Remember when Harold Watts of Ternhaven Cellars sold his vineyard in Cutchogue? I said at the time that I had heard the new owners were going to keep the property under vine. Well they have and it’s called Sannino’s Bella Vita Vineyard.
This isn’t just another vineyard or winery on the North Fork though, far from it. Much like the apparently failed Premier Cru Society at Belle Brittany Vineyard, owners Anthony and Lisa Sannino are offering wine lovers the chance to become winemakers. It’s a pretty cool thing that I hope they do well with.
For $3500 per year membership, you get:
- A custom barrel of premium wine of your choice (1 barrel = 23 cases = 275 bottles)
- Filtering
- Bottles
- Corks
- Standard Labels
- Annual Harvest Festival
- Two educational viticultural sessions
- One educational wine tasting session
They are billing themselves as a Home Winemakers’ Center, and they have been home winemakers for 15 years. Anthony began his formal education in enology and viticulture at the American mecca for wine education–the University of California, Davis. He has also been a frequent volunteer at many of the local wineries and continued his education that way. His wife Lisa has an MBA from Adelphi and will run the membership/business portion of the endeavor.
You can read more about the project at their website and also in this Newsday article.