We set off early on a blustery, gray Sunday morning in two minivans, a group of 12 led by Anne, the owner of Saxelby's, and the two other employees of the cheese shop, Benoit and Veronica. After about two hours and a coffee stop, we arrived at our first stop for the day- the main room of the Wolffer Estate winery in Bridgehampton, Long Island.
Barrels of aging Wolffer Estate wine during our tour of the winery.
Glass of Rosé. This was the second of five wines we tried. We also had two Chardonnays, Cabernet franc and an "ice wine" (It was not truly ice wine because the grapes for this wine were not frozen on the vine; we were told the deer would get to them before that could ever happen!)
Picnic lunch with the vineyard in the background.
A lovely springtime lunch consisted of four of Mecox Bay Dairy's raw milk cheeses (Atlantic Mist, a camembert-like cheese; Sigit, a gruyere-like cheese; Sunrise, a cheddary cheese; and a stinky washed-rind cheese), fresh Sullivan St. bread, a spring radish and asparagus salad, a chickpea and Israeli couscous salad, a plate of deli turkey, soppressata and pickles from Sahadi's, dried apricots, dates and almonds.
We were greeted by a giant turkey at Mecox Bay Dairy and the owner of the farm, Art Ludlow. The farm has been in his family for four generations and subsisted on a crop of potatoes until that was no longer profitable. And so, they decided to experiment with making cheese. We also got to try some of his raw milk - with a higher fat content than normal milk, it almost had the creaminess of a vanilla milkshake.
Cheese aging room!
A quick stop at Southhampton Beach before heading home. The waves were huge! No surfers out though.
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