The last rays of fading daylight fall on vineyards planted on a thin, sandy strip of land a few hundred feet from the Long Island Sound and the Peconic Bay. The briny, salty ocean breezes blow gently across the land. The shrill song of crickets and cicadas is interrupted by a dog howling in the distance. It's like a pastoral scene from another era, when time was told only by the passing seasons and the daily transit of the sun and moon. This rural, spirit-infused place remains much as it was when it was celebrated in the poems of one of its native sons, Walt Whitman.
 

Long Island may be New York's youngest wine region, but like a precocious child, it has quickly overtaken the state's older wine regions both in terms of the quality and craftsmanship of its wines. Like other wine regions across New York, Long Island's soils were created by the retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age.
 

This tranquil land, a mosaic of vineyards, wetlands, open pasture and forest, exists only 85 miles from New York City. The Long Island appellation consists of two distinct American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), the Hamptons and the North Fork. The Hamptons appellation has two wineries, while the North Fork has 21 wineries with over 2,000 acres planted to many of the classical grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling.
 

The North Fork of Long Island is surrounded by water, with the Long Island Sound on the north, Peconic Bay on the south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Ocean breezes moderate heat and cold reducing daily temperature swings. This protects vines from damaging frosts and premature bud-break in the spring. The growing season is generally about three weeks longer than other wine regions in New York. The classic Bordeaux red varieties thrive here in a maritime climate not unlike that of the Medoc in France. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc can ripen fully. They thrive on the deep, sandy loam soils. The region's first commercial vineyard, Hargrave, was established in 1973 by Alex and Louisa Hargrave, who planted the vineyard on a former potato field. Over the quarter century since, dozens of vintners following their lead have planted vineyards and created wines that are constantly garnering international acclaim.