. It is a work-in-progress that is worth watching.

When we catch up with him, Olsen-Harbich has just come from a LISW meeting. We meet him on the sunny patio deck of Bedell Cellars overlooking a vista of green vines. Once again, maritime breezes remind us to anchor our picnic plates and napkins. As Olsen-Harbich pours a selection of viognier, gewürztraminer and a not-yet-released blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon, he talks about how he prefers manipulation in the vineyard – vine leaf removal, hedging and use of cover crops – rather than manipulation in the winery. Each sip tastes free of the chemical bag of tricks used by lesser producers. These wines, like many others tasted on this trip, project self-assurance and a sense of place. “As a wine region,” Olsen-Harbich said, “we’ve gotten confident in our own skin.”

Select Tasting Notes of North Fork Wines

Sherwood House Vineyards Merlot 2005 A beautiful merlot with savory aromas of age – fennel, cocoa and violets among them. Ripe plum and blackberry notes, velvety tannins and a touch of pepper on the finish. Around $30. Available at the winery.

Peconic Bay Winery Lowerre Family Estate - La Barrique Chardonnay 2010 This barrel-fermented chardonnay handles oak with a light hand. Aromas of baked pear and freshly-popped popcorn lead to silky weight in the mouth. About $36. Available at the winery.

T’Jara Merlot 2007 A plush merlot offering ripe plum, cigar box and black olive aromas on the nose. Food-friendly with a palate of ripe fruit, baking spice, anise and toast. Around $35. Available at The Winemaker Studio by Anthony Nappa Wines in Peconic, N.Y.

Sparkling Pointe Blanc de Blancs 2006 A gorgeous sparkler with fine streams of bubbles that convey floral and biscuit aromas.
Juicy apple and pear notes fill the mouth along with a creamy texture from time on the lees. Fresh and elegant. Around $42. Available at the winery.

Corey Creek Vineyards Gewürztraminer 2011 This Bedell Cellars-owned label offers aromas of rose petals. A minerally-peachy palate is full of bright acidity. Around $18. Distributed in Massachusetts by Carolina Wine & Spirits.

Thanks to Jackie & Bob Rogers, Jean Driver and all of the Long Island wine-folk who extended to us wonderful hospitality.

If you are visiting Long Island and find yourself grooving to bossa nova while sipping a glass of bubbly, you must be at Sparkling Pointe. This elegant winery is done in the style of a French country manor with Rio de Janeiro as its theme. The tasting hall, with its cool white walls, vaulted ceilings and crystal chandeliers, features paintings of samba dancers and a panorama of Guanabara Bay. Gilles Martin, Sparkling Pointe’s winemaker and master oenologist, explained that owners Tom and Cynthia Rosicki wanted to combine their passion for Champagne with their love of Brazil. The couple founded the winery and brought on French-born Martin as winemaker in 2003. Martin was a natural choice. He made wine all over the world, including Germany, Australia and California, before settling in Long Island. “We have to be proud of our New World heritage,” Martin said, pouring one of several Méthode Champenoise sparklers for a group of tasters. The wines were at once stunning and refined. Regarding a 2008 Blanc de Noir, a blend of pinot meunier and pinot noir, Martin commented, “It is like a ghost. There is an intensity of presence.” Like Martin himself, these are sparklers with true aplomb. Knowing that these wines are not distributed in Massachusetts prompted us to purchase several bottles on the spot before moving on to our next destination.

Richard Olsen-Harbich, winemaker at Bedell Cellars, is serious about sustainability. So serious, in fact, that he and a group of other wine producers founded, in the spring, Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing,
a nonprofit organization to certify local vineyards that practice sustainable viticulture. Developed with the Cornell Cooperative Extension,
LISW builds on VineBalance, New York State’s sustainable viticulture program. While North Fork wine producers have long farmed with the eco-system in mind – minimizing soil erosion and fertilizers that can run off into creeks and bays, increasingly utilizing wind and solar power – the certification process, which will use an independent third-party to evaluate vineyard practices, will take environmental stewardship to the next level. Certification programs are not new. Oregon and California both have similar programs. The LISW program is special in that its guidelines have been developed in place and over time in Long Island’s moist maritime climate. The new guidelines, for example, establish which fungicides can be used to tame mildew. Recommendations include trimming leafy vine canopies to increase air circulation around the grapes to reduce reliance on chemicals. Several producers have signed on to the program; others are assessing whether they can comply with all of the guidelines. It is a work-in-progress that is worth watching.

