Group of North Fork Wineries Offering AARP Tasting Room Discounts

A group of North Fork wineries has teamed up with the Association for the Advancement of Retired Persons to offer discounted wine tastings this summer.

AARP has begun sending mailings and emails to its area member promoting the discounts, which began arriving in members’ mailboxes a week ago.

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose members are people age 50 and over. It has 37 million members nationally and offers a wide range of national discounts for travel, shopping, movie theaters and healthcare, among other things. Local membership figures could not be obtained and attempts to reach the media office at AARP were unsuccessful.

Steve Bate, executive director of the Long Island Wine Council said AARP officials reached out to the winery trade group “to see if we were open to doing a promotion with them.” The offer was put out to the group’s 40-plus wineries, he said. Thirteen, all on the North Fork, agreed to join the marketing effort.

“It’s good for the wineries offering it,” said Bate, explaining that the AARP’s membership represents “the kind of age demographic that we see a lot of out here. Their demographic is quite strong is this area. It’s an opportunity to promote the region to that demographics and get people into the tasting rooms.”

So far, the response has been minimal, some wineries said.

“A group of older gentlemen came in last week,” said Kylie Hirsch at Pellegrini Vineyards in Cutchogue.

At Palmer Vineyards in Riverhead, tasting room manager Bridget Quinn Miceli-Martinez said she had one request last weekend for a discounted tasting. “The people were very appreciative that we extended a discount,” she added.

Various wineries have offered discounted tastings in the past, including a promotion with the Cross Sound Ferry.

The discounts vary by winery and members must show their AARP membership card and photo ID to get the special offer. 

The wineries and their discounts:

Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard: Discounted tasting fee of $5 for 3 wines. The regular price is $6.

Castello di Borghese: $5 off the price of the $20 weekly winemaker’s walk guided tour of the winery and wine tasting.

Clovis Point: 2 for 1 tastings. Tastings prices range from $6 to $25.

Comtesse Thérèse Winery and Bistro: 2 for 1 wine tastings.

Jason’s Vineyard: Buy one tasting get a second at half-price.

Laurel Lake Vineyards: Discounted tasting fee of $5 for 3 wines. The regular price is $7.

Macari Vineyards & Winery: Buy one tasting; get a second at half-price.

Martha Clara Vineyards: Free tasting flight of select wines.

Osprey’s Dominion: Half-price for a tasting.

Palmer Vineyards: Discounted tasting fee of $5 for 3 wines (limit one tasting per person).

Peconic Bay Winery: Free wine tasting for 2 adults.

Pellegrini Vineyards: 2-for-1 bar tastings.

Sherwood House Vineyards: Half-price wine tasting flights