Charity Robey

An idyllic wine-tasting spot has opened at Shelter Island's White Oak Gardens

WHITE OAK WINE GARDEN OPENED EARLIER THIS SUMMER WITHIN THE POPULAR SHELTER ISLAND GARDEN CENTER. (PHOTO CREDIT: COURTESY WHITE OAK WINE GARDEN)

By Charity Robey

 

Winemaker Tom Spotteck, of Lenz Winery and Kristian Clark, president of White Oak Farm and Gardens, have created an outdoor wine-tasting area within the existing garden center, on Rt. 114 in the middle of Shelter Island. Whether you are looking to purchase a vine or the fruit of, the White Oak Wine Garden is a relaxed and easygoing experience.

Julia King was on hand to pour from the curated menu of local wines on Thursday afternoon, chosen from a curated list that included a White Oak Wine Garden rosé as well as bottles from Saltbird Cellars, Montauk Daisy and Anthony Nappa.

“Our goal is to showcase some of local winemakers’ special wines — the things that they make on the side, to feature smaller winemakers that may not have their own tasting rooms or who have smaller tasting rooms,” she said.

Open since Memorial Day weekend, the tasting room is a lovely, rambling outdoor space of tree-stump stools, flowering plants, a pergola and enormous trees (including the eponymous White Oak) where you can relax with dog and kids, buy a glass of the house rosé — a “laid back and elegant” wine conceived by Spotteck — or Canette spritzers from Chronicle Wines, soft drinks and snacks.

THE HOUSE ROSÉ WAS CONCEIVED BY TOM SPOTTECK, HEAD WINEMAKER AT LENZ WINERY IN CUTCHOGUE. (PHOTO CREDIT: COURTESY WHITE OAK WINE GARDEN)

Last Saturday, Kiki Boucher enjoyed lunch on the porch with a glass of rosé, two cheeses, locally made bread, cold cuts, champagne grapes and a French rose petal jelly that she’s partial to. “It was a very nice picnic lunch,” she said. “I read Vanity Fair while eating.”

Cheese and charcuterie from the King Andrew Cheese carriage are available Thursday through Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and there is often music on weekends, including Rob Europe on Sunday, August 29, 2 p.m.-5p.m.

The White Oak Wine Garden is open Thursday- Monday 12 p.m.-7 p.m., 68-76 NY 114, Shelter Island. Reservations are not required.

All the best ways to each local peaches on the North Fork

Peach season on the North Fork is now. The glorious local orbs are ripe, juicy and ready to ruin your favorite blouse.  (That’s what you get for wearing a blouse in August.)

If you’re all in for peaches, Wickham’s Fruit Farm has them by the bushel, $25 for enough fruit to keep you busy all weekend. Smaller quantities are available at farm stands everywhere.

Local chefs are taking advantage of the all-too-brief bounty.

At Noah’s in Greenport, peach puree is the key component of Peach Jalapeno a vodka-based summer cocktail that pairs peach with a punch.

Briermere Farms, voted one of the best places for pie in Northforkers 2021 Best of competition is celebrating this month’s peachalanche with a stunning array of possibilities:  Peach Pie, Peach-Cherry, Raspberry-Peach and Peach Cream Pie.

Lisa Murphy, a pastry chef who now owns Vine Street Café on Shelter Island with partner and husband Terry Harwood is making a Peach Blueberry Croustade w/ Pistachio Nut Crumble and Buttermilk Ice Cream. It’s a rustic layer of tender buttery crust filled with sliced peaches, and enough blueberries to peek out the top, adorned with a scoop of ice cream, and a scattering of toasted nuts.  

 

PEACH BLUEBERRY CROUSTADE W/ PISTACHIO NUT CRUMBLE AND BUTTERMILK ICE CREAM FROM VINE STREET CAFÉ. (PHOTO CREDIT: CHARITY ROBEY)

Amanda Hayward at Commander Cody’s on Shelter Island is partial to grilling her peaches. “I halve them, brush them with clarified butter and grill-not long, 4-5 minutes. It helps if the peach is just perfectly ripe and tender, so you get nice grill marks Then I serve with homemade ice cream and whipped cream flavored with bourbon.”

Grilled peaches are also favorite of Marie Eiffel, of Shelter Island’s Marie Eiffel Market. She likes to serve them alongside a nice grilled filet of local fish.

You should eat a peach, but that’s not the only way to get that sweet summer flavor in your mouth. Recently a customer came into Hook & Net in Greenport — where chef Gayle Scarberry has been cooking calamari and salmon burgers and smoking fish — and offered her a literal windfall: a tree’s worth of peach wood that was felled by a storm over the winter. “Now I’m curing peach wood out back,” said Scarberry. “For scallops, and a lot of sweeter seafood that I smoke, fruitwood is amazing.”