Make sure that evening glass of “Coalescence” doesn’t sweat onto your coffee table with a handmade cork coaster from Shinn Estate Vineyard.
“We were throwing out so many corks and I thought we should do something with them,” said Shinn sommelier Julia King, who creates the coasters bearing the vineyard’s initials. “I was thinking about a lot of different things we could do, but also what would sell.”
King began fashioning the coasters using the old corks, wood and some hot glue last fall. She also painted signs hanging outside the tasting room with affirmative adjectives like “grounded” and “fruitful.”
“It’s a hidden talent I didn’t know I had,” said King, who has worked for the vineyard for the past year and a half.
Other North Fork wineries are also offering handcrafted items made by their employees. We recently reported that Macari Vineyards is offering tabletops made from wine barrel wood and the Croteaux Vineyards is making their own longboards.
The coasters are available at Shinn’s tasting room for $7.50 each.
Shinn Estate Vineyards is located at 2000 Oregon Road in Mattituck.
