It’s been said that East End, Long Island wines are “young”. Well, that’s true, compared to wines from Europe and even California. But hard work, good weather and yes, time, may be paying off…md

 Merlot Made From Hamptons Vineyard for $100 Beats Saint-Emilion

By Gillian Wee

May 9 (Bloomberg) — After making wine since 1992 surrounded by the mansions of the Hamptons, Roman Roth got the ingredients for the ideal vintage last summer: steady sunshine and little rain.

“It was a dream year,” said Roth, 42, the German-born winemaker at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack on Long Island’s South Fork, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of New York City. “The growing conditions were close to perfect. You knew when you started picking grapes. So we made really ripe, great lush wines.”

Roth’s most expensive product, a 2004 Premier Cru — or first growth — Merlot sells for $100 a bottle at his tasting room, which is preparing for its peak period from Memorial Day, the May 26 U.S. holiday marking the start of the summer season, to October.

The 2007 vintage follows one in 2005 praised by Wine Spectator magazine Executive Editor Thomas Matthews. They show that Long Island’s boutique winemakers can compete with U.S. West Coast and European producers, Roth said.

“I think 2007 is going to be the exciting year,” said Gary Vaynerchuk, 32, who runs Wine Library, a retailer in Springfield, New Jersey, and hosts a Web TV show on winelibrarytv.com. “Weather has everything to do with everything when it has to do with wine.”

While New York is the country’s third-largest wine-and-grape producer behind California and Washington, two-thirds of the harvest is turned into grape juice, said Jessica Chittenden, a spokeswoman for the state agriculture department. Long Island’s vineyards produce only 1.19 million gallons of wine, worth about $100 million annually, equivalent to 0.2 percent of California’s output, said Steve Bate, 49, executive director of the Long Island Wine Council.

3,000 Acres

Long Island’s first vineyard was started with 17 acres (6.9 hectares) in 1973 by Louisa and Alec Hargrave. Sixty vineyards, many former potato fields, now cover about 3,000 acres. They benefit from growing conditions similar to the Bordeaux region, Bate said. Long Island’s largest winery is the family-run Pindar Vineyards, sitting on almost 550 acres.

What sets Long Island wines apart from California offerings is how well they pair with food, said Jim Trezise, 61, president of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation. Grapes grown in New York’s cooler climate produce vintages that are light and acidic, he said.

The island, known for its white beaches, relies on summer visitors who buy wine where it’s made.

`Attractive Region’

“They are such an attractive region for tourism that they’re able to sell a large percentage of production from the wineries,” said Matthews, 54, whose favorites include offerings from Wolffer, Pellegrini Winery and Bedell Cellars, owned by Michael Lynne, a former head of Time Warner Inc.’s New Line Cinema. “That has allowed them to flourish without being forced to compete on retail shelves and restaurant wine lists with wines around the world.”

High real-estate prices and a lack of marketing also hamper the industry’s expansion, said Eric Ripert, 43, executive chef of the New York restaurant Le Bernardin. He owns a house in Sag Harbor, about five miles from Wolffer Estate Vineyards, and has been drinking Long Island wine for 10 years.

“In New York, we are snobbish about the region,” said Ripert, who likes Wolffer’s 2007 Rose. “They need to have a cooperative of vineyards working together to work on their image and create the right marketing and PR campaign around their product. That will take a few years.”

During a 2003 blind tasting by 50 wine critics at Le Bernardin, 35 “thought our Premier Cru was French and compared it to Chateau Peby Faugeres and Chateau Angelus,” said Wolffer’s marketing director, Sue Calden. Both make Saint-Emilion from the country’s Bordeaux region.

Untested Territory

Roth moved to Long Island in 1992, drawn by the challenge of making wine in untested territory. That was the year of 13 rainy weekends, he says, making it difficult for grapes to ripen. He made only 3,000 cases. He now produces more than five times that.

Started by Hamburg-born venture-capitalist Christian Wolffer, 70, the estate features an airy tasting room looking out onto a 50-acre vineyard where Wolffer grows Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes.

Wolffer’s vineyard staff grows and picks the grapes. The harvest for the lighter rose and Pinot Gris wines comes in October, while reds and late-harvest Chardonnay go into November.

“All of Long Island fits into one tank of Gallo,” Roth said. “We may need a famous Paris tasting. A small industry like Long Island’s doesn’t have big budgets. Good wine is our billboard.”

Gulf Stream

Long Island’s wineries benefit from well-drained sandy soil and proximity to the Gulf Stream, which keeps temperatures stable and allows grapes to ripen evenly, said industry pioneer Louisa Hargrave, 60.

The wine industry on Long Island grew in spurts over the 1980s and 1990s, tempered by real estate prices, said Hargrave, director of Stony Brook University Center for Wine, Food and Culture.