When we catch up with him, Olsen-Harbich has just come from a LISW meeting. We meet him on the sunny patio deck of Bedell Cellars overlooking a vista of green vines. Once again, maritime breezes remind us to anchor our picnic plates and napkins. As Olsen-Harbich pours a selection of viognier, gewürztraminer and a not-yet-released blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon, he talks about how he prefers manipulation in the vineyard – vine leaf removal, hedging and use of cover crops – rather than manipulation in the winery. Each sip tastes free of the chemical bag of tricks used by lesser producers that alter the sense of terroir. These wines, like many others tasted on this trip, project self-assurance and a sense of place. “As a wine region,” Olsen-Harbich said, “we’ve gotten confident in our own skin.”

Select Tasting Notes of North Fork Wines

Sherwood House Vineyards Merlot 2005 A beautiful merlot with savory aromas of age – fennel, cocoa and violets among them. Ripe plum and blackberry notes, velvety tannins and a touch of pepper on the finish. Around $30. Available at the winery.

Peconic Bay Winery Lowerre Family Estate - La Barrique Chardonnay 2010 This barrel-fermented chardonnay handles oak with a deft touch. Aromas of baked pear and freshly-popped popcorn lead to silky weight in the mouth. About $36. Available at the winery.

T’Jara Merlot 2007 This plush merlot offers ripe plum, cigar box and black olive aromas on the nose. Food-friendly with a palate of ripe fruit, baking spice and toast. Around $35. Available at The Winemaker Studio by Anthony Nappa Wines in Peconic, N.Y.

Sparkling Pointe Blanc de Blancs 2006 This sparkler offers fine streams of bubbles that convey floral and biscuit aromas.
Juicy apple and pear notes fill the mouth along with a creamy texture from time on the lees. Fresh and elegant. Around $42. Available at the winery.

Corey Creek Vineyards Gewürztraminer 2011 This Bedell Cellars-owned label offers aromas of rose petals and a minerally-peachy palate full of bright acidity. Around $18. Distributed in Massachusetts by Carolina Wine & Spirits.

It is the end of August and we are squarely in denial. With Labor Day around the corner, we know that a new school year doesn't lag far behind. Right now, all we want is to sit by the pond and finish one more novel before wandering home to pluck tomatoes off backyard vines.

To extend the feeling of summer, we’re doggedly drinking American rosés. Since the June column on the subject, we’ve found two more lovely pinks from Long Island N.Y. and Southeastern Massachusetts. Both are limited in supply in the Greater Boston area, but are definitely worth seeking out.

Bedell Taste Rosé 2011 (about $15) offers beautiful aromas of strawberry, white peach and wet stones. This refreshing sip is pale coppery pink -- an artful blend of merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon with a splash of syrah. We tasted it last month on the patio deck of Bedell Cellars on the North Fork. Of the many Long Island wines we sampled, Bedell Cellars is one of the few distributed in Massachusetts. If this rosé is not currently sitting on your local wine shop shelf, it is not too late to special order it.

Westport Rivers Pinot Noir Rosé is a blend of multiple vintages – 2011, 2010 and 2008 to be exact. Bill Russell, winemaker at Westport Rivers likens the process to putting together a sparkling cuvée. This salmon-colored rosé sports bright acidity and offers notes of tart plum and citrus rind. It is on tap – yes, wine kept fresh in a keg – at Russell House Tavern and sells for $6 a glass. Grab a window seat at this Harvard Square institution and people-watch to your heart’s content. Pair with a platter of raw oysters and celebrate. Summer is not over yet.

