We are welcomed for a day to this singular Mattituck, NY estate, where a vineyard, a bed and breakfast, a beehive, a garden, a border collie, and some happy chickens coexist in organic harmony.
All is quiet on Shinn Estates’ 20 acres: located less than a mile from the Long Island Sound, the breeze is a constant companion, as is a certain freshness in the air. It’s quite a contrast from the bustle of Manhattan, and as the former restaurateurs behind Home in Greenwich Village, a local-centric eatery still in existence today, Barbara Shinn and David Page just may have wanted that change.
“There is a certain peace here,” Shinn tells Markets Media Life, the glow on her face supporting her assertion. “There is a connection to the land.”
Page, Shinn’s husband, agrees. “It’s an honor to be a part of something here in the North Fork that is just flourishing.”
The husband-and-wife team are being modest: having begun the locavore movement before the hip youngsters who now espouse it were even born, Shinn and Page have moved on to producing organic wines, utilizing sustainable practices backed by the same science used by less natural winemakers. To that end, they’ve cultivated not just a successful, acclaimed winery and a healthy vineyard, but also a lifestyle that includes producing as much of what they consume as possible and returning it to the land. Should you hesitate upon the word ‘sustainable’, ponder this: the couple are so focused on leaving nothing to waste that they’ve added a distillery, from which lees and skins left over from winemaking are placed in large Portuguese stills and lovingly prodded to make Eau de Vie and Shinn Shine, a kicker of a spirit meant to be enjoyed, not guzzled.
Theirs is an all-encompassing philosophy, and Shinn and Page want to be sure that vineyard visitors experience it fully: hence, their beautifully restored modern farmhouse-turned-bed-and-breakfast. With no detail left unattended and with every resource directed toward a serenely indulgent — yet sustainable — experience, the bed and breakfast, with its four spacious rooms and beautiful views, allows guests to absorb the panoramic beauty of the property.
Markets Media trekked out to Shinn Estate for a full day-in-the-life experience on April 19.
