North Fork Wine Country
A Weekend Getaway Guide to Long Island’s Wine Country
I love visiting wine country! For me it’s the perfect blend of relaxation, beauty, culture, education and of course it’s lots of fun.🍷 As a New Yorker, getting away to Europe or Napa just to visit wine country isn’t a realistic option on a consistent basis. That’s the reason I first looked into the North Fork wine country- and I have to say, I’m a huge fan!
I’ve planned a few trips to the North Fork now, and had multiple people ask me to share my Google Doc (yes, I’m one of those people). So I decided I might as well share my findings with anyone who’s interested. Here’s my guide to a weekend in the North Fork.
Where To Stay
Unlike its Long Island cousin (the Hamptons), the North Fork is actually not a super touristy area — which is part of it’s charm. But that also means the B&B and hotel options are a little more limited. So when I found Sound View Greenport I fell in love immediately. This hotel has been around since 1935, but was recently renovated by a Brooklyn-based design firm.
Sound View has the most darling East Coast beach town vibe. It’s so peaceful and has a lot of character that you won’t find just anywhere — for example, where else can you find a piano bar that does piano karaoke? Here are few more specific details:
- Check in: 4pm, Check out: 11am
- Wifi
- Daily light, complimentary breakfast, coffee, and tea selections
- Onsite restaurant (Halyard) & piano bar
- Waterfront deck with beach access
- Seaside pool & Jack’s Shack concession stand (seasonal)
- Fitness room & sauna access
- Unique activities & events calendar
Wineries
There are TONS of wineries and tasting rooms to visit on the North Fork and it can be overwhelming trying to narrow down your list. I’ve done a lot of research on things like: tour & tasting options, vibe, food options, and more. These are the wineries I’ve visited so far:
Our experience at Bedell was FABULOUS, but that was in part to our wonderful host Liz. The winery is all around beautiful: vines, massive porch, and tasting room. They have a really cool overlook of their production facility upstairs and a fireplace(winning). We really enjoyed the wines and we were able to try more than we expected thanks to Liz. ;) We connected with Liz as soon as we walked through the door and proceeded to chat with her for about 2hrs. We learned all about Bedell, their wines, the labels (commissioned by artist) and more. It was a blast and although I highly recommend checking out Bedell, I can’t promise your experience will be as good as ours haha.
- Tasting: 5 wines for $20
- Food & cheese available
- Vibe: Picturesque, classy but also cozy, top rated
Croteaux is the only winery in the United States that produces only rosé. For that reason I was very curious to visit, but also wondered if there could really be that much variety between six different rosé wines. Turns out there’s a lot of variety and the wines were delicious! The tasting garden at Croteaux is absolutely adorable — perfect for a sunny afternoon. Unfortunately they’re not open year-round. They open in the spring when they release their first wines of the season and close in late fall once they sell out (so make sure to check their website before planning a visit).
- Tasting: 6 rosés for $25
- Light bites available for purchase
- Vibe: Picturesque, low-key, unique, French countryside-esq
This was one of my favorite all around experiences. The grounds were absolutely gorgeous, they had a great variety of wine, and my favorite part… a very informative tour. Our tour guide was a hoot, and made the whole thing more fun. Not only did the tour include a tasting and tour of the vines and production facility, there was also a unique barrel tasting. We learned so much about Long Island wine and how the weather specifically affects the local grapes and resulting wines.
- Tours are offered on Sat/Sun and include tasting
- Tastings without a tour are only offered at the bar and are first come first serve (no reservations)
- Light bites available for purchase
- Vibe: Beautiful, waterfront, busy, educational
Lieb was a cute stop. We went for a tasting in the evening and there was group of local ladies enjoying glasses of wine and each other’s company. We tried 3 reds and 3 whites here, but noticed that despite being listed as dry they were a little sweet for our taste.
- 3 tasting flight options: white wine (4 for $12), red wine (4 for $15), reserve wine (6 for $20)
- Cheese boards available
- Vibe: intimate, chill, low-key
Macari reminds me a lot of Napa. It’s one of the larger tasting rooms and has a beautiful porch and vineyard. They tend to be busier, but still do a good job of walking you through their wines during the tasting. They also have some of our favorite wines we tried- one gal even joined their wine club! In my opinion this is a can’t miss winery.
- Tasting: 5 wines for $30
- Cheese, charcuterie, and other snacks available, plus wood-fired pizza truck on select weekends
- Vibe: elegant, educational, Napa-esq, top rated
Sannino was a cozy spot with great snacks and some interesting wines. I appreciated that they had some paired tasting options- even a truffle option that sounded exciting. I also liked that you get to choose your own wines if you pick the 6 tasting option. Overall I wouldn’t say the wines as a whole were my favorite, but I really enjoyed a couple that I tried.
