Behind the Bottle: The Rise of Wine in Long Island

Profiling owners, winemakers, and personalities from around the country and the world, Behind the Bottle is a fun and intriguing look at the people who have made Long Island into one of the hottest wine regions in the country. Long Island has been a leader in winemaking since 1975. In the last forty years, Long Island's rise has been meteoric. Long a rural region famed for their duck and their potatoes, Long Island, now visited by 1.3 million people each year, has carved out a wine country second to none. With highly acclaimed wines garnering rave reviews from Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications, Long Island wines have been celebrated around the country and across the Atlantic ocean. Here, Edible East End editor Eileen M. Duffy profiles winemakers and wineries that have received this high acclaim, and shares their stories. Men and women from as far away as California, France, even New Zealand have come here to create a wine country whose wines, including Chardonnay, Sauvingon Blanc, Merlot, and Meritages among others, are second to none. BEHIND THE BOTTLE illustrates the fascinating story from the region's birth to its zenith.

About the Author :
Eileen M. Duffy, Edible East End's deputy editor, holds a diploma in wine and spirits from the International Wine Center and has been writing about food and wine on the East End since 2003.

Review :
"This book will be essential, educational and enjoyable for those who want to learn more about the people, the grapes and the growing conditions of Long Island and its fine wines."--Richard Leahy, author of Beyond Jefferson's Vines "To call the Long Island wine region 'emergent' is dated thinking. It has arrived and is producing wines deserving of every wine lover's attention. The region also deserves this book. Eileen knows the region, its wines and the folks behind them. That enables her to shine the spotlight on the right people in the right way -- mixing the region's history with its pioneering, inspiring and sometimes controversial personalities."--Lenn Thompson, New York Cork Report "American wine is no longer made just on the West Coast. Eileen Duffy introduces us to the winemakers and personalities who have transformed Long Island from a potato-farming resort for New York's rich and famous to a wine-growing resort for New York's rich and famous. Along the way we meet the pioneers who had a crazy idea that European grapes could grow here and the modern pathfinders determined to make Long Island wine sustainable -- not just as a producer of world-class wines, but as an environmentally friendly enterprise."--Dave McIntyre, wine columnist for The Washington Post and co-founder of Drink Local Wine "Behind the Bottle offers lively vignettes of Long Island's contemporary wine scene. In addition to focusing on the diverse personalities and philosophies of individual winemakers, Eileen Duffy also manages to convey a sense of the momentum that continues to sweep this wine region toward a respected and cohesive maturity."--Marguerite Thomas, author of Touring East Coast Wine Country "[Eileen Duffy] tells the tale magnificently, whether you know Long Island wine or not. How do you weave a patchwork of ideas that adds up to a real feel for a place? You structure your book around the great masters of the region, past and present, who idiosyncratically tell you in many different ways about their personal Long Islands. It's magic."--David Rosengarten, Editor-in-Chief, The Rosengarten Report "The American wine industry continues to grow, and with that growth we have seen some emerging regions really shine. Long Island is one of those regions. Behind the Bottle tells the story of Long Island wine from the people who made the region what it is today."--Michael Kaiser, Director of Public Affairs, WineAmerica, National Association of American Wineries