Posts Tagged“sannino”

Introducing ‘Sonis Cellars 2008 Watercolor White

That didn't take long. Not even a week, in fact. The white wine that I bottled last weekend at Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard not only has a name, it also has a label, which you can see by looking just a few inches to your right. By the way, if you don't know what 'Sonis Cellars is, you can learn about it in a previous post. Back to the label, this is truly a family affair. The watercolor that adorns the label was painted by our little Picasso, Jackson sometime in the fall. When Nena brought it home with her…

Update on My 2008 White

As you may remember, I'm making 20 or so cases of chardonnay-viognier at Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard this year. A couple weeks ago, I went out to the winemaking center to taste its progress, help rack the wine and talk with owners Lisa and Anthony Sannino. This picture is looking down into the tank after we pumped the wine out to clean out the lees and tartrate crystals. It took quite a bit of scrubbing to get the tank completely clean, a not-so-subtle reminder that winemaking is 80% cleaning. The final blend is 60% viognier and 40% chardonnay (both lots…

A Morning at Sannino Vineyard…Racking, Cleaning and Tasting

Last Saturday, I stood in a large, barely-heated garage-turned-winery just off of Alvah’s Lane in Cutchogue. The thermometer had crept just above freezing, so I could I barely feel my hands. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I got my first taste of the wine that my group and I are making at Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard, sipping a barrel sample of 2007 cabernet franc, made from fruit grown on vines just at the end of the driveway behind me. Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard, the East End’s only home winemaker’s center, is a welcome and exciting new…

Harvest at Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard

Saturday morning, several of you (my readers) descended upon Sannino Bella Vita Vineyard on Saturday morning to harvest cabernet sauvignon for our community-made Long Island red blend. I was unable to make it because I was in the Hudson Valley visiting good friends, picking apples and stopping at Alison Winery in Red Hook. From what I’ve heard and from the pictures I’ve seen, a good time was had by all. We’ll be pressing the cab on the 28th. This is going to be fun.

Long Island Community-Made Wine: Special for LENNDEVOURS Readers

I first wrote about Sannino’s Bella Vita Vineyard in late July, but I’ve got some news that I know at least a few of you will be interested in. Put simply, Sannino gives you the opportunity to make your own barrel of wine, either alone or with friends. They bill themselves as a home winemaker center, which is a pretty cool idea. They grow merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc and normally for $3500, you get a barrel of wine (23 cases of wine), bottles, corks, labels, three educational sessions and a harvest festival. Their first, biggest harvest festival is…