Four of Long Island’s most respected young winemakers were highlighted in a recent Wine Enthusiast article about the future of the local industry.
Kelly Urbanik Koch of Macari Vineyards, Anthony Nappa of Raphael and Anthony Nappa Wines, Regan Meador of Southold Farm + Cellar and Kareem Massoud of Paumanok Vineyards are featured in the magazine’s June 2016 issue in an article called “Long Island & The Big Dreamer’s Out East.”
“When it comes to experience, the new generation of Long Island’s winemaking community is remarkably diverse. Upstart winemakers with little formal training work alongside second generation winemakers and graduates of top enology schools,” writes Wine Enthusiast’s Anna Lee C. Iijima. “Increasingly, they’re a cosmopolitan, exceptionally quality-minded group that could just as easily be making wine in Napa, Sonoma or the Old World. Instead they’ve chosen Long Island.”
The article takes a look at what drew these winemakers, all of whom are from different parts of the country, to Long Island — as well as what excites them about the region.
One of the main attractions? Being able to leave their marks in a still-developing industry.
“If it was a ballgame, you might say that Long Island wine is still in the third inning,” Massoud told Wine Enthusiast. “If, say, Napa is the ninth-inning standard, we still have a ways to go.”