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2005 Diliberto Cantina

December 1, 2009

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2005 Diliberto Cantina
A pizza and pasta kind of wine.
By Eileen M . Duffy

Sal Diliberto’s tasting room is next to his house. Not next door to his house, but so close that someone with long arms could reach out and touch the outside walls of both buildings. The person with the admirably long arms could also do this while looking at the family’s four acres of vines that surround the house, and, if it’s a Sunday, while eating some homemade pasta as part of a weekly event called “Sundays with Grandma.”

It’s a remnant of Italy, where for generations families have lived among their vines and worked in their basement cellars complete with fermentation vats, barrels, empty bottles waiting to be filled and full bottles waiting to come of age.

One weekend this fall, Diliberto sat in the tasting room while limos and cars pulled up and people poured out to taste his wine and listen to a guitarist playing wedding goodies to an appreciative crowd. The musician wasn’t the winery’s regular, who is more inclined to play Italian favorites with Diliberto adding to the vocals.

Wine tasters hugged the patrono, and returning customers were greeted with a familiar handshake and questions about their family. That’s the theme, family. And it’s the inspiration for Mr. Diliberto’s latest cuvée: Cantina, a blend of red grapes meant to be a rustic everyday wine like the ones his relatives make in Italy.

“A cantina is a cellar,” says Diliberto. “And on the label is the castle next to my family’s home in Dugenta.”

From their basement, his family can access the castle’s cellars and store their wine.

While in Dugenta, in the Campagna region of Italy, Diliberto had a local artist do a rendering of the castle, which now decorates the label of Cantina.

“I brought some labels the next time I went to visit,” he says, “and they joke now that their little town is famous in the United States.”

On sale in the tasting room is the 2005 version of Cantina. It’s a blend of cabernet franc and merlot made of the fruit of young vines. To achieve the rustic flavor he wanted, Diliberto used must (the fresh-pressed grape juice) from the end of the press run called “hard pressed.” At first, must flows freely, resulting in “free-run” juice. By the end, the press is pushing hard on the grape skins and seeds, resulting in must that contains more tannins and color.

Diliberto added the hard press to free-run juice and aged it in older barrels so no tannin or flavor would be extracted from the wood. His desire was to soften the existing tannins while still having the fresh young fruit show through.

The finished wine was not refined or filtered, so a glass of Cantina can appear cloudy. “It’s sort of a pizza and pasta kind of wine,” says Diliberto.

His wife, Maryann, and his daughter, Dena, walked in the tasting room with the Diliberto’s first grandchild, Charlotte. For a moment Mr. Diliberto’s attention was diverted from the busyness of the tasting room and the cooing and beaming began.

Dena and her husband live above the tasting room, and the house next door is being renovated for them. The next generation, too, will live among the vines.

A Newcomer, But a Winner

August 15, 2004

By HOWARD G. GOLDBERG

The unkwown Diliberto Winery got it right the first time. Although this North Fork property had not yet opened for business, Salvatore A. Diliberto’s food-friendly reds won three gold medals in the annual New York State wine contest nearly two weeks ago. Today, those winners-the full-flavored 2001 merlot ($17.95), charmingly fruity 2002 merlot ($15.95) and beautiful 2001 Tre ($19.95), a red blend-go on sale at the winery, in a house at 250 Manor Lane, in Jamesport. So does an inviting 2001 cabernet sauvignon ($19.95). Customers need an appointment. (Information: 631-722-3416 and diliberto1@msn.com)

Vines, including cabernet franc and chardonnay, cover two of Salvatore and Maryann Diliberto’s five acres near their converted 19th century barn. On weekdays, they live in Hollis Hills, and he practices elder law in Fresh Meadows, both in Queens. “My plan is to gradually reduce the time I spend in my practice and increase my involvement in the winery and vineyard,” he said. “We would like to be living full time in Jamesport by 2006 and, most importantly, to spend a month or two or more in Italy each year. If we keep the winery at 1,500 cases, I believe we can have this diversity in our lives.” Mr. Diliberto, 59, produced his first commercial wines in 2001. His vines were planted in 1998 and 1999; he intendes to plant four more acres, partly in sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.

