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Surrey Lane Vineyard Orchard Farm owners David & Liz Shanks display a bottle of their new pinot grigio (Credit: Monique Singh-Roy)

Surrey Lane Vineyard Orchard Farm in Southold has released its first wines, which were created at South Fork winery Wölffer Estate Vineyard.

When David Shanks purchased the vineyard in 2011, it included mostly merlot and cabernet franc grapes, as well as an acre of chardonnay, and he sold the harvests to Wölffer.

That arrangement changed last year after he asked Wölffer winemaker Roman Roth to start making Surrey Lane wines, including chardonnay, cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc, merlot and pinot grigio.

A tasting room at the Main Road vineyard is also planned.

“I would love to have the tasting room up and running, but it all depends on how long it will take to get the permits,” Shanks said. “I would say we’ll be going forward by next spring or summer.”

Shanks said he hopes to bottle his own wines next year and add trebbiano and rosé to the Surrey Lane wine list.

For now, his wines are on the menu at Michelangelo of Southold and will soon be available at North Fork Taps & Corks Tasting Room in Southold.

Surrey Lane Vineyards' wines includes a chardonnay, cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc, merlot and pinot grigio (Credit: Monique Singh-Roy)
Surrey Lane wines include chardonnay, cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc, merlot and pinot grigio. (Credit: Monique Singh-Roy)

Shanks, former CEO of Penguin Group, and his wife, Liz, said they’re excited about their vineyard and farm’s future.

“It’s like a chapter two — everybody’s got to have a chapter two in their lives,” she said. “The first 40 years my husband was in book publishing — we were feeding people’s minds and imaginations with literature. Now we’re literally feeding them.”

Surrey Lane Vineyard Orchard Farm is located at 46975 Main Road in Southold. For more information, email [email protected].

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