Wine Tasting in the Hamptons

On Saturday I went wine tasting in the Hamptons, courtesy of Gilt City, and it was definitely one of the most enjoyable days I’ve had all summer. There are very few friends who would have been okay to meet me at 8:15 and spend 10 hours in close confines with each other but my friend Ali was the percent company. After a bit of a delayed start we made the two hour trip west from New York City out to the Hamptons.

The first vineyard we visited was Osprey’s Dominion Vineyard in North Fork, Long Island.  As we stepped off the bus we received neon orange papers good for a four course tasting of wine and 20% off all purchases.  After the small splashes of wine, which reminded us of shot-size servings, we explored the vineyard.  There were both red and green grapes on the vine but unfortunately they were mostly hidden by mesh netting. We then headed inside and made the executive decision we would pay $8 for the upsell to larger tastings of their five vintage wines. I originally felt bad when I took a few sips of the reds and dumped the rest but then I remembered we had two more vineyards. Then it was back on the bus to vineyard number two.

Less than two minutes after we left Osprey we pulled into the second stop, Dulkwalk Vineyard, and Ali and I laughed. The two were less than half a mile apart. As we got off the bus we were handed four blue tickets and were able to choose four wines to taste from the list of 10. Even though this was supposedly the best vineyard of our trip neither of us found a glass we particularly loved. We took a few photos with the relatively barren vineyards as a back drop and admired a bride posing outside the gazebo before her ceremony. Then back on to the bus we went.

After spending an hour at each of the first two vineyards we pulled into the third and last at 1:40pm.  We were encouraged to get lunch at Jason’s Vineyard in addition to drinking wine on our two hour visit. Ali and I made a great life decision and got sandwiches, Diet Cokes, and a salad to split between us.  During our break from drinking we lucked out and the women at the table next to us who were on a previous tour were leaving and had not used any of their drink tickets.  Instead of four little pieces of happiness, we each had eight! 

It is true, I would have been very drunk if I had eight large samples of wine on top of what I had already drunk but I decided to be adventurous and order five glasses I would have never usually touched. It turns out for four of them I was correct, but one was a pleasant surprise. Other people on the tour must have been a bit more toasty than me though as one woman could not figure out between the restrooms labelled “god” and “goddess” which she should go in.  Oh, and randomly there were llamas.

The bus back was another story. 42 drunk people in stop and go traffic for over two hours? Nope. Ali and I were at the back of the bus and were in for front row seats to four massive blow up fights including one break up where a girl actually used the line, “do you know how much money my parents make?” as part of her argument.  Besides the bus though if you have a free weekend between now and the end of the October the Hamptons Wine Tasting excursion is still available!