Author Archives: Preeya

Winery visit: Preeya Mayta

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For this assignment, I chose to go to Sannino Vineyard in Long Island, New York with Ellies, and Mei. We booked a tour at 12 p.m. Bill Kovacsik who was our tour guide was greeting with a smile and started the tour with a glass of chilly chardonnay. Because of the cold weather, we spent most of our tour in a tasting room. Bill was a former professor at New York University in Singapore. He started the tour with the basic knowledge of wine in general. Deciding on the type of grape to grow is the first step in vinicultural practices. Sannino located in The North Fork of Long Island American Viticultural Area (AVA). Terroir is a site or land in French which play a very important role in this decision making. In Long Island, especially North Fork where the Sannino Vineyard is located, the soli in this appellation is drainage and silt (lisustainablewine.org). Another factor to consider is climate. Long Island is a maritime climate where both Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean cool off the narrow peninsula (lisustainablewine.org). As we all learn in class, water helps to moderate the temperature which is an impact on the quality and the ripeness of grape. Bill mentioned that one of the challenges that vineyards in Long Island have is humidity. Humidity causes mold and mildew. After knowing what type of the climate and soil in Long Island are, then decided to choose the right grape varieties is made. Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon are the leading grape varieties in the region (newyorkwines.org).

Moving on to the next step, Vineyard Pruning. Pruning will manipulate the potential of grape produced. Bill told us that the grape vine’s root is about 20 feet deep in the ground. The bud break is the consequent of the pruning system. Just a tip that Bill told us during the tour, how to differentiate American bud and European bud is that American bud is hairy. The last step the Bill mentioned is a harvest. The facts that vineyard manager needs to contemplate are brick level, ripeness of the seed, concentrated berries, alcohol is half of the sugar level, acidity, and tannin. At the Sannino, they offered both oak barrel and tank fermentation. Their oak barrels are from France, America, and Hungary. France oak is thinner than American oak and for the Hungarian oak, Bill said it is cheaper and have a spicy flavor. Red wine from Sannino is fermented in an oak barrel while white and rose are fermented in tank. They age their wine in oak for 22 months for the aroma and flavor. Another fact Bill told us was 80 percent of women are buying wine. The tour also included wine tasting. One of the reasons we chose this tour because of the varieties of wine tasting choices that Sannino offered. Other places only offered either sparkling wine only or red and white wines. The first wine we were tasting was the chilly chardonnay at the beginning of the tour. It was very well balanced with a refreshing touch, perfect for starting the tour. Second wine if I remember correctly was rosé. The next one was an oaky Syrah and following with Cabernet Franc. The last one was unique. It called Spiced Wine which infused with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. The wine was served warm.

Resources:
Our soils. (2018, November 21). Retrieved from http://www.lisustainablewine.org/our-soil/
Discover the Long Island Region. (2018, November 21). Retrieved from https://www.newyorkwines.org/wine-regions/long-island
Our climate. (2018, November 21). Retrieved from http://www.lisustainablewine.org/our-climate

Tasing Room/Oak Barrels

Vineyard

Equipment 

Chilly Chardonnay

Wine for sale 

Beautiful grape vines (Cabernet Sauvignon)

 

Retail Beverage Shop Analysis: Astor Wines & Spirits

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I decided to visit Astor Wine and Spirits. It is located on Lafayette Street, Manhattan. This is not my first time when to this store. My aunt took me there to buy whiskey sometimes. All the stuff there are very knowledgeable. This time of visiting Mr. Yacka was nice for us to walk us through the store and answered our questions. Doug Yacka, who is the sale manager went through all the questions that my friends and I had and explained in detail as much as he could. The questions that I asked are very basic questions for a wine beginner.
1. What type of wine that easy to drink for the beginner?
Mr. Yacka suggested that start with single grape variety wines. first, because of it less complex that blended wines. Blending will improve the aromas, color, texture, body, and finish of the wine.
2. What is the best way to store wine bottle?
For a customer who does not have a wine storage which is most of us, Mr. Yacka suggested keeping wine bottle in the dark, cool place would do. The ideal way to store wine is keeping wine in dark and temperature control. He walked us to the temperature-controlled room which was a room that stored vintage wine bottles. Some of the wine bottles were tilted and some were placed in horizontal. He said that to prevent wine from contact with air.
3. What type of white wine that has a fruity favor the most?
Since I like fruity flavor wines, this question is a personal question. Mr. Yacka recommended a wine from Rhone Valley if I like fruity flavor.

 

 

It is a room with temperature controlled. They set the temperature at 60 Fahrenheit. In the picture, it how they store wine bottles with shelf takers on the side.

 

This is a sparkling wine from Lombardy, Italy. On the Shelf talker describes its flavorful of citrus fruit from lemon zest and fresh cut pineapple.

  

Red wine comes from Valencia, a southern part of Spain. It is a full body wine, good pairing with meaty dishes.

 

A white sparkling wine from Piedmont, Italy. Before this wine class, I have not had a wine from this region before. It is a sparkling wine made from Nebbiolo with aromatic of flowers and the palate of strawberry.