PECONIC, N.Y. – This year’s harvest commenced on a dark, drowsy day, with a slight chill in the air and a bruised tinge to the sky. One winemaker, Richard Olsen-Harbich, was walking among neat rows of merlot grapes at Raphael Vineyards, his natty blue-jeans tucked into a pair of galoshes. Touring the vineyard, the bashful vintner kept his words to a minimum, occasionally drifting out of conversation altogether to look up at the geese floating by.

Turns out Mr. Olsen-Harbich is actually quite the radical. Long Island is not a region synonymous with fine wine, and he’s bent on changing that. His recent efforts to assemble a “quality alliance” promoting the North Fork’s merlot has frustrated many other local vintners, who say paying attention to a single grape would do a disservice to the region’s other, equally deserving varieties. The area’s 32 wineries produce about 30 kinds of grapes, including cabernet franc, chardonnay, chenin blanc, riesling, pinot blanc, and sauvignon blanc. Some dissenters have come to the emerging alliance’s meetings to air their concerns, while others have fired off not-so-nice e-mails to the organization’s leader.” This is not a business for the weak of heart,” Mr. Olsen-Harbich said. “I know it sounds silly because it’s grapes, but some of us get worked up about it.”

The establishment of the East End Merlot Alliance, which has perhaps a dozen vineyards on board, leaves the other grapes out in the cold. Mr. Olsen-Harbich says he’s is calling a spade a spade by seeking attention for the merlot, which he says is hands down the area’s best product. “It’s kind of like if you have a group of children that don’t behave and then you have one that takes care of himself,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to talk about the one that did the best, and many people prefer to say, ‘We love all of our children equally.'”

The two largest crops from East End vineyards are merlot and chardonnay. So why promote just the merlot? Red wine is growing faster in popularity than white or blush wine, according to the president of the national Wine Market Council, John Gillespie. Merlot in particular is quite popular, with its slightly chocolaty taste and its smooth texture. Supermarket sales of the variety are up 4% this year, compared with chardonnay’s 1.6% growth. “Merlot is pretty easy to drink,” said Cyril Penn, editor of the trade magazine Wine Business Monthly. “It also tends to cost more per bottle than chardonnay.”

The area’s 650 acres of merlot is nearly equaled by its 500 acres of chardonnay, and some think the choice to go with merlot was a decision that had more to do with marketing than with merit. “I’m surprised that they’re pushing themselves as a maker of merlot because, quite honestly, I think they do a lot of wines a lot better,” said a Brooklyn-based wine-tasting teacher, Julie Conroy, who until recently coordinated marketing and special events at Astor Place Wines & Spirits.

She’s tasted the area’s merlot and says it’s the riesling that stands out. “If they say they’re the riesling capital of the world, nobody’s going to know what they’re talking about,” Ms. Conroy said.

Still, Mr. Olsen-Harbich insists fashion is not playing into his decision. “If I wanted to go with what was fashionable I’d plant pinot grigio,” he said.

“It’s nonsense,” said Charles Massoud, who has owned nearby Paumanok Vineyards for 21 years. “The consumer isn’t looking for merlot. He’s looking for diversity.

“It’s not like I’m opposed to the merlot alliance because our merlot doesn’t measure up,” Mr. Massoud continued. “On the contrary, our merlot is better than those in the alliance.”

Once it gets off the ground, the East End Merlot Alliance plans to hold tasting panels, at which superior wines will be given a seal of approval and promoted past the confines of Long Island. In 2006 organizers hope to stage a world conference of merlot makers. Membership fees for local wineries have been set at $2,000 each.

Thirty members of the North Fork wine community assembled last month at Raphael Winery to sip coffee and discuss plans, the tone of the conversation becoming heated at times. The alliance is determined to proceed with putting together merlot events and promotional materials. “We need a quality alliance. After 25 years, still so many people are still not taking us seriously,” Mr. Olsen-Harbich said.

What is called the North Fork lies 90 miles east of New York City. Its first vineyard appeared in 1973. Now the wine country includes more than 3,000 acres. In the past five years the local industry has been gaining momentum in terms of media coverage, tourism, and inclusion on wine lists at fancy Manhattan restaurants, such as wd-50, Gramercy Tavern, and Hearth. The wineries gross $65 million a year. But it’s still a fledgling industry, and many of the wineries are eager to raise their ranking in the international wine world.

Those in favor of the merlot alliance say it’s a natural wine to promote. The area’s maritime climate, cooler than wine country in California, is ideal for the merlot grape. Further, the grape clusters’ loose structure thrives in the area, whose humidity can damage more bunched-together, rot-susceptible varieties, such as cabernet franc.

But it’s not just plant biology, it’s also a canny strategy to push one variety to the forefront, the way Oregon has done with pinot noir and New Zealand has done with sauvignon blanc.

“When we do tastings, the first question people ask is, ‘What are you known for?”‘ said the owner of Long Island’s Shinn Estate Vineyards, David Page. In any industry, presenting oneself as an expert in one particular area can be a wise course. The vineyard manager of Raphael, Ben Sisson, said, “If you tell people you excel in everything they roll their eyes.”

The merlot alliance’s founders may be wise to get it off the ground now. The American wine industry stands to be altered radically, with a Supreme Court hearing set for December 7 to determine whether wineries from about 10 states can ship directly to consumers. If the decision favors the wineries, they won’t be obliged to go through wholesalers, who have been long criticized for favoring the more established, cheaper brands and overlooking the smaller newcomers.

“They have little interest in representing little wineries that produce 4,000 cases a year,” said the president of WineAmerica, a trade organization, David Sloane. He said the Supreme Court ruling could catalyze the North Fork wine industry. “It would make it a much more viable business,” Mr. Sloane said.

The two classical models of marketing wine are the what-we-do approach and the where-we-do-it approach.

In France, winemakers typically have stuck with the regional (such as Bordeaux or Burgundy) tactic, but in parts of the New World varietal tactics have proven effective. The Carneros region of California promotes its pinot noir. Germany promotes its riesling and New Zealand promotes its sauvignon blanc, though in each case the grape constitutes only about one-fourth of the country’s wine crop. The Long Island merlot alliance would be something of a first: Apart from Bordeaux in France, no other place has boasted much of its merlot.

Of course, touting one variety from a region doesn’t always work. In the mid-1990s the South Africa wine industry tried to brand itself as the premier maker of pinotage, but it proved a hollow distinction: Not many people were aware of the grape, and the strategy didn’t catch on.

It’s the possibility of the exact opposite outcome, that Long Island will become known globally for its merlot and only its merlot, that keeps certain members of the Long Island Wine Council up at night. The group’s executive director, Steve Bate, committed to putting all of Long Island’s wineries on the map, is redoubling the group’s efforts to do so, with plans for everything from an online wine club to a month long Valentine’s Day promotion.

“We do have a lot of great wines out here so it’s important to make sure that they all get promoted,” Mr. Bate said. He’s none too pleased about the East End Merlot Alliance, but said, “We can’t stop them from doing it.”

And for now Mr. Bate can comfort himself with the knowledge that nothing stays in fashion forever, not even when it comes to plonk.