A LOVE STORY....CYNTHIA & TOM ROSICKI
Create Sparkling Pointe Winery on Long Island's North Fork

COVER PHOTO CREDIT: MIRANDA GATEWOOD

 

If it’s not sparkling…What’s the Pointe? That’s the apt slogan for award-winning sparkling wines from the beautiful Sparkling Pointe Winery in Southold, Long Island, founded in 2003 by law (and life) partners Cynthia and Thomas Rosicki of Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates.

Their love story began in 1987 when they met at the Kosciuszko Foundation Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Romance flourished when Tom Rosicki, a 2007 Networking® magazine David honoree and, as he calls himself, a “downtown guy” ordered Champagne to impress the “updown” ­Cynthia on their first date. A little over two months later he popped another Champagne cork and “The Question” and they married shortly thereafter. The Rosickis continue their support of the Kosciuszko Foundation where Cynthia is a trustee and vice-chairman of the board. They attend the Debutante Ball each year bringing many guests from their law firm.

The Birth of a Winery
Fueled by their love of the romance and magic of Champagne, they kept a close eye on the burgeoning wine industry of the Island’s North Fork, site of their Southold home. Says Cynthia, “We’ve been coming out here our whole lives and, as time passed, we saw more vineyards cropping up. Now there are about 100 vineyards, 50 of which have wineries. Europeans and Californians are coming in and planting for their own use.”

Through serendipitous good fortune, they met Steve Mudd, the pre-eminent vineyard developer and manager, who steered them to a 10 acre parcel ideally located on North Road, Southold, which the Rosickis bought on the spot. The location “sparked” an idea for the name that Tom says he thought of because “the property is on a point of land and “sparkling” just came into my head.”

The Sparkling Pointe label, reminiscent of Michelangelo’s ”Creation” on the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, is the work of a Rio de Janeiro artist Claudio Paciullo. ­Cynthia says, “We love Brazil and have a Brazilian theme throughout the winery in the art work of Brazilian artists and in the music we play.”
To design the building, the Rosickis worked with architect Nancy Steelman to create, as Cynthia says, “an elegant but not arrogant space that would do justice to the quality of the wine we are making and sparkle yet be very comfortable and functional.”

She adds, “We designed it so that we have several different venues in the space. We have a grand tasting room, the smaller ‘Bubble’ room which has a separate entrance and can be closed off for private parties and a big, open retail area.”

Tom says, “The interior, Nancy, Cynthia and I designed together, room by room, light fixture by light fixture. It’s ideal for weddings and parties. We had our first event there recently for the Adelphi University Alumni Association.”

“Methode Champenoise” from Seedlings
to Sipping
After Steve Mudd prepared the ground, he asked the Rosickis what kind of wine they wanted to produce. They exchanged a knowing look and replied in unison, “Champagne!” For that, Mudd, who delighted in the idea of dedicating the first planting of a new vineyard to the production of sparkling wine, advised them to hire Frenchman Gilles Martin, an internationally acclaimed award-winning winemaker born in the Champagne region, who held a masters degree in Oenology from the prestigious University of Montpellier. His 1986 Masters thesis on the technology of wine ultra-filtration won a first prize awarded in person by former French president Jacques Chirac. Martin enthusiastically joined the Rosickis bringing his expertise in the French “Methode Champenoise” to the creation of Sparkling Pointe wines.

The French “Methode Champenoise” begins with hand-harvesting fruits in September. Following a cool, slow fermentation, the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes undergo a pressing to become lively base wines. After creatively blending these base wines to fashion various “curvees,” the French word for vat which refers to the early “juices,” a second fermentation occurs and tiny bubbles emerge. This wine ages for another two years gaining structure and effervescence. The product is then “riddled,” which means being gradually tilted so the sediment settles into the neck of the bottle to prepare for “disgorging,” removing that sediment. The resultant sparkling wine then receives a “liquor de dosage,” a reserve wine, to polish its style.

Regarding differences between Champagne and sparkling wine, Tom explains that in the case of Sparkling Pointe, it’s a matter of semantics. He says, “Champagne is the name given to sparkling wines that come from the Champagne region of France. Outside of France, Champagne must be called sparkling wine. At Sparkling Pointe we do the double fermentation that is the ‘Methode Champenoise,’ the same process used in France. We are the only ones in New York State who use that method. We also use the same grapes as in France: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

“A very important distinction to make is that there are sparkling wines that are not made using the ‘Methode Champenoise’ process but use a single fermentation which is less expensive and produces a wine that is not as high quality. When people say ‘Champagne gives me a headache,’ it is probably because they are not drinking genuine ‘Methode Champenoise.’ “

Cynthia says, “At Sparkling Pointe we use only first press of the grapes. The first press is always the best just like it is in the production of olive oils.”

