One Woman Winery is of Unparalleled Taste
by Lindsey A. Zahn on September 9, 2010
One of my favorite wineries on the North Fork of Long Island (and trust me, it can be difficult at times to choose) is One Woman Wines & Vineyards. As a woman who values architectural beauty and ambience during her wine tastings, my list of favorites generally reflects larger Long Island producers who house their wines in aesthetically-pleasing, Architectural Digest-worthy properties, including Wölffer Estate Vineyard, Bedell Cellars Winery, and Raphael. Claudia Purita of One Woman, however, wins her place on my favorites list for complete uniqueness. As a producer of only four wines (a reserve chardonnay, chardonnay, rosé, and gewurztraminer—each of which is purely sensational), Ms. Purita blends her Italian heritage with hospitality.
Put aside complex legal business structures and much of the theatrics of family-owned wineries, One Woman Winery is entirely what she claims to be: owned and operated by one woman. Operating out of a small, red-painted structure resembling a one-room schoolhouse, and altogether off of the “path” of North Fork wine country, One Woman Winery honors solitude through its rather rustic placement and framework. A great place to visit and receive truly hands-on learning about wine tasting or the wine products of Ms. Purita, One Woman’s tasting room contains nothing more than a wooden plank separating guests from its wines. But anything more would be unnecessary; the wines speak for themselves.
The estate reserve chardonnay is my favorite, priced at $40 a bottle. Before a taste, one can even smell butterscotch from the glass of this complex, rich and well-structured wine. The bouquet is crafted with honeysuckle, lemon, vanilla, and toast and fermented in French oak (a rarity for most Long Island wines). And, before the grapes are picked, they are given an extra two weeks of hang time and rotting pairs are removed by hand with tweezers. Ms. Purita produces only 202 cases of her reserve chardonnay per year, emphasizing her appraise of solitude.
One Woman’s regular chardonnay is not nearly as complex, but features a lively structure of citrus notes and vanilla and is fermented in both steel and wood barrels. Her gewurztraminer is perhaps one of the best Long Island bouquets I have tasted; its body is light and well-balanced, featuring notes of florals, lychee, and fruits. Its bouquet is, like many other Long Island white wines, fermented in steel barrels. Finally, her 100% merlot rosé features a crisp but dry complexity for a rosé with tropical notes. It is a blend of cluster pressed and saigneed juice under two different fermentation techniques.
It is truly no surprise that One Woman Winery’s estate reserve chardonnay is featured at venues including the Four Seasons and the Waldorf=Astoria, in addition to BLT Steak.
About the author
Lindsey Zahn wrote 149 articles on this blog.
Lindsey is the founder and author of On Reserve: A Wine Law Blog. She is a recent law school graduate and has a passion for the hospitality industry that furnishes her interest in wine law. Currently, she works at an alcohol beverage and food law firm in Washington, D.C. Lindsey passed the July 2012 New York State Bar Exam and is currently awaiting admission to the New York Bar (pending results from her character and fitness exam).
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