John and Sari Zuccarino, owners of Silver
Springs Winery located on the
east side of
Seneca Lake, want you to leave their winery
knowing a lot
more about wine than when
you came in. “Education is important,”
says
John, “because customers need to understand the
differences in grapes
and styles of winemaking.”
Silver Springs Winery is one of the few
Finger
Lakes wineries where you will actually meet
and be served by the
owners on a daily basis.
“It’s important for us as the owners to relate
to
customers on a personal basis,” continues John.
“It allows us to hear
directly what the customers’
needs are.” John has even created a series of
online
educational videos about wine. (
www.wine101.tv)
The Zuccarinos are
passionate about presenting a
first-class tasting experience, evidenced in
their
ritual of rinsing tasting glasses with the next wine
to be poured to
make sure that no remnants of
the previous wine remain in the customer’s
glass
to cloud his or her tasting.
Silver Springs Winery opened in 2004,
and
John gives credit to his Italian heritage and a long
line of
winemakers for his decision to get into
the winemaking business. When he was
just ten
years old, he was helping his grandfather make
wine. His roots
trace back through hundreds of
years of family winemaking in Italy. In the
United
States, his great-grandfather operated a winery in
New Jersey
before prohibition, and John says that
members of the Zuccarino family are
involved in
the wine industry all around the world, including
Australia,
Argentina, and Canada.
John takes a minimalist approach to
winemaking. He
feels that the yeast selected for
fermentation is one of the most important
parts of
winemaking. John uses his own proprietary yeast
cultures that he
keeps in a locked vault. All of this
attention to detail pays off in the
final product.
Highlights of Silver Spring’s wine lineup include
the 2002
Merlot ($19.95) with deep blackberry
tones; the 2007 White Merlot ($14.80),
an
excellent blush wine with vivid strawberry notes;
a unique semi-sweet
2008 White Cabernet
Sauvignon ($14.80) with watermelon, berry, and
kiwi
highlights; a 2007 Pinot Grigio with layers
of apple, pear, and tropical
fruit; and a heavenly
2004 Gewurztraminer Ice Wine ($42.00)
bursting with
complex honeyed citrus flavors.
“Knowing that we are leaving a legacy
makes
it worth all of the work,” says John of his passion
about details
relating to winemaking and the
customer experience. “We know that we
have
a responsibility to future generations as curators
of this land. One
hundred years from now, I
want what Sari and I have started here to
still
be continuing.”
Silver Springs Winery is located at 4408
State
Route 414, Burdett, NY. www.
silverspringswinery.com.
Food &
Drink
Rob Lane writes a Finger Lakes wine blog,
www.
fingerlakesweekendwino.blogspot.com. Contact
him at
robl@mountainhomemag.com.