During the summer months, the North Fork of Long Island, N.Y., is a green jewel extending into the Atlantic. Most of the island’s more than 50 wine producers are located here. Salt-tinged air signals a maritime climate that ushers in the island’s long and moderate growing season for vitis vinifera. Varietals like merlot, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and riesling all thrive here. One marvels at how this vibrant wine region evolved from just a few acres of vines in the 1970s to more than 3,000 acres today. With its bountiful farm stands, sunflowers, and expansive swaths of vineyards, a visitor might momentarily forget which region this is. But a bus load of day-trippers from New York City is a reminder that you have not left the Empire State. Barbara Smithen, owner of Sherwood House Vineyards has a policy of “no buses, limos only by appointment” to maintain the graciousness of the artfully appointed tasting room and property. Tour buses have plenty of other wineries -- some with cute baby farm animals -- that accommodate large groups of revelers and families. Entertainment is easy to find. On a recent trip, we made a delightful discovery: When a saber isn't handy, the foot of a wine glass will do. At Jamesport Vineyards, tasting room manager Jake Perdie loves playing to a crowd. Holding a bottle of sparkling rosé in one hand, he took care to point the cork away from onlookers. With the other hand, he readied the foot of a wine glass on the shoulder of the bottle. Then, in one swift motion, he swiped the foot of the glass along the bottle’s seam, dislodging the cork with a dramatic pop. As the group oohed and ahhed, Perdie caught some of the froth in a champagne glass before it splashed on the cool cellar floor. This sense of confidence is evident wherever we went. The Long Island wine scene, with vineyard properties ranging from down-home-on-the-farm to elegant grand estates, has a strong sense of identity and many well-crafted wines. There is a wine experience for just about everyone. Guides with long-standing roots in the region showed us the way. Zander Hargrave, (in the photo to the right) now assistant winemaker at Peconic Bay Winery was one. If anyone has the spirit of North Fork vineyards in his blood, it is Hargrave, whose parents, Louisa & Alex Hargrave, established the first vineyard on Long Island in 1973. On a sunny afternoon, the younger Hargrave talked about growing up in a region that was rapidly evolving from potato farms into vineyards. He retrieved a copy of his mother’s memoir, “The Vineyard,” and flipped to a photo of himself as a grinning teenager, shoveling pomace from inside a fermenter tank, his arms extended high in a gesture of victory. He has not lost that youthful enthusiasm. When a visitor remarked about the beautiful produce and shellfish abundant on the island, Hargrave said, “It is a happy culinary place, to be sure!” With plates of charcuterie and cheeses, he readied our glasses for a midday tasting of riesling, barrel-fermented chardonnay, and red blends. We were sipping a not-yet-released 2010 merlot-cab franc blend when a gust of wind toppled the umbrella shading our patio table. Someone lunged to grab it as it fell, but it was too late. We were experiencing first-hand Long Island’s maritime breezes and how they can wreak havoc. The sodden pages of a reporter’s notebook are now unreadable, but little could dampen our enthusiasm. The next day found us learning about sustainable growing practices and sipping Long Island’s answer to champagne. (Part 1 of 2)

By Ellen Bhang, Globe Correspondent

To the wineries in attendance, the lesson was clear.

Pour it and they will come – in droves. Brilliant sunshine and sold-out advance tickets predicted success. Still, organizers of the first annual Wine, Cheese & Chocolate Festival at the Westport Fairgrounds on June 24th seemed stunned as hundreds flooded the big blue barn and spilled out onto the lawn. The crowd – at times six people deep – pressed up close to the 34 exhibit tables, eager for samples of artisanal chocolate truffles, wedges of cheddar, freshly baked bread, and local wines. By the end of the afternoon, well over 1,200 festival goers had reveled in sips and bites.

Every year, the nine wineries of the Coastal Wine Trail of South Eastern New England come together for a kick-off event of wine tourism season. In the past, one winery hosted the event and while others could pour their wines as tastes, only the host winery could sell its wares. A change in Massachusetts law now allows the Coastal Wine Trail to scale up events. Approved by the legislature in 2010, economic development act S 2582 paved the way for licensed farm wineries to sell their wine at farmers’ markets and agricultural events if approved by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.

Dave Neilson, owner and winemaker of Coastal Vineyards and chairman of the Massachusetts Farm Wineries & Growers Association, coordinated the state application process, then got permission from the town of Westport to hold the event. The law was written to give local communities the final say, he explained.

Neilson said the law is a huge change. According to MDAR’s 2011 survey of local wineries and its subsequent evaluation of wine sales at agricultural events, respondents reported an average overall sales increase per winery of 66 percent. They reported more than $514,000 in estimated wine sales at agricultural events and farmers’ markets. More than half of the wineries surveyed planned to hire more full and part-time employees -- no small feat in a tough economy.

