Seasons · 5 min read
What's Happening on the Long Island Wine Trail in April
April is when the wine year actually starts. The rosés land, the lawns open, and every winery on the East End is suddenly worth a Saturday drive again.
What's happening on the wine trail in April
_By Hollis Cooper — updated for the April 2025 season._
April is when the wine year actually starts. The rosés land, the lawns open, and every winery on the East End is suddenly worth a Saturday drive again.
Below are the 2–3 things actually worth driving out for this April, broken out by region. Dates and lineups change year to year — confirm on each winery's site before you book — but these are the recurring events and seasonal pours I plan my own April around.
North Fork
- Rosé release weekends — Croteaux, Wölffer (North Fork distribution) and most North Fork wineries push the new vintage rosé live in April; reserve a porch table at Macari for the official drop.
- Bud-break vineyard tours — call ahead and most North Fork producers will walk you through the rows as the first leaves come out.
- Earth Day biodynamic tastings — Shinn Estate and Macari both lean into their farming story in late April with extended cellar tours.
For April North Fork itineraries, see the North Fork day trip guide and the first-time visitor's guide. Browse the wineries directory to build your own route.
The Hamptons
- Wölffer Estate rosé launch weekend — the unofficial start of the Hamptons season; the Sagaponack lawn opens for table service.
- Channing Daughters spring tasting series — extended hours and new releases by mid-April.
- Sag Harbor's first warm weekend — Baron's Cove and The American Hotel both run paired-wine dinners; book two weeks out.
For April Hamptons planning, see the Hamptons wineries overview and the hotels & stays guide for nearby rooms.
How I'd plan a April weekend
If you're putting together a single weekend on the East End this April, the move is to anchor Saturday on one fork and Sunday on the other. North Fork Saturday lets you string together three winery visits at a comfortable pace — start at one of the producers listed above, break for lunch in Greenport or on Love Lane, and finish at a Sound-side tasting room for the late-afternoon light. Sunday in the Hamptons is best built around one major Wölffer or Channing Daughters visit plus a long lunch in Sag Harbor before the drive home.
Reserve every tasting in advance. Even in the shoulder months the better seated experiences fill up by Thursday. And if you're staying over, book the room before the tasting — the hotels guide has the full lineup by town.
What's next
Next month's edition will cover the events and seasonal pours worth planning around in the following weeks. In the meantime, the Long Island wine events calendar tracks the bigger dated happenings, and the seasonal guide collects every month-by-month edition in one place.