Our local wineries “are smaller, younger and have less experience than their French counterparts, but some local vintners think the merlot wines they produce compare favorably with those made in Bordeaux,” reporter Leslie Gevirtz states in an article published by Reuters this week.
“If you taste our best 1 or 2 percent and you taste them blind, I guarantee you’ll have them in the same category as classified Bordeaux,” Clovis Point Vineyards winemaker John Leo said in the story published Sept. 9.
But the French winemakers of Bordeaux interviewed for the story said the two wines cannot be compared.
“When they want to drink a Merlot that is more fresh, that is younger, they may choose Long Island. And when they want something with a lot of flavors, something that is 20 years old, they can have a Bordeaux,” said Frédéric Faye, winemaker for Chateau Figeac in France.
