Sign up for our Newsletter
Podcasts

Southforker Stories: Harvesting to memories from Roman Roth’s 30 vintages at Wölffer

by Amy Zavatto on June 17th, 2023
Social Share
Share on Facebook Facebook Share on Twitter Twitter Share via Pinterest Share via email Email

Like his wines, Roth only seems to improve with time. (Photo credit: Doug Young)

Imagine if you had but one chance each year to do your job and do it well — and the efforts of everything you did and every decision you made all year long would hang on the success of this one opportunity. One chance to put out a magazine. One day to open a store and sell your wares. One home to build, one class to teach, case to argue, car to sell, meal to make, painting to paint.

Now consider that you must also depend on the cooperation of the weather and have only one medium with which to work: Grapes. You’d think after 30 years of this annual do-or-die existence at Wölffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, Roman Roth might be downright exhausted. Or maybe even a little gloomy. But three decades under his belt only ignite his imagination and fuel the fire to keep creating and building as the winery’s fermenter-in-chief. 

Amy Zavatto is the Editor-in-Chief for southforker, northforker and Long Island Wine Press. She's a wine, spirits, and food journalist whose work appears in Wine Enthusiast, InsideHook.com, MarthaStewart.com, the New York Post, Liquor.com, SevenFifty Daily, Imbibe, Men’s Journal and many others. She's the author of The Big Book of Bourbon Cocktails, Prosecco Made Me Do It: 60 Seriously Sparkling Cocktails, Forager’s Cocktails: Botanical Mixology with Fresh, Natural Ingredients, and The Architecture of the Cocktail. She is a respected judge for the American Craft Spirits Association’s annual small-production spirits competition, and has moderated numerous panels on the topics of wine, spirits, cocktails, and regional foodways. She is the former Deputy Editor for the regional celebratory publications, Edible Manhattan and Edible Brooklyn, as well as the former Executive Director of the Long Island Merlot Alliance. She is a member of the New York chapter of the international organization of women leaders in food, wine, and spirits, Les Dames d’Escoffier. The proud daughter of a butcher, Amy is originally from Shelter Island, N.Y., where she developed a deep respect for the East End’s natural beauty and the importance of preserving and celebrating it and its people.

Related Content

X
X