Scarola Vineyards does not have a tasting room.

Scarola Vineyards does not have a vineyard, per se.

Scarola Vineyards dose have some of the best Merlot I have ever had!

Frank Scarola is a small producer of wines here on Long Island.  I recently visited with him (there will be a post this week about it…soon) at his soon to be Bed & Breakfast.  I also had a bottle of Scarola vineyards 2005 Merlot with David Paige & Barbara Shinn after a full day of harvesting a while back.  And from that moment, Frank had me.

This is from Scarola Vineyards information sheet:

Scarola Vineyards is a small Long Island Winery dedicated to sustaining a family tradition begun generations ago in Bari, Italy, where proprietor Frank Scarola’s parents were farmers and wine makers. In 1960 Frank and his family came to the United States, where they settled in New York City and continued the family radition of producing delicious Vino.

This is his 2004 Merlot.  It is from Roanoke Vineyard and Indian Neck Vineyard.  It is a blend of 84% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Franc.  Aged for 19 months in barrique barrels.  Only 148 cases were made.  It retails on their website for $16.95.

On the nose, I was picking up some wonderful notes of blackberries and plum.  I was also getting some wonderful chocolate notes and a floral note that reminded me of lavender.  There was a herbal element, that I could not put my finger on, but it reminded me my herb garden on a windy day.  There was a touch of cedar and tobacco. 

This wine had a feeling of “warmth”.  What’s that, you say, well warmth is the feeling you have when you come home from work, slip on your comfortable clothes and cover your self up in a blanket.  It is a real homey wine.

The taste of this wine was even better.  There was some wonderful black cherry and cocoa notes.  There was a hint of fresh coffee beans and exotic spices.  A little char was there too.   I was getting this caramel, toffee like, toasty vanilla flavor at the finish after a while which was really cool.  The tannins were nice and soft and made this wine a real treat.

My wife gave this a taste and said, “Nice guys make nice wine”.  She could not be more spot on.