Paumanok Vineyards captures both the 2023 Governor’s Cup and Winery of the Year
Paumanok Vineyards in Aquebogue has captured the two most prestigious awards in the 2023 New York Wine Classic, earning both Winery of the Year and the Governor’s Cup, for the overall best wine in the state.
“It felt absolutely great,” said vineyard co-founder Charles Massoud, who opened the vineyard with his wife Ursula in 1983. “It was hard to believe because I don’t think there is a precedent that one winery got all the awards in the same year. I think this is a first.”
Paumanok Vineyard’s 2019 late harvest Sauvignon Blanc won the Governor’s Cup. While the vineyard has received three previous Winery of the Year designations, this is their first Governor’s Cup.
Additionally, Paumanok won prizes for their 2019 Cabernet Franc; 2021 barrel-fermented Chardonnay; 2022 Dry Rosé; 2014 Tuthill Lane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon; 2022 semi-dry Riesling, and their 2019 Merlot.
The couple’s three sons — Kareem, Salim and Nabeel — grew up around the family business and in recent years have taken over much of the day-to-day management of the vineyard.
“My wife and I are not as involved as we used to be,” Mr. Massoud said. “Our three sons are all working here and they do the lion’s share of the work, so for us, it was a pleasure to see them get that recognition.”
Mr. Massoud said that Kareem is the vineyard’s winemaker, Salim handles administration and logistics and Nabeel is the vineyard’s manager.
It was Ms. Massoud, who studied American poets in college, who first thought to take the name of their vineyard from a Walt Whitman poem, “Starting from Paumanok,” which was first published in the 1860 edition of his seminal collection of poetry, “Leaves of Grass.”
Ms. Massoud traveled several times to the New York Public Library in Manhattan to see the original notebooks where Whitman first penned his poems, including the original version of “Starting from Paumanok.”
“We were looking for something that would give it a sense of place and a sense of tradition at the same time,” he said. “Easier said than done.”
They chose the name Paumanok.
“It’s a beautiful poem about the idyllic nature of Long Island, and so we figured, ‘that’s great!’
But Mr. Massoud wanted to dig deeper to learn more about the name.
“It turns out the meaning of the word Paumanok —the pronunciation, I’m sure, is approximate — but it seems that in Algonquin, it means ‘land of tribute’.
“What that means, apparently, is that the tribe from Manhattan was always trying invade Nassau County. And they would pay them tribute not to invade. The guys from Nassau County would pay them to keep them away.”
Mr. Massoud hails from a Lebanese family in the hospitality industry, and Ms. Massoud grew up in a winemaking family from the Pfalz wine region in Germany.
Mr. Massoud said the family has received some well wishes from fellow North Fork vineyards since the New York Wine Classic winners were announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this month.
“It’s a very collegial group — we all get along,” he said of his fellow North Fork vinters. “As a group we got along famously ever since the beginning. When we started in 1983, there were only ten or twelve other [vineyards] on the North Fork. On weekends, we would get together and have barbecues.”
It was at these barbecues that it began to dawn on some of the winemakers that there was more to the process than they properly understood.
“In 1985, at one of these barbecues, we started comparing notes and we came to the conclusion that we really didn’t know what we were doing,” he said with a laugh. “Because we all came from different backgrounds — there were engineers, marketing, doctors, lawyers, you name it. But nobody was a farmer.”
So, in 1986, the group organized the Cool Climate Symposium, and invited seven top experts from the Bordeaux region of France. Prior to the experts’ arrival, the North Fork vinters dug a trench to study the soil.
“Some were celebrity chateau owners but one was a professor of soil science. We had dug a trench six feet deep, and it was nothing but sand. And we wondered, ‘Is it a good idea to show it to these illustrious visitors?’
It turns out it was.
“He went into the trench and he spent 20 minutes in there. As it turned out, the North Fork is a moraine,” meaning the soil and rock carried and deposited by a glacier. “It’s what is left after the glacier retreats.”
The soil expert said the North Fork moraine reminded him of the right bank — or northern region — of Bordeaux.
“The quality of [North Fork] soil is about drainage. The soil here drains very well because it can rain abundantly in the summertime, and you need a well-drained soil. That’s what we learned.”
Here is the list of North Fork-based wineries and vineyards that also won awards in this year’s New York Wine Classic.
- Best Sparkling Wine, Jason’s Vineyard 2021 Bubbly Rosé
- Best Cabernet Sauvignon and best red blend, Osprey’s Dominion 2019 Reserve
- Best Chardonnay (unoaked), Borghese Vineyard
- Best Merlot, Coffee Pot Cellars
- Best Pino Gris, Sannino Vineyard
- Best Sauvignon Blanc, One Woman Vineyards
- Best Traditional Method, Sparkling Pointe
