Macari Vineyards is venturing into the world of white blends with its new Dos Aquas white, our North Fork Wine of the Week.
The winner of “best winery” at this year’s New York Wine & Food Classic, Macari has made two vintages of a red “Dos Aguas” and produces other red blends like the popular table wine “Sette,” but this white blend is a first for the Mattituck winery.
“We talked about doing a white blend for a long time,” said Macari winemaker Kelly Urbanik Koch. “This year we had the right components and we felt qualitywise, this is on par with the Dos Aquas red.”
READ OUR PROFILE ON MACARI’S KELLY URABNIK KOCH
Dos Aguas white, named after Long Island Sound and Great Peconic Bay which both surround the North Fork, is 49 percent chardonnay, 22 percent riesling, 17 percent sauvignon blanc and 12 percent viognier, Urbanik Koch said.
“It’s super aromatic on the nose. It has a lot of grapefruit, apricot and peach smells,” she said. “On the palette, it’s super crisp and fresh. It has a pretty long finish, the acidity lifts the pallet.”
“It’s a dry white wine,” she said. “The acidity at the end is what gets you to take another sip.”
She suggests pairing it with seafood like fresh tuna or oysters.
“It also would go well with a fall soup like a butternut squash,” she said.
The staff at Macari also just harvested their first crop of Tocai Friulano, an aromatic grape from Italy’s Friulia region, which will likely be used in next year’s blend. The vineyard also has planted several rows of Grüner Veltliner planted, though the vines have not yet borne fruit.
We will see how it turns out,” Urbanik Koch said.
Dos Aquas white ($27) is available in the Macari tasting room at 150 Bergen Ave. in Mattituck.
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