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  • September 14, 2011

  • by Jim Merritt, Special to Newsday

For many years, the most prestigious wines in the world were the red wines of Bordeaux. Red Bordeaux are always blends,
but the dominant grape is usually either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. Although those grapes first rose to fame in Bordeaux,
France, they have become wildly successful and popular in the United States. California Cabernet Sauvignon has been worldclass for quite a while. Back in 1976, at the “Judgment of Paris” wine competition, a California Cabernet outranked the top Bordeaux wines. The French judges were so shocked that they had judged California’s wines to be superior that they tried to change their scoring of the wines!

Fast-forward to today, and many California Cabernets and Cabernet blends are extremely popular and often as expensive or more expensive than the wines of Bordeaux. Some iconic “cult Cabernets” from California cost up to $750 a bottle at release. But don’t worry about having to raise that much cash—you can only get one of these rarities if you are a mailing-list customer or buy them on the secondary market at a huge markup. But, as we will see, there is no need to spend down what’s left
of your 401k to get great Cabernet or Merlot. Great American reds don’t come only from California. For close to two decades, Washington state has been hot on California’s heels when it comes to great Cabernet and Merlot. And some may be surprised to hear that the North Fork of Long Island, N.Y., now produces some astounding Merlot and Cabernet Franc (the third leading grape of Bordeaux).
New York state’s Long Island (including the chic Hamptons) might seem an unlikely place for world-class Merlot blends, but look for (some of) these standouts:

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