“Welcome to Long Island Wine Country” sign signals arrival in the North Fork and tasting rooms such as Paumonok (Aquebogue), Tasting Room (Jamesport) and Shinn Estate and Sherwood Vineyard (Mattituck). Mattituck is also home to block-long Love Lane and the inventive food and welcoming hospitality at Love Lane Kitchen. Heading west, Main Rd. reaches Tanger Outlet, where the newly opened Empire State Cellars & Tasting Room, just before the entrance to the Long Island Expwy., pours and sells New York State wines.
My loop then passes Rte. 25 and goes north where, after a pie-buying stop at Briermere Farms, Sound Ave. (Rte. 25A) wiggles west between rural farms, the beach and campgrounds at Wildwood State Park, Sound Beach and Miller Place, ending in Port Jefferson. Also called North Country Rd., 25A is bordered by tree-covered hillsides, historic clapboard houses and steeple-topped churches as it edges past a pond and waterside park and arrives at the stunning Stony Brook Village Center. Its stately post office and storefront boutiques across from the Three Village Inn (Mirabelle Tavern) all face the harbor.
by Irvina Lew
AAA Car & Travel
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