- Tasting: Any 6 wines for $20 or single tasting for $3.50
- Preset cheese/chocolate & wine tastings
- Light bites for purchase
- Vibe: intimate, cozy, casual
This wasn’t our favorite stop. It was cozy, but with all the other great options I wouldn’t recommend using this as one of your stops. While I appreciated the rustic vibe, the service was just okay and none of us thought the wine was very memorable. There was also a weird amount of fruit flies that bothered our group throughout the entire tasting— maybe a fluke incident, but very annoying for us.
- Tastings flights available from $16-$30
- Light bites & desserts available
- Vibe: Cozy, laid back, homey
Where To Eat & Drink
Halyard — $$ - $$$
- Hours: Closed Tues-Thur, lunch & dinner hours vary
- Sound View hotel restaurant
Is this a hotel restaurant, yes. Is it worth visiting whether you’re staying there or not, YES. Their seasonal menu makes great use of local ingredients, with a focus on seafood, and the dishes are really creative — props to chef Stephan Bogardus! Halyard has an adorable East-coast beach town aesthetic and a gorgeous waterfront view. Unless you’re visiting in the off-season, I’d recommend making a reservation. I’d also recommend stopping by their Piano Bar for a drink after dinner.
Lucharitos $ — $$
- Hours vary
Lucharitos is a lively Mexican taqueria & tequila bar with tasty food and drinks in downtown Greenport. Two of us got nachos here (shrimp & adobo chicken), and I’m honestly surprised our waitress didn’t warn us about the portions. We easily could have split, but they were delicious and we couldn’t help but eat more than we needed. The rest of the dishes we tried were also great. This is a fun spot, great for an inexpensive dinner.
Bruce & Son — $$
- All day brunch
- Hours: Fri-Sun: 9am-2:30pm
We adored this cute little spot. Would definitely be a go-to for me if I lived in the area. First off — they serve ALL DAY BRUNCH, which is one of my favorite meals. Secondly, they have a great variety. Whether you want something healthy, hearty, vegetarian, sweet, etc. they’ve got options. They also have a large, unique drink menu (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Stop here for a meal and then you can walk around downtown Greenport afterwards.
Love Lane Kitchen — $$
- Hours: Mon-Fri: 7am-4pm, Sat & Sun: 8am-4pm
- Menu is updated weekly so there’s always something new to try.
- Classic American fare with some unique dishes thrown in the mix.
1943 Pizza Bar $ — $$
- Hours: opens at Noon, closing time varies. Closed all day Wednesday.
- North Fork pizza favorite with classic and creative options.
- Downtown Greenport, right next to Brix & Rye.
Brix & Rye — $$
- Hours: open daily at 5pm. Closed on Wednesdays.
- Classic cocktail bar with a speakeasy vibe.
- They also serve certain pizzas from 1943 Pizza Bar.
- Hours: Mon-Fri: 6am-2:30pm, Sat: 7am-3pm, Sun: 7am-2pm
- To-go lunch & breakfast options.
- They also have “picnic boxes” perfect for a day at the beach, winery trip or boating excursion.
Getting There & Getting Around
Another great thing about the North Fork is its proximity to NYC. You can get there by car in around 2–3 hours depending on traffic and by Long Island Railroad in about 3–4 hours.
When I was originally researching getting around the North Fork area, most people said it wasn’t possible to get an Uber out there. In my experience that has not been the case, but there are limits to Uber/Lyft. Weeknights are a little hit or miss, but on the weekends you shouldn’t have an issue. There are different taxi and car/bus charter options available, there’s even options to have someone drive you around in your own car. But I’ve found that Uber is the easier/cheaper option for getting between wineries. I do recommend planning your itinerary strategically by looking up where your stops beforehand and mapping a route that makes sense. As long as you leave your self enough time between stops (wait times do tend to be much longer than big cities) you shouldn’t have many issues getting an Uber/Lyft in the North Fork.
As you may have noticed from the photos, I’ve only visited the North Fork in the off-season. Obviously there are cons to visiting when it’s colder, but there are also lots of pros. Wineries are quieter, reservations are easier to come by, hotel rates are lower… there are lots of perks. No matter when you decide to go, I hope you enjoy your visit to the North Fork! Leave me a comment below — I’d love to hear your thoughts on places you’ve tried or things I should add to my list for future trips.
All photos and opinions are my own. If any of the details I shared have changed since my visits, I apologize for incorrect information.