Neilson said that the law is having a positive effect – not just for Coastal Wine Trail members but for new wineries just getting started throughout the state. “This is not the end of the story,” Neilson said. “It’s just the beginning.”

Winemakers pouring seemed to agree. “With the response and turn-out that we had,” said Maggie Harnett of Greenvale Vineyards, “we would be crazy not to do it again.”

To learn more about local wineries and upcoming events, go to www.coastalwinetrail.com.

Today's wine column is my last for the Boston Globe. In it I reflect a bit on what has and hasn't changed in the fifteen years I've been writing the column.  I offer heartfelt thanks to readers who have followed my writing over the years.  

It's always been my view that cultivating a certain sensibility toward wine is a better path to a more satisfying drinking experience than being pointed to specific bottles.  And while it may be somewhat limiting to be exposed to a single perspective, it also strikes me that   one consistent viewpoint can be preferable to the variety of opinions that emanate from a tasting panel or committee -- often conflicting and rarely offering any clear direction.  

In Wednesday's Food section I reported on our crawl of newish, highish-end burger joints in Atlanta, but last week we ducked out of town for a few days in Montreal and Quebec City. Our main interest, as you might guess, being the new & slightly used wine bars and restos there. To pack as much as possible into an evening, our modus operandi is to nip into one or two spots for a sip and a bite at the bar before settling into a table somewhere else. We prefer to walk everywhere - the idea being to accomplish a same-day work-off of the calories we accumulate at alarming rates. Herein are a few of the things we took note of, in no particular order (click on any image to enlarge).Unless we hook up at Le Cafe du Monde, which, I'm now beginning to think is a distinct possibility. A boisterous and shiny brasserie on the QC waterfront that Legal Sea Foods' Harborside could learn something from manages to be a lot of fun  even if the food is just so-so.  Stephen Meuse can be reached at bytheglass@globe.com 

We'll admit to being a little in love with the analytic tool known as the quad chart.   There's something attractive about the way it gives clarity to certain kinds of ideas one struggles to achieve by other means.  A neatly designed quad is particularly good at illuminating how perceptions shift as you move from one position to another along notional axes.

The quad below is result of our interest in a phenomenon we've been watching for a few years now:  the fashion among younger wine enthusiasts and the retail shops and sommeliers who cater to them away from well-known wine producing regions and international varietals toward lesser known regions using hyper-local cultivars and a naturalist approach to winemaking.  It's been clear for some time now that what once was a modest outpost of wine counter-culture is migrating to the normative -  not at your local Abe & Louie's steakhouse certainly, but in smaller, independent and mostly urban restos/wine bars with a claim to have their fingers on the pulse. In this world, the height of cool is the bar where you don't recognize anything on the wine list and whatever is there can say (with a degree of plausibility) that it pretty much made itself.

As in all fashion systems, the goal seems to be for insiders to distinguish themselves sharply from outsiders by creating barriers to comprehension. In other words, you can't join the club without cracking the code. The quad that follows attempts to show how the code operates in this particular instance. It also suggests how reflecting on the means we use to conceptualize wine offers insights into what we choose to drink and why.

The y (vertical) axis represents the degree to which the grape variety used to make a wine is (geographically) either widely or narrowly planted.   The x axis represents the degree of technical intervention in the vineyard and cellar applied to producing the wine. The assumptions are that the hierarchy of hipness in wine now runs along these lines: high prestige wines derive from the most localized grape varieties treated to the least manipulation in the vineyard and cellar, while low prestige wines have exactly the opposite profile.

Hurrah for Michel Gahier, then, whose wine is made from a grape (trousseau) found almost exclusively in the Jura, the region in eastern France where Arbois (a delimited growing area in France's appellation d'origine controlee system and rather obscure in its own right) is located. One could argue about just how far out on the x and y axes Gahier's wine deserves to be  (he is a noted advocate of the naturalist approach). But let's not quibble, pairing a hyper-local varietal with a minimum of technical intervention constitutes a twin killing (quadrant 1). Score it Exceedingly Hip, at the very least.