Last year’s vintage and the Hamptons’ celebrity summer residents may give Long Island producers the publicity they need, just as director Alexander Payne made a star of Santa Barbara, California, wine country four years ago in the hit movie `Sideways.’

“Long Island needs its moment,” Vaynerchuk said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if P. Diddy buys a property in Long Island and plays up the Hamptons. That would create awareness, just like “Sideways” was tremendous.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Gillian Wee in New York at gwee3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 9, 2008 00:01 EDT

Finally, someone with the guts to jump off the bandwagon of over-dramatazation and “headline grabbing behavior”

OPINION

The Housing Crisis Is Over

full invite here:  jeanines-kentucky-derby-invitation2

The number of Hamptons homes sold in the three months ending March 31 fell to 312, a 29 percent decline from the fourth quarter and a 42 percent drop from the first quarter of 2007, the survey said.

see the Bloomberg report:

Hamptons Home Prices Decline on Wall Street Job Cuts, Economy
By Bob Ivry

see The Real Deal article here

SORRY IF THE LINKS DON’T WORK HERE - GOTO buryLIPAcables.com -

Does anyone know the definition of Co-Brokering?

Here’s one:

Co-broke
When brokers are working on a ‘co-broke’ basis, they are sharing exclusive listings with each other. In a co-broke transaction, one broker will represent the buyer or renter, while the other will represent the owner of the property. The commission is usually split 50/50.

Agents and brokers use co-brokering as a way to give their clients (sellers) listing exposure to as many other agents as possible.  In the old days firms would have “exclusive” listings, which they would NOT share with other agencies and hold close to their vest so they could sell it themselves and keep both sides of the commission.

While the defenition of “exclusive” has changed over the years, many of the Hamptons agencies still use “exclusive” signs as a way of marking their territory, in hope that the potentialbuyers will think that they cannot get information on the property unless they call the “exclusive” agent.  For the most part, that is not true, except in the cases of those agents/agencies that are not fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility to their sellers, and not sharing these listings with other agencies in the market.

Who would do such a thing?  Why wouldn’t they want to get these listings out to as many agents as possible?  It’s only one of two things:

1- Greed - the agent hopes to sell it themselves, therefore not having to share the commission 50/50 with the co-brokering agencies, or

2- Restraint of Trade - either that agent themselves or their broker is instructing them to restrict co-broking their listings to other brokerages in an effort to put those other brokerages out of business.

So, ask your broker/agent: “are you co-broking my home with ALL other agencies in the market?” 

If not, why not?

Hedge Funds’ Paulson
Trades Up in Hamptons

Last year, hedge-fund manager John Paulson pocketed billions by betting the housing market would collapse, but in the Hamptons he’s just listed his three-acre retreat for $19.5 million, more than 50% above what he paid for it two years ago.

Hedge-fund manager John Paulson purchased this 10.4-acre Southampton, N.Y., compound for $41.3 million. It sits on Lake Agawam.

The founder of Paulson & Co., managing roughly $32 billion, recently bought a 10.4-acre lakefront compound less than a mile away for $41.3 million. The seller was Rodney Propp, chairman of a Manhattan property firm.

Last year, Mr. Paulson made as much as $3 billion to $4 billion for himself — thought to be a record one-year payday on Wall Street. This year the former Bear Stearns Cos. investment banker bet against the financial sector and profited from weakening among banks, including Bear.

The Southampton, N.Y., house he’s listed is a seven-bedroom “cottage” on three acres with an enclosed pool and sauna and a detached garage. He bought it two years ago from Jurgen Friedrich, a director of clothing company Esprit Holdings, for $12.75 million, records show.

The trader’s 15,000-square-foot new house was built in 1911 and fully renovated, and comes with separate staff quarters, two other houses, a three-car garage and a pool. The property, called “Old Trees,” has about 450 feet on Lake Agawam and ocean views. It was listed for $48 million in 2006.

As we first reported over two years ago, on the original Hamptons Real Estate Blog, Robert (Bobby G) Gianos, is in full swing developing Olde Towne on the last large parcel of land in Southampton Village.

Like him, or not; like his project or not, Gianos has focused like a laser beam on this project and has approached in in an undeniable fashion. A great example for all business people to follow.

Hamptons.com released a piece on Olde Towne: check it out!

Building Olde Towne Tree By Tree, Billionaire By Billionaire
By Andrea Aurichio 

It’s very exciting news that the Sag Harbor Village Boards are, one by one, approving the plans that have been put forth by Cape Advisors for the Bulova Residential Plan. It’s been said that the project will take 5 years, and the economic rewards to the village will last for at least 100 years.

Peter Neely and Hamptons.com did a video of local merchants here 

For more info, also goto: www.savesagharbor.com/

It’s not an uncommon scenario. Not to be cynical, but so much of our destiny is controlled by people who don’t live here, but wish they did, but they can’t and are not very happy about it so they feel a little “so there, you fancy-schmancies” is in order.

