The vineyard I decided to visit is Shinn Estate Vineyards located in North Fork (Mattituck), Long Island. Here I had got the experience through the vineyards thats been around for almost two decades. Of course, this is a small vineyard and winery that is family owned and are all about vintage. April 2017, the former owners Barbara Shinn and David Page sold over the vineyard and winery to Randy and Barbara Frankel.
They too now focus on the Biodynamic and organic farming in order for the winemaking process to have an accurate outcome on the viticulture.A fun fact about Shinn Estate is that it is 1 of 3 vineyards that include all ingredients in the back of wine bottle labels. Shinn Estate Vineyards consists of 20 planted acres, a renovated Wine Library. The grape varieties grown here are: Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon, and one of my favorites Riesling. And now in June 2017, they introduced their first ever Rosé called Rose Hill Rosé that is a blend of Merlot, Riesling and Chardonnay. It has a dry and crisp flavor with a light after taste. Might be because it has the aroma of strawberry and other tropical fruits.
Because this wine tasted very delicate and unique I was curious about what would be a food pairing for this rosé, and was told by one the employees that it would be best paired with Shellfish such as Sautéed Mussels and even poultry like a chicken salad. I was very surprised when they brought out the Rose because it was said that the rainy days was sometimes a problem when grape growing because the soil would get ‘moldy’ and ‘dewey’ what we would call diurnal temperatureswith plenty of rain shadow. This would cause the grapes to take longer to ripen. This Rosé along with the other grapes for the wines are harvested by had, when it through the fermentation stage, it is done with natural yeasts.
The equipment used for the winemaking are stainless steel barrels and the usual oak barrels used for the fermentation process. the grapes are placed one they are selected for wine production. This grapes take longer to ferment using these barrels because it is stainless steel
Looking around I see white wines, red wines, sparkling wines and like mentioned before, the newest addition, the Rosé
In the tasting room, I take a look at some of their wines. I also discovered that their wine can be found around restaurants in NYC such as the Gramercy Tavern, Rainbow Room, Blue Hill and some others mentioned, but can’t remember.
Grape Vines: Here are the grape vines going through the Bud BreakStage. Because the temperatures here are diurnal, sometimes this stage takes longer to take place because heat and sunlight is needed. The weather in Long Island tends to be rainy, which then turns the soil very moldy and too difficult for it to maintain dry for the grapes to ripen.
Wine Testing Menu
What’s interesting is how both our vineyards were in North Fork but in different sections. You were in Mattituck while I was in Cutchogue. Because of this, you have different grape varieties present at your vineyard that mine did not have, and vice versa, and this was all due to the influence of the vineyard manager.
the pictures were clear and it shows the grape vines and the blog connected the climate to the region with the rain shadow because it is located next to the water.
I always enjoyed Shinn Estate but have not been there since the new owners have taken over. I hope to visit soon.