Friday morning, October 21st. Took an early morning bus from Philadelphia to New York's Port Authority, cycled down to Penn Station, met my cycling buddy from Brasil, Y., and hopped on the 11:14 Long Island Railroad service to Montauk, the eastern tip of Long Island. Our second "loaded" tour together, our first on road bikes.
Road bikes being, theoretically, much faster than the mountain bikes we took off-road in Brasil in the spring, we figured we should be easily able to exceed the 100km day limit we managed before. Working against me though was a) no exercise in 4 months, b) only slightly more sleep over the same period, and c) surgery for a deviated septum exactly 10 days before. Not an ideal scenario.
GPS is a wonderful thing, and getting off at Bridgehampton station, we cycled the hard 2 miles to our first stop, Long Island's most enigmatic winery, Channing Daughters, with wines largely inspired by those of Friuli/Brda - yes, indeed! 
Approaching the tasting room, which was all but empty. Amongst the Gods which we had unwittingly summoned, the Lord of Fair Weather and the Lord of Empty Tasting Rooms were our foremost companions. I should note that the ever so crafty Lord of Ill-Conceived Shopping was also present along the way.
Our pourer had recently visited both Gravner and Radikon, and we had a full slate of Friulian-inspired wines to try. The highlights were a Tocai Friulano, two actually, both appearing varietally correct, though only one really pleasing; and the Meditazione (above), a skin-fermented blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Tocai, Muscat Ottonel (!), and Pinot Grigo. Wild! 
Their Ramato fell a bit short of the mark for me, but in general, it was an adventuresome portfolio. A not-quite-Jurassic chardonnay, Malvasia Biancas, and a pair of quite reasonable Blaufrankisches. The Refosco and Lagrein were both sold out, but we were given access to far beyond the normal tasting, and the effort, even if slightly wide of the mark, is very much appreciated. Chapeau!
Hmm... two miles covered in two hours, two loaves of bread (freshly baked with the winery's lees, and delivered as we were tasting) and three bottles of wine strapped to bikes now. Not a good sign. Only 40 miles to cover today, barely a warm up, but still...
Head down, we cycled strong for the next couple of hours, but on a long and lonely stretch, in which the sea sounded on both sides, and hunger pangs began to rise, this clam bar beckoned shortly before reaching Montauk.
$30 for a Lobster Roll and a bottle of local beer! Jeez... I mean, I feel it is always imperative, on these cycling trips, to sample the local fare, but this was painful. Tasty, but painful.
We reached Montauk with sunset approaching, but it turned out we had another 6 miles to go to actually reach the Lighthouse, which, if we were to say we cycled the length of the island, was a must. And, up until reaching the village, our route had been reasonably flat, and me, with a racing gears set up, felt reasonably confident that I'd survive. Unfortunately... this last stretch was very hilly. And it got dark. And it got cold. And my GPS battery died... fortunately, we had clothes (aha! loaded touring!) And we had a backup GPS! Woohoo! Fully chilled, we got to our "motel", basically, a set of rooms over the dodgiest dive bar on the island, but there were two queen size beds, the room was reasonably clean, and warm, and the shower had absolutely no flow control. It was glorious. Hot shower, followed by a great meal in the town's "best restaurant", Harvest on Fort Pond" - we had grilled oysters, mussels, a bit of steak, and a single beer (Brooklyn Brewery Lager - lovely, actually, more hops than any typical lager, but not all Left Coasty...) that basically kicked me in the head. Stamina, where have ye gone?
Serious day of cycling today. Leaving Montauk, passed the tallest structure in town. Dubbed, "Montaukparnasse"...
Oh Gods of Shopping, why would you put a "Last Day Sale" at the surf shop just as we leave town? Don't you know that we have 115 miles to cover??? It was a minor disaster. Everything, $5. I bought 3 t-shirts for my friends' kids (staying at their place tonight), plus two jackets for the Mrs. Y. nearly came away with a wetsuit. And a kayak.
