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This page is print-ready, and this article will remain available for 90 days. Instructions for Saving | About this Service | Member Center |
| November 24, 2002, Sunday LONG ISLAND WEEKLY DESK
The regular cabernet franc ($22), made mostly from bought grapes, is a sturdy, complex, elegant wine with chocolate, herbal and smoked-meat notes. Charles Massoud, an owner and the winemaker, said the 2000 vintage ''revealed the full potential'' of this grape at Paumanok.
The regular merlot ($22) -- soft, fruity, pleasing and approachable -- used grapes from younger blocks that lacked the complexity to go into the Grand Vintage merlot, the winery's reserve bottling. The Grand Vintage merlot ($36), made mostly from older blocks of grapes, is warm, rich, fleshy and spicy, with raspberry and chocolate flavors. While the bottle was left uncorked for 48 hours, the wine held its own, not weakening at all, and it became almost pillow-soft. Though I rarely discuss unavailable wines, for the record it is obvious why certain vats of cabernet franc received a Grand Vintage designation, Paumanok's first for this grape. This reserve wine, priced at $49 but now sold out, was sumptuous, succulent, full of depth and power, deeply grapy, smoky, oaky and packed with nuances. In 1993, a splendid vintage, Paumanok's Assemblage designation was created for its Bordeaux-style blend. The 2000 Assemblage ($36), made from the same level of grapes found in the Grand Vintage bottlings, consists of merlot and cabernet sauvignon (45 percent each) and cabernet franc (10 percent). Don't be put off by the artificial cork. The wine, dominated by the cabernet sauvignon, is big, round, strongly alcoholic, deeply smoky, with notes of cassis, chocolate and prunes. The Grand Vintage cabernet sauvignon ($36 now, $39 in January), my favorite wine in this platoon, is opulent, fleshy, full of cassis, cedar nuances and spice. Like the others, it is full bodied and filled with upfront flavor. This wine, Mr. Massoud said, confirms that ''great cabernet sauvignons can and are being made on Long Island'' despite skeptics' views. He's right in advising that if drunk early, it needs decanting. HOWARD G. GOLDBERG
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