Author Archives: li_cindy416

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They have their branding on every napkin they have.

They have their branding on every napkin they have.

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The famous upside down tree.

The famous upside down tree.

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One of the sculptures Walter Channing made.

One of the sculptures Walter Channing made.

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The winery my friends and I decided to go to is Channing Daughters Winery, at 1927 Scuttlehole Road, Bridgehampton; it is about a 2 in a half hour drive from Manhattan. This place is known because of the various grapes they use to make every wine and the unique story behind upside down tree. The upside tree as we see it was caused by a storm several years ago, but to Walter Channing he saw the upside tree as an artwork which gave him the idea of making wooden sculptures it various ways to describe his wines.

For every wooden sculpture Walter Channing has made, he used them as the branding label; his famous branding label of course is his first inspiration the upside down tree. However, the branding label and sculptures aren’t the main reason that attracts customers to buy and taste their wines. The main reason is because the way they blend and the unique taste of their wines are what catches every customer’s attention. For instance, the Vervino Vermouth- Variation 5 this is a fortified wine that they made with neutral grape and sweetened with their local honey. They had botanicals added, they are musk melon, peaches, flowering basil, flowering dill, lemon balm, papalo, lemon verbena, and many more. Each botanical adds on a unique flavor to the wine which makes it unique and flavorful for the late summer.

Another wine that left a lasting memory to me was the red wine, Over & Over– Variation 8 -Long Island AVA. This wine was made with lots of effort, they used methods called ripasso and the solera system. By blending the two most common red wine making methods together the Channing Daughters team come up with a one and only unique wine. These two methods are unique because they use ½ of one grape production and blend it with another, then with that half they blend another half of it to another wine, continuously creating their over & over wine. Since, they blending different wines their grapes consist of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Tocai, Sauvignon Blanc, Tocai Friulano, and many more.

In addition, their customer service from their staff is pretty well considering we only saw one person the whole time we were there for. He was in charge of preparing tasting wine for customers and explaining the knowledge of how and what each wine is made of. For every wine he poured for each customer was very explanatory and in details that showed the importance of each wine we tasted. Throughout the time we were at the winery we got to taste more than the two I mentioned earlier; we tried the 2014 Scuttlehole Chardonnay which consist of 100% Chardonnay, 2013 Sauvignon, 2013 Tocai Friulano- Sylvanus Vineyard, 2013 Vino Bianco, and the 2012 Brick Kiln Chardonnay. In the 2012 Brick Kiln Chardonnay, it had a very floral taste to it.

Last but not least, I want to talk about the way the whole winery was designed. It was being once you entered you would drive between two fields of grapes grown on the sides and enter a store with different wooden sculptures all around you. Since each wooden sculpture was made by Walter Channing, he wanted every customer to see what he has made and where his inspiration all came from. Each wooden sculpture had its own meaning to it. Thanks to the Channing Daughters Winery, I experienced something new and gained a lot of knowledge that I didn’t have before.

My first experience to a wine retail shop!

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My first ever wine retail experience was quite exciting, where I got to spend it with my college friends in experiencing it together. This experience is something I would never forget, since this was my first ever walking into a wine retail store.

When I first saw the front of the store I couldn’t believe that it was actually a wine retail store because the signs and surrounding was not some place I would’ve thought a wine retail store would be placed. Next to the store were hotels, high end restaurants, and a wide range of clothing stores. However, when you look at the front they have writings and displays of wine glasses that cashes your attention of what their wines they sell inside. The sign was light pick and in big fonts “Crush Wine & Spirits.”

So, has you walk inside the automatic doors open for you and you see a lovely display of spirits in front of you with different grape varieties from France to the red side of the wall. As I looked around I tried to find someone whom I might’ve spoke to on the phone before going there; all I saw was a woman sitting in the front on the computer. So, as I approached her I asked her I called a day before to ask if we would get a tour of the place and ask questions about wine. All she could say was oh okay, but let me see if we have anyone available.

This gave me the impression of unsatisfied customer service and a bad hospitality service to someone who clearly was supposed to communicate with other staffs before leaving for the day. This led me to an unpleasing first impression of the place; so as I said okay then… can we at least walk around and take pictures for our assignment. Even though, she gave us permission to walk around, I was still unsatisfied with so many questions of what is the most expensive wine, what are some wines customers buy most, where do you store all your wines, and how much to you sell roughly every week?

Each questions were answered by their manager; Veronica Stoler said as followed:

  1. What is the most expensive wine?

The store manager Veronica Stoler told us that customers buy the Louis XIII do Remy Martin all because of the brand name. The name of the wine is what the customers are buying, not the taste of the cost of the wine itself.

2. What are some wines customers buy most?

As for the wines customers buy most are really depending on the years they were produced or the grape variety they are produced by, is what the customers mainly look for. So, she said the wines that she has seen so far was the 2009 wine that people enjoy most because during that time the weather and climates were the best. Which made them the top sellers.

3. Where do you store all your wines?

Well, as for storing their wines, she brought my friends and I to a glassed room with rubber floors and a cooling machine that keeps the wines cool and moist in every wine bottle. As for the rubber floors, it is to keep the vibrations when walking, from affecting the wines inside the storage.

4. How much to you sell roughly every week?

Veronica Stoler couldn’t really give use an actual amount, but when thinking carefully she said about 2,100 bottles. Which includes both online and in store sellers.

As you can see, Crush Wine & Spirits is a store that shows both grape varieties and spirit wines from France. Each part of the store shows that they are mainly about France wine which is one part of the worlds wine. Veronica Stoler is a well knowledge manager that was kind and respectful enough to answer our questions and curiosities. I am very thankful to her for providing more knowledge for my friends and I about wine. Overall, my experience to visiting a wine retail store was exciting and informative to learning about wine.