It’s why many have been trying to create “Peconic County” consisting of the 5 East End Towns. Why should we be ruled by people who have never even been here, some 50 miles away?

The same for the Long Island Board  of Realtors. Why should a board from West Islip regulate how listings are handled on the East End, where we have a very different culture and way of doing business. That’s why HANFRA, the Hamptons and North Fork Realtors Association has grown to 1000 members in recent years - local rule!!

We’ll now we have the Long Island Power Authority - LIPA - who says they need to provide more power lines to the East End in order to keep up with demand, and they want to put up these big ugly poles along our roadways. Needless to say, many of us are against it.

Here’s one of the stories:

Driven to Save a Vista From LIPA Lines

We are so pleased to announce that Jeanine Edington has joined Re/Max Beach Properties of The Hamptons as Vice-President.

Jeanine is a professional career Realtor who has listed and sold hundreds of properties amounting to multi-millions of dollars from Southern Indiana and Kentucky to New York and The Hamptons.

I had the priviledge of working with Jeanine a few years back at Prudential Douglas Elliman and watched her become a force in Hamptons real estate while she was with the Corcoran group. 

We’re genuinely excited to start 2008 with the addition of an Associate of Jeanine’s caliber as we begin our second full year of operations, here in the Hamptons.   md

for more info on Jeanine, goto: http://www.jeanineedington.com/

Two woman, one who lives at least part time in East Hampton, were nabbed after pulling off a series of thefts at open houses in Manhattan.  Congrats to Doug Heddings, from TRUE GOTHAM for getting on the case early and publicizing the scam. 

 ”Sweetie, better lock up the surfboards and the sunscreen!”  

Read more below:

Daily News - Two Women Arrested

Gothamist - Open House Bandits Caught

Here’s some GOOD news, even if it’s out of fashion at the moment.

Blogging Stocks posts that: Bloomberg News reports that Wall Street firms will pay the best 2007 bonuses ever, despite massive loss in the public market value of their securities. Specifically, the five biggest Wall Street firms will pay 6% higher bonuses totaling $38 billion to be spread among their 186,000 workers — an average of $201,500 per employee.

See the Blogging Stocks post here

See the Bloomberg article here

Word has it (or at least the newspapers are reporting) that due to the difference in the US Dollar versus the Euro and the Pound, that foreign buyers are keeping the market up. 

We’ve always had a good number of foreigners buying here. I think it’s just the in fashion hype to say that “the europeans are simply breaking the door down”… makes one seem so “in the know”.

UrbanDigs.com had a post about the subject today - see it here.

Ito the Box TV had a video on it as well, see it below. md 

click HERE to se the video

Farm with forever views. Charming renovated farmhouse with traditional front porch. Out back is a two-story barn with room for horses, a car collection or a fabulous artists studio. The property has more than enough room for pool, tennis and expansion. Barn has studio loft with living/working area and full bath. Wonderful for a family horsefarm. Possible subdivision into three lots as well. Incredible investment opportunity.  Michael Daly 631 702 1616 or mdaly@remax.net

see the listing here

Secluded retreat in Barnes Landing on nearly an acre of beautiful deciduous and evergreen trees. A private enclosed gazebo off of the dining room allows you to soak-in the surrounding gardens, and it is just a short walk across the way to your private beach and overlook on Napeague Bay. Just minutes to Amagansett and East Hampton Villages and ocean beaches, yet you have your own private oasis with four bedrooms, three baths, and 2,400 square feet in this magnificent beachfront community. You will love this sun-filled energy-efficient beach home which includes two fireplaces, a wood burning stove, and your own private yard with mature trees and flowering plants. Offered at $1,474,225. Contact us at 631 702 1616 or mdaly@remax.net

This secluded 4-bedroom/2-bath contemporary is brand new to the market. It is set off the beaten path in the prestigious Deerfield area on a very private wooded two-plus-acre parcel. The first floor consists of three bedrooms and one full bath, and the kitchen and main living area with fireplace are on the second floor with an additional bedroom and full bath. The elevated deck off of the living area provides the perfect place to watch over the beautiful heated gunite pool and raised spa with waterfall. Surrounding the pool is a magnificent Turkish limestone patio with plenty of room for lounging, including a screened-in dining pavilion. Room for tennis. Offered at $1,495,000. Contact Alyra Hoffman 631-276-5960.

Beautifully-maintained village residence, close to shops and medical center. The four bedrooms and two baths are in move-in condition. This home is also a legal two-family residence, with first floor kitchen and second floor kitchenette which could be used comfortably as a mother-daughter or for live-in help. The second floor has a separate entrance so it could be maintained as an apartment or as a professional office. A detached garage and lovely yard complete the picture for this very attractive offering. $995,000

Call us  at 631 702 1600 or info@remax-beach.com