With the sun setting over the North Fork’s first planted vines, hundreds of food and wine lovers celebrated the region’s bounty at the first-ever Northforker Wine & Food Classic at Borghese Vineyards in Cutchogue Thursday.
The event, a showcase for the North Fork’s finest purveyors, served as both a toast to the end of summer and the start of something new for the Northforker staff, our readers and the business partners who help make this community the special destination it is.
“As the North Fork has evolved into a culinary destination, the Northforker Wine & Food Classic was designed to celebrate our local restaurants, wineries and breweries that make the east end so special,” said Times Review Media Group publisher Andrew Olsen. “It was a huge success and is a great extension of the Northforker brand.”
More than 650 guests attended the first-of-its-kind event, hosted at the birthplace of Long Island wine. The star of the evening: North Fork wine and food deserving of a showcase.
“We appreciate all of the support of our sponsors who helped make the event possible, including presenting sponsors Sheri Winter Parker of Corcoran (at right in photo above) and Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital,” Olsen said. “The setting at Borghese Vineyard surrounded by the vines was spectacular. Gio Borghese (pictured below) and his staff were incredibly gracious hosts for the event.”
Participating restaurants included Ammirati’s of Love Lane, Balo Foods, The Chequit, The Dimon Estate, Disset Chocolate, Grace & Grit, Insatiable Eats, Luchacubano, North Fork Chocolate, Meats Meat, North Fork Flour Shoppe, Oysterponds Shellfish, Piesans Pizza, Rugged Jacks, Seaside Grill, The Catered Fork, The Halyard, The Treatery and The Village Cheese Shop.
Vineyards and wineries included Borghese, Chronicle, Clovis Point, Coffee Pot, Ev&Em, Harbes, Jamesport, Macari, Palmer, Paumanok, Peconic Bay, Pellegrini, Pindar, Pugliese, Sannino and Sparkling Pointe. Guests were given a complimentary Northforker wine glass.
There were local breweries on hand as well, including Eastern Front, Greenport Harbor, Kid Squid, North Fork, Peconic County, Take Two, Twin Fork and Westhampton Beach. Montauk Distilling provided craft seltzer and Campari served cocktails.
Additional sponsors for the evening included platinum sponsor California Closets; gold sponsors Intelli-Tec and East Bay Builders; silver sponsors Campari, Aperol Spritz, Appleton Estate, Espolon Tequila, Skyy Vodka, Grand Marnier and Wild Turkey; and bronze sponsors Ocean Electric, Goldsmith’s Boat Shop and Lucas Ford.