Tom adds, “The first press is very gentle and with the second press the grapes are squeezed harder so skins, seeds and even branches can be in it. We sell that off.”

Sparkling Pointe Wines Take Top Honors
The Rosickis and Gillis Martin’s belief that Long Island is ideally suited for the creation of distinctive sparkling wines thanks to its cooler temperatures than California has proven true. Their joint dream, to make New York “sparkle” as a top wine region was fulfilled in part at the world-class 2009 San Francisco Chronicle wine competition, the Oscars of wine competitions. There, in January, Sparkling Pointe 2000 Brut Seduction won a Best of Class and a Sparkling Sweepstakes award putting Long Island squarely on the world map of sparkling wines for the first time. The wine was started in 2000 at another vineyard by Gilles Martin who invited the Rosickis to taste it. When they did they loved it and wanted to finish it for Sparkling Pointe.

Tom says, “It (the 2000 Brut Seduction) beat out Mumm Napa, Roederer California, Gloria Ferrer and the rest. Every vineyard in America submits for that competition and ours was chosen over all.”

Neophytes in the wine business, the Rosickis didn’t realize how important the Chronicle competition was. Cynthia tells the story. “Gilles (Martin) walked in and said, ‘We won! We won!’ Tom and I were on our way to Rio and didn’t realize what a big deal this was. The San Francisco Chronicle called us to ask us to come for the ceremony. We told them Gilles would go but the Chronicle said the owners needed to come. We went straight from Rio. It was huge. Thousands of people were there. NBC TV was photographing and live radio coverage lasted five hours. We were one of the top five in the whole country and those were our first releases! We are very blessed.”
Martin describes the winning 2000 Brut Seduction as having “a creamy toastiness with roasted hazelnuts and almond aroma…the Pinot Noir grapes enhance the wild strawberry scent. The balance in acidity and structure of this very fine aged wine brings a hint of toffee and caramel.” Tom says it’s fine by itself and “goes great with raw seafood, clams and oysters.”

Their 2004 Brut was a 2009 gold medal winner in the same California competition and the 2004 Topaz also medaled as the Best Sparkling Wine at the 2008 Vinum Cum Laude Awards, the Wine Literary Awards.

New Wines from Sparkling Pointe
A new release out this month is a Blanc de Blanc which Tom describes as “a 100% Chardonnay, as are all Blanc de Blancs, which we taste tested four months ago. It’s been four years in the making and the standard ‘Methode Champenoise’ matures between two and a half to three years. It has hints of apple, a good, balanced acidity and is dry as are all our sparklings.”

Sparkling Pointe has at least two new products in the pipeline. Tom describes one as an extra dry “which in Champagne parlance actually means a little sweeter” and a Blanc de Noir from Pinot Noir. Cynthia explains, “Depending on the vintage and the style of the wine, the process from harvest to sale is from two and a half to seven or eight years.”

Sweet Success…For Sentimental Reasons
Because their story was born in the Waldorf-Astoria, the Rosickis were very interested in getting Sparkling Pointe served there. Tom says, “We sat at the bar in the Waldorf’s Peacock Alley often, drank a lot of their Champagne and got to know the bartender who (finally) introduced us to the beverage manager. Now, Sparkling Pointe is served at Peacock Alley (at the Waldorf on Park Avenue).” It is also served at the Bull and Bear in the Waldorf=Astoria at 49th and Lexington. A complete list of restaurants and retail stores offering Sparkling Pointe Wines is available at www.sparklingpointe.com.

Achievement in Business and Public Service
A power couple, Tom and Cynthia Rosicki have excelled individually as legal experts and humanitarians. Tom Rosicki, a graduate of Duke University and Touro Law School, has served the FBI as a special agent in organized crime and as vice president director of security for Macy’s East. Winner of many service awards and participant in several non-profit organizations, he has been president of the board of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children for the past five years. The Rosickis make it a policy to employ people with disabilities. Says Tom, “We plan to hire the handicapped for work at Sparkling Pointe as well. People with disabilities are among the hardest working, most loyal employees you could have.”

Cynthia Rosicki attended Adelphi University, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and received her law degree from New York Law School in 1986. She has garnered many awards for her humanitarian efforts and was named New York State Businesswoman of the Year in 2004 by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Their complementary skills and talents and, as they put it, “our great management team” have grown Rosicki, Rosicki & Associates into the leading mortgage banking law firm in New York and the largest single law firm in New York State in the combined areas of Foreclosure, Bankruptcy, Evictions, Closings and Outsourcing. They have offices in Plainview Long Island, Fishkill New York, Batavia (Buffalo/Rochester) New York and Tulsa Oklahoma.

Do the Rosickis plan to retire from practicing law in favor of winemaking? Tom answers, “Being in the wine business is actually being in the law business. But, it’s not the law of Man, it’s the law of Nature. God is the Judge!”