When he decided in 1986 to become a home winemaker, he bought 500 pounds of California cabernet sauvignon. “The first time I smelled the fermenting grapes, I knew I would be making wine the rest of my life,” he said. “The next year, I discovered the North Fork and began buying my grapes there. The wines turned out wonderfully. In 1989, I put an addition on my home, and added a wine celler, so I could increase production to 100 gallons.” The couple bought land in Jamesport in 1991 toplant grapes and have a country residence, and six years later Mr. Diliberto decided to turn his hobby into an occupation. “I wanted to become connected with farming, both with the hard work and the pleasure of being in the fields,” he said. “There has not been a day of my life that has not been influenced by my Italian-American heritage,” he said. “I have never sat down at a meal at the home of a friend or relative in Italy where the wine was not on the table. Sometimes in my barrel room, I feel the presence of family members and paisans, and I sense their hands guiding me, giving me the benefit of all their knowledge of winemaking.” When the tasting room , on Riverhead architect’s drawing board, opens, perhaps the Dilibertos will dish up the homemade pasta and homemade tomato sauce they relish along with fat pours of vino rosso.

A Generous Italian Hand At the Helm

August 7, 2004

By HOWARD G. GOLDBERG

The grower and winemaker at the Diliberto Winery on the North Fork is Salvatore A. Diliberto. If you sit down in his tasting room - the kitchen at his weekend place in Jamesport - and relax and taste his slightly rustic 2003 merlot, you won’t call him Mr. Diliberto, but Salvatore. After you sample his 2002 cabernet sauvignon, he’ll become Sal. And after a few sips of the 2002 Tre, a blend, he’ll be Sallie. Or if you wish to be courtly, Signore Vino Rosso: Mr. Red Wine. Mr. Diliberto makes what Hemingway called honest wines. The reds appeal to the gut and to the heart. They are so tasty that while an enthusiast may declare that Mr. Diliberto has a gift for reds, a dissenter would have to concede that he has at least a knack for them.

Judges in the 2004 New York Wine and Food Classic, the annual statewide contest, felt the almost personal touch of Diliberto reds. Even before the Diliberto Winery had opened for business, they awarded it three gold medals. That is eye-opening. Or maybe not. Speaking about customers, Mr. Diliberto said, “They call, they come over, they taste.” And buy. If his plans proceed smoothly, he will break ground this fall for a formal tasting room, which he expects to open in the spring. When Mr. Diliberto is not commuting on weekdays from his home in Hollis Hills, Queens, and his law practice in Fresh Meadows, he tends the three acres of vines on the five-acre property that he and his wife, Maryann, own at 250 Manor Lane in Jamesport.

His merlot ($18) is opulent and velvety, flush with the flavors of plums and dark berries. A sweet woodiness comes through up front, and a sprinkle of herbs turns up as you swallow. The aroma of late-summer roses in the cabernet sauvignon ($22) and its bountiful near-sweet fruitiness are powerful. The wine, even plusher than the merlot, overflows with flavors of black currants. Only masochists would deny themselves a second full glass. Tre ($25), a gratifying blend of 65 percent merlot, 20 cabernet sauvignon and 15 percent cabernet franc, hints at an aroma of wood smoke and flavors of raspberry jam and dark Belgian chocolate. Tre is a Bordeaux-style blend, but its emphasis is not on Gallic stylishness; rather, it suggests a generous Italian hand. At bottom, every drop of Mr. Diliberto’s reds is un lavoro d’amore, a work of love.

Mr. Diliberto’s wines are not available in stores. Appointments can be made by calling (631) 722-3416 or writing diliberto1@msn.com.