The Wine Trail
The North Fork, tasting room by tasting room.
Long Island's other fork: thirty miles of vines between the Sound and the bay. Six tasting rooms from Aquebogue to Greenport — the pioneers, the sparkling house, the ocean-breeze merlots — ending at Greenport harbor with the antique carousel. NON-NEGOTIABLE RULE: a designated driver or hired wheels for the whole route; the driver drinks free points — every stop's task can be done sober and the DD gets +5 at each one for doing it.
The stops
First vines of the trail — family-run since 1983. Team toast photo on the deck over the vines; the DD toasts with the best mocktail in the house.
Biodynamic country — ask what the cows have to do with the wine and get the answer on video.
The label that made the North Fork famous (their merlot poured at a presidential inauguration). Vineyard-row photo, glasses raised to the Sound breeze.
The big one — hundreds of acres, the trail's old warhorse. Find the longest row of vines you can and photo the team dwarfed at the end of it.
Nothing but bubbles, méthode champenoise. Photo of the pour mid-fizz; +5 for a cork-pop caught on video (staff permitting).
The only waterfront tasting room on the trail — vines to the bluff, Sound beyond. Cliff-edge-lawn panorama, every glass in frame.
Trail's end: the 1920s carousel in Mitchell Park. Whole team rides — grab for the brass ring, photo mid-spin. DD picks dinner; the team pays.