My boyfriend and I are planning a day trip to visit the Long Island wineries either Saturday or Sunday of the Memorial Day weekend. We'd like to fit in a couple of vineyards and also lunch. I am especially interested in a restaurant that does wine and food pairings (outdoor seating would be great!).

For those who have been, your recommendations of specific wineries and restaurants (within moderate price range) are appreciated. Any other tips or tidbits you would like to share are welcome as well.

Thank you in advance!

North Fork or South Fork?

And keep in mind that the traffic will be atrocious -- I hope you don't spend your day sitting in gridlock.

La Cuvee Wine bar & bistro in the Greenporter hotel in Greenport has a menu that pairs wine with the food but I don't know how good it is.
http://www.thegreenporter.com/pages/lacuvee_frame.htm

Here's a link to the LI Vineyards' website
http://www.liwines.com/default.ihtml?page=vineyards

The Frisky Oyster is a very good restaurant in Greenport but only open for dinner. The Red Door in Mattituck is also supposed to be very good.

There's some info on chowhound.com about the vineyards. I can recommend Wolffer & Channing Daughters on the south fork but less familiar with the north fork vineyards.

My favorite winery is Paumanok in Aquebogue. This is one of the most westerly wineries, one of the first ones you will pass when driving east from Riverhead. Whites are their strongpoint. If you want to have dinner at Frisky Oyster, you need to call them asap. They do not have outdoor seating, though.

www.paumanok.com

The North Fork is lots of fun and all the vineyards are right on rt 25 (the Main street) You take thei road all the way to the end to Greenport.

A trip to Pindar Vineyards is a must, I think it is one of the first vineyards there and is one of the best for a wine tour. Puglise vineyards makes an award winning Merlot, which is also on 25. They are all very easy to find and easy to get to.

Once you get to Greenport, there is the famous (and historic from the 1800's I think) restauant Claudio's. If you like the author Nelson DeMille, you will really love this trip as many of the places are mentioned in his books. If you are looking for wine parings, La Cuvee is in the Greenporter like the above poster mentioned. Have never been there. We usually go to Claudio's clam bar and meet friends from Conn who take their boat over. The clam bar is right on the dock and is actually a riot. It is a great place to people watch...there is enough comedy material to last a few years there.

On the way home stop in the Modern Diner and pick up a pie or stop in and eat. This place is like walking into a time warp and the food is excellent.

There is only 1 problem - TRAFFIC and lots of it. You may sit on the LIE for a while just to get to 25. Once you are on 25, you will see nothing but brake lights heading towards Greenport and the Vineyards. Everybody and their mother will be out this weekend...people going to their summer home for the first time, lots of bikers, Greenport/The Vineyards are very popular for the Harley set. There have been many times DH and I just turned around and went home and had wine instead....it can be that bad. We live on LI and when we go we go during the week, and there is still lots of traffic out that way so a holiday weekend will be horrible. I'm talking about taking 20 minutes to go a mile horrible...25 is a 1 lane road and the traffic is from Riverhead to Greenport.

I can recommend an alternate to you. My DH and I found this vineyard a few years ago by accident. It is Loughlin Vineyards and it is in Sayville. It is not a fancy schmancy vineyard by any means...just the opposite. It is hidden down a dirt road and there is a shack on a little slice of heaven. The wine tasting is free and there is usually a basket of chips or crackers out, what ever Barney or his sister have for the day. There are a few picnic tables if you want to bring your own lunch. But the wine is very good and we always buy a bottle or three. It has become quite popular by word of mouth in the past few years too, lots more people. The town of Sayville is also a day trip in itself, quaint speciality shops and the town reminds me of Mayberry. My favorite place to eat here is The Cull House, and tnehy do have outdoor seating. It is off Foster Avenue just down the road from the Fire Island Ferries. Great Delicious Seafood very fresh and the Bloody Mary's are extremely good! It is a quaint little vary casual fish house they do have wines including Loughlin Vineyards. If you don't like fish there is Collins and Main, which offers the wine parings you are looking for, but no outdoor seating.

Hope this helps....always good to have a plan B

We thought about hitting the LI wineries for a daytrip this weekend, too.

Thank you, all, for the potential traffic issues which I somewhat expected. We'll probably take the less than 2-hour drive to the Hudson Valley wineries, instead, and do the LI ones on a future non-holiday weekday .

my neighborhood! i would highly reccomend "wolffer" on the southfork, and "lenz" on the north fork. these are the best! when your at wolffer, you're not sure if you are on long island, or in tuscany. lenz, is really some of my favorite wine i've had. these places mostly have a cheese/fruit/olive plates and maybe that will suffice for lunch.

North Fork. We wanted to start at Greenport and make our way westward.

Annebel, thanks for such an informative response! Your insight will be very helpful. In fact, thanks to everyone!

You're welcome! Have fun

I +highly+ recommend Castello Borghese on the North Fork. Excellent wines. I thought Pindar was absolutely awful and do not recommend them at all.

I agree: Pindar is horrible!

Wow, I have not been to Pindar in years and years. I do remember it being one of the first. I don't like their wine, but I thought the wine tour was really nice and very informative, the building is beautiful. But also that was at the beginning of my wine appreciation....many many years ago - LOL.

I agree that Pindar is my least favorite winery on the North Fork. I second Castello di Borghese - they have great, heavy and complex red wines if you're into that kind of thing. One new winemaker that popped up pretty recently is Vineyard 48, almost right next door to Castello. They had a small selection, but their wines were really good and for a great price. An alternative to driving 25 is taking Sound Ave. (where Castello and Vineyard 48 are located). There are a number of wineries on that road and might not be as traffic-filled as 25 (and is a nicer drive, IMO). Have fun though! I am jealous!

I recommend a picnic at one of the wineries for lunch (Pugliese has a beatiful outdoor area). Grab some black olive-rosemary bread, some cheeses, and some meats from the Village Cheese Shop in Mattituck! Get a bottle of wine & enjoy

Agree that Pindar has one of the best tours we've done on L.I., and enjoy the $-)Mythology. Adjacent Lenz winery has respectable Gewurtzraminer, have to check on the other suggestions above

agree with Carly about staying off of 25 as much as possible.