Winemakers Gilles Martin (left) and Tom Drozd at one of nine blind-tastings

Is the flavor or aroma of Merlot from Long Island different from Merlot made in Pomerol or Sonoma County or Tuscany? If you believe in the formative power of terroir, it should. The Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA), which believes merlot is the signature varietal of Long Island, commissioned new research by Louisa Hargrave, Ph.D., to assess whether the Merlot wines of our region have a profile that’s distinct from those of other regions known for merlot. What we discovered is that our wines do have a personality of their own, redolent of the fruits—and soil characteristics—of our island.

Dr. Hargrave, responsible for the first merlot plantings on Long Island, led a nine-week tasting series throughout the summer and fall, 2009. LIMA members and other representatives of the East End winemaking community attended the tastings, sampling “blind” Merlots from Long Island, California, France and Italy, and using descriptors established in a 2008 kickoff of the organization’s taste-and-aroma-profile work to rate what they detected on the nose and palate. The wines were also scored on the presence of oak and perception of alcohol, and given hedonic scores as well. 

Merlot from all regions shared common descriptors—cherry, tobacco, blueberry, mushroom and cassis (with cassis appearing slightly more often than mushroom in Long Island wines alone). But it was noted that correlations could be made between the Long Island Merlots and plants indigenous to the East End, especially blueberry, blackberry, red raspberry, strawberry, cherry, plum, cranberry and violets. For winemaker Richard Olsen-Harbich, the list of defining elements should be expanded to include our native beach plum, sassafras and chamomile, plus beach stones, cedar, and mineral salts—all common to Long Island’s terroir. Indeed, in her own summary comments to the group, Dr. Hargrave acknowledged the wide diversity of minerals in the glacial moraine soils here. “Just go to the beach and see how many different kinds of stones there are,” she said. Certainly, minerality is an important concept at play.

The descriptors “green stemmy,” canned green bean, and anise also were found in wines from every region, but appeared more frequently in relation to Long Island wines. While many may consider these descriptors to be negative, as part of a larger descriptive profile, they did not always result in lower hedonic scores. Rather, they may be considered elements that make a wine more interesting. As winemaker John Leo pointed out, “With bottle age, they may become less negative and more ‘complexing’ agents.”

Balance, complexity, and dynamic energy also emerged as useful descriptors for Long Island Merlot. Participants in these tastings often noted the balance in Long Island wines, in ratings of their proportion of oak and alcohol, and also in comments on their acidity, tannin and fruitiness. In addition, during the tastings, participants would remark on how much the Long Island wines changed, usually for the better, over a 10- or 15-minute period in the glass. Sometimes the descriptors changed; more often, impressions that were initially negative became positive. There is a subtle interplay of fruit, tannin, minerality and fermentation effects resulting from this terroir that seems to make the wines dynamic. As winemaker Roman Roth said, “The best wines Long Island merlot makes…don’t reveal everything in the first sniff. The play between the fruit, reductive and herbal notes, oak and acidity at low alcohol is what makes these wines special.”