But boo, hiss for Kendall-Jackson Vinter's Blend Merlot, relegated to quadrant 4 for combining one of the world's most widely planted and widely recognized grape varieties (merlot) with relentlessly technical winemaking. Your 25 year-old sommelier with the skinny jeans and the narrow-brimmed fedora wouldn't give it so much as a sniff - not even for purposes of appearing ironic. On the plus side: your mother might like it.

We relegate Georges Duboeuf's Beaujolais Nouveau to quadrant 3 because although its constituent grape, the gamay noir, isn't an everyday varietal, it's far from what would qualify as exotic and so doesn't get us too far on that score. On top of that,  Duboeuf's ocean of Nouveau is first sourced from hundreds (?) mediocre-or-less vineyards, then tortured into humdrum consistency via a punishing degree of technical manipulation, pushing its x coordinate deep into the 'most worked' red zone.  Can't do better than quadrant 3, I'm afraid, Georges.  Come back when fashions change . . . for the worse.

Coturri's Maclise Vineyards Merlot presents something of a dilemma, too, but shifted to a different axis.  The Coturri brothers are celebrated as uncompromising practitioners of naturalist winemaking in California - a stature that assures them a gratifyingly remote position far out at the 'least worked' end of our x axis. They lose cred for working with the hackneyed merlot, but my guess is that in terms of grading the cool, a naturalist approach trumps a trite varietal every time.  There would be extra points if Tony Coturri shaved his lavish beard down to a soul patch and replaced his overalls with jeggings, but we put them firmly in quadrant 2.

Exactly why we privilege one kind of wine over another at a given point in time isn't entirely clear, but as with most things, there are rules at work and a quad chart is often a good way of sussing it out.  Feel free to use it in your next visit to one of those puzzlingly ironic wine bars.

But if you get arrested for impersonating a hipster, you're on your own.

Stephen Meuse can be reached at bytheglass@globe.com

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AXA is a big French insurance company that also owns a number of important wine properties. The wine part of the business is run by Englishman Christian Seely whose blog I peek in on now and then. I don't normally find it the most interesting writing on the web, since it often has a promotional quality that's rather off-putting. His most recent post explains why it's worth the occasional look in.

It's a four video tour of AXA's Domaine Disznoko property in Hungary where the miraculously luscious Tokaji Aszu is made. The films are each just a few minutes long, but the quality of the content is very high indeed and as an explainer of how the process works it's like nothing I've ever seen.

The short films show the multi-stage, two-month long harvest of shriveled, botrytized grapes, and the vinification and aging of the wine that was once one of the world's most sought-after luxuries and a fixture at the Tsarist and Austro-Hungarian courts.  

The production values are extremely high, though I suggest you click the link that takes you directly to their Youtube channel where you can view in full-screen HD. 

Breaking my heart now that when I was in Hungary three years ago, Tokaj wasn't on the itinerary. 

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Internet search engines have taught us the usefulness of the 'more like this' function. Find just one thing that hits the spot, then ask for more results that deliver more or less the same goods.   Follow @stephen_meuse

When suppertime rolled around Sunday night and I had an open bottle of a favorite red wine standing by (2008 Closerie des Alisiers Hautes Cotes de Beaune), I decided not to trek down to the cellar for another bottle - even though what was coming out of the oven made the choice a bit incongruous

It was fresh flounder filets, rolled into fat little packages, capped with sliced Tiny Tom tomatoes and baked under a sheaf of parchment paper.  Also on the plate, a slice of potato tart from a photo shoot earlier in the week, and a bundle of the season's first native asparagus bought that morning at Wilson Farms.  

I knew the wine to be light, fresh, and juicy - certainly lighter than any number of whites one might replace it with.  It seemed like a perfect time to revisit the question of whether red wine and fish can routinely make a successful team or whether the old rule that enjoins avoiding the match-up is worth heeding.

The answer: you can happily sip red wine (at least this red wine) with your fish (at least this fish)  . . .  you just can't sip red wine with fish and asparagus!

Stephen Meuse can be reached at bytheglass@globe.com

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It's easy to forget that at one time the celebrated  vineyards of northern Europe were nothing more than wooded hillsides. The Romans, who generally took the long view of things, planted vines wherever they thought there was a chance they would thrive. The further north they moved, the more challenging viticulture became. In higher northern latitudes the cold can be severe enough to winter-kill vines; sunlight so meager grapes do not ripen sufficiently to make a  stable, palatable wine.