Since my thesis was due on a Monday, there wasn’t much opportunity for celebrating. Instead, I went home after a normal day of work, ate leftover spaghetti and opened a bottle of wine I’d been saving.
Last summer I had gone wine tasting at a couple vineyards on Long Island and picked up a bottle from Pindar Vineyards. I’d been saving it for a special occasion and thesis submission seemed as good as time as any to crack it open.
The bottle I had picked up surprisingly wasn’t one that I had sampled at the vineyards so I didn’t know what to expect. I picked it out for its name, Pythagoras.
Pythagoras (ca. 570 BC – 495 BC) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician from Samos, an island in the eastern Aegean Sea. He later moved out of Greece an into Calabria, in southern Italy, where he lived in a Greek colony called Croton, by the Ionian Sea. He is, of course, the founder of the Pythagorean theorem. He set up a school in which music, sports, and diet were important elements. This would go on to influence Plato. There’s also a religion associated with Pythagoras, who believed in reincarnation.
The Pythagoras Pindar wine is a Greek wine, but not in the traditional sense. It is not made in Greece but rather by Greek Americans on the North Fork on Long Island, New York. Pindar Vineyards was founded by Dr. Herodotus “Dan” Damianos, who was born in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. He began buying farmland in Peconic, North Fork, Long Island, in 1979, and started planting grapes the following year. Today, seventeen different varieties of grapes grow on Pindar Vineyard’s 500 acres.
One of the special aspects of Pindar Vineyards is its commitment to environmental stewardship. The vineyard practices sustainable agriculture. You can read about its green initiative on its website. It’s really quite impressive.
Dr. Dan drew his inspiration for winemaking from the Robert Louis Stevenson quote “wine is like poetry.” It seems fitting that I should enjoy a wine inspired by literature as a celebration to turning in my thesis.
The Pindar Pythagoras is a red table wine. It is light with a deliciously spicy bite. While some reds coat your tongue with sinewy grapes, the Pythagoras has more of a white wine texture. Delicate and effortless, it’s a good summer red. Its buoyancy does not mean it’s watery though. It’s flavorful, with a bit of a kick to it.
Here’s how Pindar describes the Pindar Pythagoras:
This special red was first crafted to celebrate our 20th anniversary. It has the round and full characteristics of Merlot with the slight herbaceousness of Cabernets. This award-winning blend has been named “Best US Red Blend” by the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago and “Best Red Vinifera” in Vineyard & Winery Management’s “Best of the East” competition. Sure to please a wide range of palates.
It’s a good wine to round out a pasta dish with olives in it or some sinfully dark chocolate.
If you’re here in New York, you can purchase it online, but why not take a day trip to Long Island? You can rent a car or take the Hampton Jitney bus. It’s a great getaway from Manhattan.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
Puttin’ this on my summer to-do list!