My journey in Spring Break was to go to Long Island and go to one of the Long Island AVAs, I went to Shinn Estate Vineyards which is one of the first farm restaurants on the East Coast. It is located at 2000 Oregon Rd, Mattituck. The owners are Barbara Shinn and David Page who is a chef and also Mrs. Shinn’s husband. My friends and I decided to go to this place because it is well knows of their grape varieties and how organically the fed their soil. As we arrived, the staff greeted us very friendly and asked if we made a reservation for the tour. We were waiting in the tasting room which is very comfortable, relax and beautiful.

Mrs. Shinn gave us the tour to the vineyard while we were walking she told us what kind of soil they use for their grapes. They use loam soil that has rock and when it rains, it drain into the soil and dry very quickly. They do not use pesticide and to feed the soil, Mrs. Barbara said that they use seaweed, fish, whey, biodynamic method and self-sustainable ecosystem. She also showed us that in the ground their keep the clover crops and roots because it captures nitrogen to the soil and also can absorb the rain. This vineyard started planting on spring 2000 with 20 acres and their first harvest was Sauvignon Blanc on 2002.

  Vineyard!

Growing bud with trellis and black nets to support them.

They mark the grape variety. SB= Sauvignon Blanc

Nowadays, they have 28 acres with different grape varieties. They have five red grapes which are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot while for white grapes; they have three white which are, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc Semillon. Besides those, they also have Riesling and Chardonnay.

In our second tour, we went to the winery and were directed by David Page. After the grapes being harvest, they send it to the pressing machine. In the pressing machines, they get all the juices and let it cools at lower temperature under 40 degree F. In the fermentation, they let the juice to be fermented with high temperature up to 50 degree F. After all this process is completed, it goes directly to the bottle. In the Barrel Cellar, they have about 200 French barrels and each barrel can be used only for three time. The room has to be at low temperature about 58 degree F. The barrel cellar has to be clean because hygiene is very important to keep the bacteria away.

Wine Making Room

Big Red Wine Cask

Pressing Machine

Barrel Cellar Room

After the amazing tour, we finally have the time to taste their wine. We sat outside with this awesome weather. The staff explain each wine to us which they really know all the details about their wines.We had their famous wines such as Coalescence, Frist fruit (Sauvignon Blanc) and Mojo. My favorite ones was Rose and Riesling.

Outdoor Tasting Wine

Rose Wine

Four Tasting Wines to share

This place is just amazing from the beginning to the end. I really learned a lot and it was a good experience to have this amazing opportunity and learn about wine. I would definitely come back here when I have the time and buy some on the way home. I was so regretted that I did not buy any of their wines because I could not finish all the ones that I wanted to buy by myself. I really recommend this place for those who want to learn wine.