The Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA) is proud to announce the formation of the Merliance Wine Trail to celebrate the release of its highly anticipated 2011 Merliance cooperative red blend.
Kicking off the season on May 24th, taste world-class Merlots and Merliance wine at each of the seven participating wineries; Sherwood House Vineyards, Clovis Point, T’Jara Vineyards, McCall Wines, Lieb Cellars, Raphael, and Wolffer Estate Vineyard.
Simply pick up your Merliance Wine Trail Map at one of the seven member wineries. After your visit, each winery will stamp your card and when you get to your final winery, you will receive a FREE bottle of Merliance wine.
Visitors of the Merliance Wine Trail will gain valuable knowledge about merlot and merlot based varietals themselves while experiencing the full potential of the Long Island appellation in producing superior quality, age-worthy, balanced, classic wines.
“Long Island is one of the few places in the world that provides the best opportunity for growing and producing world-class wines substantially comprised of the merlot grape. We have wonderful growing conditions to make a special merlot and it shows that we are taking this grape variety seriously,” said Roman Roth, President, LIMA.
Merliance is the only cooperative wine made on Long Island. It stands as the emblem of our organization, raising the bar for wine quality and creating a sense of place and community between the members. Each vintage reveals a wine that is something more than the sum of its parts.
The cooperative wine is a blend of 100% merlot from each LIMA-member winery, whose wines hail from The Hamptons and The North Fork of Long Island American Viticultural Areas (AVAs).
Each Long Island Merlot Alliance member-winery commits to the blend between one to four barrels of finished merlot produced using sustainable viticulture practices and winemaking techniques. These lots are carefully chosen when the Member-winemakers gather annually to taste and marry barrel samples of their wines to create a blend that defines the characteristics of Long Island merlot, demonstrates the strength of the terroir and symbolizes the fruits of their cooperation. The final blend is barrel-aged for one year before it is bottled and released.
ABOUT US:
The Long Island Merlot Alliance (LIMA) is a trade organization which strives to educate media and consumers as to the quality of merlot and merlot based blends produced in Long Island, N.Y. In addition, it is our mission to promote the varietals themselves as well as the global marketing of merlot and merlot based blends from Long Island.
SUPPORT LIMA:
Merliance sells for $35. The sale of Merliance wine funds the activities of the Alliance, from research initiatives to events. Find Merliance for sale at each of our member’s websites and tasting rooms. For more information please visit www.longislandmerlot.com
