Author Archives: Sizhen Chen

The Vineyard of Barbara Shinn and David Page Made a Working Marriage from Their Marriage

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Shinn Estate winery and vineyard were contributed by Barbara Shinn and her Husband David Page in a 20 acres land in Long Island in Spring 2000. Owner Barbara Shinn and her husband were immersed in the culture of Northern California art and cuisine. Later on, they decided to move to New York for vine growing and wine making

Green Based Vineyard Looks More Vivid.

Green Based Vineyard Looks More Vivid

One of the owners, Barbara Shinn, was hosting the tour. She works as a vine grower on the Shinn Estate. Barbara was welcoming us with her enthusiasm and attentiveness by smiling at us and touching the grass in the vineyard in order to check if the grass was too wet for some of us to walk. During the tour, she explained to us about the methods that they used to feed their vines and protect their vines thoroughly.

Upon arrival to the vineyard, the first thing came to my eyes was not vines. Instead of these vines I saw a green colored sea of meadow and cover crops. Barbara explained that the green meadow and cover crops were the fertilizers that she planted for her grapes, and then she pulled out a clover and introduced it to us as one of the nitrogen makers in her vineyard. She explained that nitrogen works as fertilizer for grapes. There were more than 12 types of clovers planted underneath the vines in order to make just enough nitrogen for grapes by catching air from the leaves, transferring the air into nitrogen, and spreading out the nitrogen from their root to the soil.

Clover's Root is the Place that Transfer the Nitrogen to the Soil

Clover’s Root is the Place that Transfer the Nitrogen to the Soil

Nitrogen Came From Here

Nitrogen Came From Here

Beside clover other things that Barbara applied to the vineyard were seaweed, fish liquid, and peanut shells. Peanut shells were also introduced as a nitrogen making agent. Fish liquid and seaweed were used to feed the micro bacteria and soil worms. What Barbara really wanted was the dead bodies of bacteria and soil worms because after they died and decayed, these dead bodies became nutrients for the vines. Based on what she explained to us about her vineyard, I literally connected the process of growing vine with the process of growing fetal. Vines’ grow in Barbara’s vineyard are more like babies grow in their mothers’ wombs while vines from many other vineyards that did not have meadows and cover crops are more like babies that grew in test tube.

There were eight grape varieties growing in this 20 acre vineyard. Red grapes are merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, cabernet franc and peti verdot; white grapes are sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Semillon. Peti verdot is used for blending because of its unique dark inky red color and spicy on palate. The choice about what to grow in the vineyard is based on agriculture: climate and soil tells you what can grow. White grapes are sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc, Semillon. The cool climate and lighter gravity, loamy soil are very similar to Loire Valley in Bordeaux so Barbara and her husband chose grapes that were from Bordeaux mostly.

“After a few years’ investments, the first harvest was at 2002” said David Page. He hosted the second tour witch started ride next to the press bladder machine. At this time we learned that during the harvest season the vine growers handpick the grapes, check their quality, and transfer them to the presser bladder. Their juice will be chilled for two to three days in a tank until all the sediment sink to the bottom. They will be transferred to s second tank for fermentation at 55 degree.

Here is the Place hat They Process the Grapes into Juice

Yes, they to protect their grape from browning and discoloration by oxidation, they do use smallest amount of sulfite in the vineyard. David Page explained the issue of using sulfite for wines because there are numbers of people do not like to consume products that contain sulfite because this is chemical. However, what I found from winesandvines.com was that the usage of sulfite is only dangerous for sensitive people and asthmatics.

          David Page brought us to their library and then their cellar (not located underground, but the temperature was around 58 degree in the cellar). Actually we just passed by their library because it’s connected with their cellar and we had to walk through the library to get into the cellar.

There Were No Books in This Library!

There Were No Books in This Library!

David Page liked the French barrels for wine aging because they are tighter than American barrels and so they are able to maintain the uniqueness of the wine.

We were told proudly by David Page about the cellar room’s temperature which was maintained to 58 degree for the wine. They have a lot of wine in their cellar: 75 to 100 barrel for each vintage, and each barrel produces 300 bottles of wine. For each vintages, they keep 50 to 100 bottles for themselves, not to drink, but for their wine industry friends to taste the wine together and compare the wines from different vintages.

These French Barrels Can Only be Used for Three Times

These French Barrels Can Only be Used for Three Times

Old French Barrels Became Part of Tasting Area's Decoration.

Old French Barrels Became Part of Tasting Area’s Decoration.

