Peconic Bay Winery Bottles Last Wine

It's the end of an era.

Peconic Bay Winery announced Friday that it would be bottling its last wine for sale, the black-labeled Lowerre Family Estate, from the 2010 vintage. 

“Early in 2009 we sat down to blend a ‘tete-de-cuvée’ or a grand reserve style,” general manager Jim Silver, said.  “We named that blend after the family that owns the winery, and dressed it in a beautiful black label and heavy glass. Our first release, the 2007, was named wine of the year by the New York Cork Report.” 


Paul Lowerre, owner and president of Lav-Cor Agricultural, Inc. parent company of Empire State Cellar and Peconic Bay Winery reflected on the news.

 “Our decision to stop production at Peconic Bay Winery was based on simple economics," he said. “We still farm over 52 acres of premium grapes in Cutchogue and in Mattituck, so I’m not going to say we’re finished producing wine – but we’re most likely finished making wine for ourselves.”

The winery moved its tasting room to Empire State Cellars in January of this year. 

The final release from Peconic Bay Winery is a 2010 vintage red blend of 60 percent Merlot from vineyards on Oregon Road in Mattituck, as well as 30 percent Malbec from the same field, with 10 percent Cabernet Franc sourced from the original old vines on Main Road in Cutchogue, which surround the winery itself.

The wine was aged for more than eighteen months in older French barrels, mostly two to four years old.

The final blend was assembled by the whole team, including Greg Gove, winemaker since 1999, Zander Hargrave, assistant winemaker since 2010, and Silver. 

The wines will be sold at Empire State Cellars in Tanger Mall in Riverhead, retailing for $49 per bottle. Ninety nine three-bottle wooden cases were produced and will retail for $159 each. In addition, a limited number of 375 ml bottles will sell for $29, magnum bottles for $109, and double-magnums for $249. A total of 400 cases were produced. The wine will be available for tasting at Empire State Cellars, through Thanksgiving.

For months, speculation has been swirling about whether the vineyards were up for sale.

On Friday, Silver said, "No, we’ve not been sold.  And right now we’re still not for sale. In fact,, the vineyards are going to be run by Russell for another year into 2014.  One of our parcels in Peconic is for sale, though, for $2.65 million at Brown Harris Stevens."

Silver said it would take two to three years to sell the property even if a buyer stepped forward immediately.