January 11, 2008
Dearest brother Theo,
Gauguin and I have set sail on a voyage of discovery among the people of Long Island. Our point of embarcation is Point Liberte in Bayonne, New Jersey, then to Manhattan Island, and on to Long Island, which sticks out into the Atlantic like a giant fish with twin flukes, the North Fork and the South Fork, Eastern-most.
We sailed on the Infinite Justice. As she makes her pivot into New York Harbor, Gauguin noticed the Empire State Building almost perfectly eclipsed by the Statue of Liberty. Excelsior Upwards! We made landfall and sought out the company of T.J. Eckleburg from his bivuoac in the Manhattan Delta, due East from the co-ordinates of Old Slip and South, along the river's edge. Four sections of Jersey Retaining Wall to the North where the one section angles in. Well-camouflaged among the angles of the wall itself and witin earshot of the helipad LZ and only a block from Standard & Poor's courtyard and the memorial to New York's fallen in Viet Nam. Eckleburg, survivor that he is, has the best bivuoac in New York, catching the heat of the full morning sun. Out of the wind. We and Eckleburg, stride up Water Street to Wall, where the Investment Bankers are already massing at Saint Maggie's Tavern, celebrating their short positions and giving thanks for the liquidity that flows there from securities on-loan from pension plans and other blessings that flow from Liberty. We cross over the Brooklyn Bridge and arrive on the part of Long Island called Brooklyn. The Valley of Ashes just ahead. Then on to the twin flukes by celestial railroad, to avoid the L.I.E.
Tell me Brother, have I sold anything yet? I am sure, eventually, I must.
A handshake for you and Willem, like old times, 'til your fingers hurt
Vincent
(b) Approved maps. The appropriate maps for determining the boundary of the Long Island viticultural area are three United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) topographic maps (Scale: 1:250,000). They are titled:
(1) “New York, N.Y.; N.J.; Conn.,” 1960 (revised 1979);
(2) “Hartford, Conn.; N.Y.; N.J.; Mass.,” 1962 (revised 1975); and
(3) “Providence, R.I.; Mass.; Conn.; N.Y.,” 1947 (revised 1969).
(c) Boundaries. The Long Island viticultural area includes approximately 1,170 square miles or 749,146 acres and is made up of the counties of Nassau and Suffolk, New York, including all off shore islands in those counties.
[T.D. ATF–453, 66 FR 26791, May 15, 2001]