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(Photo credit: David Benthal)
“Everything happens for a reason,” says Alex Vinash with a subtle shrug — it’s a pretty easy-going mantra for a guy sitting next to a pillow embroidered with the words “High Maintenance,” neatly propped up on the plush white armless daybed in his new Southampton store.
But for Vinash, joy is all about jumping in feet first, embracing the contradictions, surprises and out-and-out curve balls of life. It’s that spirit that landed him here in the first place, a twisty, turny route from his native Argentina to Europe to eastern Long Island. And weather he’s in his thoroughly dazzling eponymous store on Hampton Road in Southampton, in the new Columbus, Ohio outpost, or at the very first shop he opened on Main Street in Greenport, you can bet he’s embracing each and every change that comes his way — which is just about as haute as you can get.
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.