Now, the shorter route would have been to stay on the South Fork and proceed straight west, but we decided we would tack on an extra 20 miles and cut up to the North Fork, where most of the L.I. wineries are. This required a couple of bridges and a two-leg ferry journey to and from Shelter Island. You will note the cycling jersey, a fundraiser for the Japan tsunami.
Beginning the North Fork wine trail.
And not 50 meters from that last sign, our first stop, One Woman Wines, producer of the only Grüner Veltliner on the island. And in truth, it was pretty decent (ignoring the price.) One more bottle added to the bike, and a pair of glasses to enjoy the lovely sun. 
By now, we were falling more than a bit behind our intended pace. Four bottles of wine, 2 loaves of bread, and half a surf shop...
Next stop, not 3 miles later, The Winemaker Studio. This is the "storefront/winebar" for the areas winemakers, most of whom are not the owners of the wineries they work at. We tasted a few more things, including a bone dry gewurtztraminer (Spezia) and a not very weedy cabernet franc ("Bordo") from Anthony Nappa, a respectable northern rhone styled syrah from Suhru Wines, and a nearly-Austrian dry riesling from The Grapes of Roth. Wonder what "The Grapes of David Lee Roth" would be like?
We also had some lunch, one loaf of bread (to lighten our load, of course) and some jamon iberico that Y. somehow wangled in with him. Don't ask, I don't want to know.
Now several hours behind schedule, we finally made it back to the Hamptons, passing this very fancy McDonald's. Why didn't we stop for some nuggets??
By this time it was evident that there was no way we were going to make it to our destination within an hour of sunset, so we had to make new plans, and that was, get to a train station. Looking at the schedules, we had few choices, and a tight schedule to keep to, with a further 2 hours on a local train in order to make it to my friends' house for the night. All in all, we cycled about 70 miles in 10 hours, including ferry rides, wine tasting, eating, and shopping (we stopped at not one but two more bike shops looking for geegaws and doodads... I do have some extra bright yellow handle tape now). Not too bad, I suppose. And in speaking with one of the bike shop owners, it seems that 70 miles per day loaded is not an unreasonable upper limit.
Arrive at my friend's place we did. And a great dinner followed by a deep sleep. But given our glacial pace, and our absolute need to reach the Wall Street piers in Manhattan by 12:35 it was a quick exit and a not entirely pressure free 40 mile ride the next morning.
Would you believe, Brooklyn?
Crossing the Williamsburg Bridge... a bit off course and costing us time, my GPS absolutely refused to recognize the Brooklyn Bridge - it would have been shorter, more direct, and allowed us time to cycle round the WTC memorial, but it didn't work out. A nice ride all the same, and awesome that the bridges in NYC are so bike friendly.
Made it to Pier 11, for the Sandy Hook ferry, with 10 minutes to spare.
Hmm... bike seems very much more laden than when we began. Sensibly, a water bottle was ditched for more important items. This has inspired our next business concept, attempting to latch a case worth of wine to the frame of the bike... stay tuned.
Having reached New Jersey, and crossing to the barrier island community of Sea Bright...
Lunch on Longbranch beach
Through the farmlands of Monmouth County, the last few, slow, painful miles to Freehold, NJ, where we arrived at my in-laws' house approximately 3 minutes ahead of schedule. My father-in-law couldn't believe it, but there we were, 80 miles later. Originally, we were going to spend the night and cycle down to Philly the next day, but having ridden that 70 mile stretch before, I knew that it was fairly uninspiring terrain, and frankly, I wanted to get home to the kids.All in all though, a great, packed little ride, my heart and legs never gave out (only my lungs, and the post-op nasties hiding in my sinuses), so that's a plus. Hopefully a kickstart to getting fit again.
