This was the second winery we visited during the Vintage Tours. It is a lovely, quaint winery, and they have been growing and sellig mainly Pinot Noir and Merlot since the mid 90s.

As soon as we got out of the Vintage Tours’ van, I was so intrigued by the look of this place. Before I could explore, the owner, Russ, came out to greet us and tell us a bit about his wines, winery, and ranch. Yes, they have a ranch here as well! Jo Ann of Vintage Tours seemed to have a good relationship with the owner, which is always a plus, because we knew we would be well taken care of.

The unique look and style of McCall Wines come from it being an old potato barn, which previously was used as a horse stable. They no longer have horses here, I am not sure exactly when they stopped having horses. Afterwords, they turned the horse stable into this lovely space!

 

Even though they have plenty of cute outdoor seating, if you prefer to sit inside, or if it happens to be a rainy day, there are plenty of seats inside this barn.

I especially LOVED these the cute seating areas, where horses used to reside. To me, it had the complete look, with wooden picnic table, saw dust, and all the agricultural memorabilia from the past. I enjoyed looking around everything, it is like a small museum in here.

McCall was our lunch break spot during Vintage Tours. We already pre-ordered our lunch through Jo Ann, so she had them all ready with her (McCall allows outside food only during week days, so make sure you check before you bring your own food). The lunch was catered from Grace & Grit, and honestly, I didn’t have much expectation for the food. But, Jo Ann certainly proved me wrong, she chose a great place to order from, it was really good! We had Grilled Chicken sandwich and Margherita sandwich sets. They came neatly wrapped in a paper box, and came with chocolate chip cookie and orzo salad.

The Margherita sandwich came with fresh mozzarella and pepperonata on ciabatta bread. It was fresh, tasty, and filling. It was so much better than I expected. The bread was nice and light, but yet moist and flavorful. It had nice thick mozzarella, and the sauce on it was really nice. The Grilled Chicken sandwich came with pignoli basil pest, fresh mozzarella, arugula on ciabatta bread. I love basil so that was great, and I appreciated how the chicken was cut up small, it was easier to eat that way. The chicken was moist and tasty, and it was also very filling.

But, the surprise winner was their orzo salad. It was packed with flavor, refreshing, tasty, and really great! I wish if I could have had a huge plateful of this little baby.

 

The cookie was pretty amazing as well. It didn’t look like it had much chocolate, but that was until I bit into it. It had lots of nice, large chunks of gooey chocolate goodness, it was such a delight! The cookie was nice and soft, without being too soft to lose its shape to crumble. Had good amount of sweetness, and a perfect way to end the lunch.

And of course we were tasting some of McCall wines with our lovely lunch. We started with 2014 Sauvignon Blanc, cuvée Ninola. It was crisp and refreshing, clean and easy to drink. It pairs well with shellfish, but it also was great with our lunch.

 

The second up was 2015 Marjorie’s Rosé. When I think of Rosé, I think of fun gatherings or parties, it is just that kind of fun wine. This one is 100% estate grown, made from sustainable grapes. I hear that the nice pink color is achieved by removing the grape skins at the right time. And it had a really nice, light pink color that was clear and crisp, with notes of raspberries, rose petals, and red fruit. It was not very sweet, but very fit for a hot Summer day.

 

The last but not least, 2013 Cabernet Franc Reserve. It had very deep, rich color, and well as its flavor. It is a blend of 50% Merlot, 5% Petite Verdot, remainder Cabernet Franc and Cab Sauvignon. It was a perfect wine to relax with, just sit and enjoy the breath outside, or sit by the fire, depending on the season.

 

With this wine, we decided to take a stroll to their farm, where they have these white colored cows that I have never seen before. They have nice green vineyards on the left, and ranch on the right. We also got to walk around the vineyard itself, it was interesting to see how they are growing them.

Since it was the Summer time, the grapes are just a tiny little babies at this point. But, pretty soon, they will grow up to be beautiful grapes, and then transformed into delicious wines (if birds don’t get to them first – but they have protective for that).

So, off to greet the cows! They were as curious about us as we were of them! Maybe they wanted a sip of my wine… But they looked under the age of 21, so I didn’t share. They are called Charolais cows, and originally fro France and central Europe. I hear they produce very high end, excellent beef that chefs love, and therefore served at many restaurant all over the world. Here, they raise these cows completely organic, grass fed, and natural. Every Friday evening, customers can visit McCall wine and get some juicy burgers.

 

Overall, this one very interesting and fun tour of vineyards. Having good food with good wine outside on picnic table, it was just perfect! We didn’t get to try their burgers, but that would’ve been great… maybe in the future!

McCall Wines – 22600 Main Rd., Cutchogue, NY 11935