They have outdoor tastings, and each of us got chance to taste four different wines. I believed that the servers were all trained to have enough knowledge for wine tasting services because they were able to explain the wine to us thoroughly. The servers’ service speed was very fast, that looked like they wanted us to hurry up.  For an additional comment, I think their outdoor tasting area could be expanded to a larger size so that their tasting room area personnel would not have to rush when they served customers.

After all, I realized that Barbara Shinn and David Page were compliment to each other’s characters. Barbara was more outgoing while David was a little less outgoing. They cooperate with each other very well in their business and in their marriage. Both of them were very knowledgeable on their part of the work and they also knew each other’s work deeply, which means they communicate with each other very well. I think to be successful in this industry, understanding, cooperation, communication and patience are the most important elements. At this case, Mr. and Mrs. Page have all of them.

Patience-David Page Spent Time on Balance these stones

Patience-David Page Spent Time on Balance these stones

http://shinnestatevineyards.com/vineyard/vineyard-philosophy

http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=features&content=82324

 

Location Determines Everything in Wine and Beverage Shops

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Front Door of North End

North End Wine and Liquor Located Close to the Bronx Zoo.

Front Door of Crush Wine &Spirits

Crush Wine and Spirits Located in Midtown.

Wine is playing an important role in more and more people’s lives nowadays. The majority of Americans think that drinking wine will make their lives more joyful. People’s meals will be more delightful by pairing up the wine with different foods; their parties will be more pleasurable by cheering up with friends. People start to love wines and it causes more and more wine shops to be opened by wine lovers or business investors, and you will see a wine shop almost every few blocks in Manhattan, New York City. I have visited two wine Retail shops recently. One is Crush Wine and Spirits located in midtown Manhattan, the other one is North End Wine and Liquor store located around the Bronx Zoo. These two shops are very different from each other in many ways. However, the differences between these two shops are both caused by where they located.

white wines display in crush

White Wines Display in Crush by Regions and Prices.

Red wines display in Crush by regions and prices from high to low start from top shelf to bottom

Red Wines Display in Crush by Regions and Prices.

Sparklings in North End
Sparklings in North End.

 

 

Sparking in Crush

Sparklings in Crush are displayed in the Box because they are Everyday Beverages.

North end wHite

White Wines are Displayed in North End within the Wine Section.

North end reds

Red Wines are Displayed in the North End Within the Wine Section as Well.

Products from Crush and North End are all organized by the types of the target consumers for each shop. Crush’s target consumers are varying in large scale because it is located in midtown Manhattan. The neighbors of Crush are residents and companies. Residents around there are more likely to purchase pricy drinks while the companies prefer to buy some less pricy wine for their own parties. The range of prices for wine is varied, it causes Crush to organize products by their prices and regions, and within the regions the prices are ranged from high to low, starting from the top of the shelf to the bottom. North End is located nearby the Bronx Zoo. As we know, the rentals around that area are a lot cheaper than the rentals around midtown Manhattan, so young people become North End’s target consumers. Since they are young and they have less abilities to afford pricy beverages, most of wines from North End are priced around 10 to 20 bucks. The shop has less abilities to sell the pricy beverages, it limits the varieties of the wine in the store. And it also causes the shop to only organize their products by separating different types of wine and beverage into different sections. For example, they store all of white wine and red wine in one area without categorizing them by regions or something else because they don’t have enough variety of wine. The presentations of wines and beverages in both wine shops are very different from each other, and it’s because their locations already determine what kind of customers each shop has to deal with.    

Locations also control the ambiences of wine shops and what kind of experience that its customers will have when they visit the stores. Since Crush is located in an area that has more rich residents and more companies, the store is designed to have more elegant decorations, and the speed of music in Crush was a bit slow it also made me feel like I became a rich person when I visited. Unlike Crush, North End was playing some kind of pop music in order to fit what young people like. Customers of different areas have different treatment too. Crush provides better wine and a peaceful environment for its neighbors for tasting events using their own budget, but North End provides wine for tasting events only when some of the wine companies provide the free wine for its customers to taste.

Tasting Room in Crush

Crush has A Well Provided Tasting Room While North End has None.

The differences between Crush and North End are huge. I think it is not caused by which manager has better abilities of managing a store, but it’s because of where the store is located.  Having more varieties of wine and beverages is a strength for Crush. However, it can be a weakness for North End if its manager also gets many varieties of wine and beverages because having more varieties of beverages means the price range of the wine shop will have to increase. This will be a waste of product because consumers will only continue to purchase the cheaper wines. Also, having less varieties of wine can be a strength for North End, because young people may prefer to buy wine from the store, but it can never be happen in Crush because Crush deals with varying types of customers that purchase varying types of wine depending on the events.

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