For the last of this round's Protocols, finally got to meet M.-san, J's wine-shop wunderkind (and who provided the Donati and the Munjebel, and was trying Musar for the first time
N.V. Donati Malvasia Frizzante - this was unusual! Is it lambic-ish? Maybe... a little... it's... it's... unusual! Not as severe, not as acidic, not as funky, but possibly just as elemental.
1995 Chateau Musar Blanc - so, last year, Serge Hochar said the '89 is the youngest wine that's ready to drink. I don't completely agree, but I can sort of understand - I think I really like it on release, it's got a bit of wildness, as it does when it gets older. This didn't seem to have that, a sort of dormancy. Well, dormant is relative for Musar, no? But then again, as J. suggested, pop and pour might not be the way to enlightenment here.
2007 Rietsch Passage - I'm going to say that the VJ descriptor J.'s been using doesn't do this justice - it is very much its own, lovely thing. Whereas VJ seems to be an almost overly demanding wine at times, this is very much for drinking.
To sum up, we finished off the Kracher from the other night, and popped all three Nøgne Ø sakes, the Yamahai Muroka Junmai, the Yamahai Nigori Nama Junmai, and the Yamahai Genshu Muroka Shiboritate Nama Junmai. And then... the singing began...
Our numbers were a bit low this evening, as G. couldn't find his back legs, and S. decided to go for yoga instead. Really, what is the world coming to these days? To start things off, a local brew, Tsuki no Katsura Junmai. Has that soft feminine Kyoto style thing going, but also just a bit more umami and edge
NV Jo Landron Atmospheres Methode Traditionelle (Nantes) - an 80/20 blend of Folle blanche/Pinot noir. Loamy, nutty, bracing acidity, a touch foamy and green, very refreshing. Fatigue-antidote.
2008 Lapierre Morgon (Sans Soufre) - purchased by J in Kyoto, to toast the passing of Marcel Lapierre. Have to say, I much prefer the sulphured versions. Not sure of the chemical reasons, but there's definitely a ripeness that is lacking in this. My understanding is ML only produced this at the request of one U.S. importer, who only sells it through their own store. And then a small amount gets to Japan and possibly elsewhere.
2007 Raul Perez El Castro de Valtuille Mencia Joven (Bierzo) - a very cab-franquish unoaked mencia, with just a touch more fruit. Tasty.
2000 Kracher Welschriesling TBA #8 - my man J's notes are far more impressive than mine, so I quote: "This is sordid stuff. Rubensian women dripping apricot jam off their breasts down into your mouth as you float down a river of butter...this is decadence without prejudice (in the Apocalypse Now sense).
Back in Japan for more general mischief, and a number of protocols. This was the first
Most epic roast-beef sandwich ever... wagyu roast beef
1995 Clouet - full and spiced nose, tight for most of the night, less savoury/funk than last time, less champagne-like until later on, filled out, bread and lemons. Increasingly tasty.
A non-neba-neba preparation of yama-imo!
More of Kawakita-san's magic.
2006 Mâcle Côtes du Jura – nose of yogurt rice, light walnut, smooth, not in your face intensity like ’05 and ’04, more approachable for sure.
A quick visit to Toronto to catch up with friends and relatives, and a quick peek at some Niagara wine
We happened to be up for Toronto's Nuits Blanche, the dusk to dawn open air "arts festival". Perhaps we were just in the wrong section of town (U of T), but it was mostly drunk people and litter. The art must have been somewhere else.
Fortunately, there was ice cream.
Lunch out of the way, and having done just a tiny bit of research, we settled on just one visit, to 
Only some of Malivoire's vineyards are adjacent to the winery, located on the Niagara "Bench".
The tanks loom somewhat disconcertingly above the tasting room, but in actual fact are built onto the hillside. 
We samples a few things, but the wine of note was definitely the one we had come for, the 2009 M2 Small Lot Gamay - available only on-site, and at some select Toronto restaurants. It was certainly lean and earth-driven, more Burgundian than Beaujolais, with a certain Saint Laurent wildness to it that I enjoyed quite a bit. 
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