| The Creation of a Sommelier’s Frankenstein |
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| Written by Karen Holly Berliner | |
Wine Cellar Sorbetswinecellarsorbets.com Nestled in the Northeast neighborhood of Brooklyn's Greenpoint section, flanked on either side by cookie cutter factory fronts, there hangs a large oak and metal wine barrel protruding from a brick building facade. Bloated and proud, it beckons visitors and without meaning to, tattles like a shameless gossip on the magical goings on just behind the door. The secret I’m soon to learn, is simply a new spin on one of the oldest and most beloved products known to man: Wine. Recollect if you will, the packed-down slushy ices we all of us once enjoyed as neighborhood kids. I myself remember vividly, on those dog day August afternoons, slurping down copious amounts of street cart Italian Ices, eating them up, until the white ridged paper wrapper was bitten down flat and soggy. Gone is the lazy drizzle of neon bright liquid, making greedy fingers sticky sweet and dying our satisfied tongues. Entering in its wake is the all grown-up version of that childhood staple: Wine Cellar Sorbets.
 "Sangria Rojo"  Dave Zablocki - the co-founder and "Sorbet Sommelier" of Wine Cellar Sorbets  "Riesling" Waiting anxiously to show and tell me about their sorbets, are a pair of yuppy-esque men, the co-founders of this company. I meet Dave Zablocki, with his childish good looks and ready smile, then Brett Birnbaum with his bright brown eyes--serious and playful all at once. Dave brings to the table classic French training from the prestigious New England Culinary Institute. Next, he cooked across America, from Maine to Big Sur, California and back again. Brett is also quite accomplished, attended Cornell University as a Business Major, went onto NYU for his MBA degree and soon after became a successful high-tech consultant. After brainstorming ideas to commiserate on a common ground entrepreneurship, the two grew the idea of the new-fangled sorbet, and with blood, sweat and tears brought their dream to life. Despite their being grown men today, the moment that these guys begin to talk about their wine sorbet brainchild, I see emerge before me the two childhood friends they once clearly were; Brett and Dave who, by their own report, once upon a time, traded baseball cards and comic books on their native streets of Flushing Queens, racing each other to the corner pizzeria for a beat-the-heat scoop of Italian ices. They urge me not to forget the crucial bass note of the company, Ms. Jessica Cichowski, the Vice President of manufacturing at Wine Cellar Sorbets. She, also like Dave, is an alumni from the New England Culinary School in Vermont. Steve Clark, who was not present at the time of this visit, is the company’s Account Manager and Demonstration/Event Coordinator. As it usually goes on a typical day at the plant, Brett, Dave and Jessica are hustling and bustling about, bellowing out apologies for my being thrown into the crazy mix of their daily triage. I shoo them away and back to task, in my own desire to take it all in without distraction. Two hundred-liter drums of wine sit like good soldiers on a shelf on a brick wall, each containing their own finished potion from somewhere around the world. When things calm down some, Dave jumpstarts our interview, like a proud parent with a fistful of baby pictures to show. He sits me on a large retro club chair (the most comfortable chair in the house, he brags in the name of chivalry) and begins to spill the proverbial wine, if you will: “There is wine. There is sorbet; and then there is wine sorbet,” he says. I soon learn that not only is there wine sorbet, but this food item passes every test we 21st century adults insist upon, in staying true to health and wellness while at the same time, indulging ourselves with reckless abandon. “Wine Cellar Sorbets are dairy, gluten and fat free. Only wine, sugar, water and a small amount of all-natural stabilizers in the stuff,” Brett brags in his best Food Scientist voice. Duly, I am impressed. While wine and food should complement each other without dominating the other, wine sorbet is an entity which need not concern itself with petty rivalries; it simply stands alone and offers itself up for everything, from shameless scooping right out of the container, to dolloping its Riesling flavor atop of a warm piece of Apple Brown Betty. “Every day is a new challenge,” says Dave. “If I was to list off all of the follies we‘ve gone through, you’d be here all day!” adds Brett. “We love our work and would never cut corners or compromise our standards. We never think about days off.” Now the tour: Brett and Dave lead me to my first stop, truly a conversation piece unto itself. There in front of me stands a gargantuan freezer set at a steady -20 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. “Let’s get inside and feel the freeze” he cajoles me, and I comply, anxious to live the life of a yummy sorbet for just a moment. Together we pass through the heavy steel door, past a flurry of carwash-like flaps (for added insulation I’m told), and into the temporary foster home of six varieties of Wine Cellar sorbets, all waiting for distribution. Next, we enter the production kitchen space where Jessica hovers over her sorbet machines like a worried mommy. “I look forward to coming here every day,” she tells me. “Corny as it sounds, mine is a real labor of love.” She shows me the vast steam kettle holding 200 liters of wine at any given time. This is where the wine is simmered and “cooked down” so as to concentrate the flavors and reduce the alcohol. After that the mixture is chilled down, mixed with their “highly secret recipe,” measured out, then safety sealed with a “table top sealer.” Finally, it is mini blast frozen and stored in the freezer. With this, the moment had arrived. I was to sample these treasures for myself. Dave laid out five pints of sorbets, distributing plastic spoons to all of us, he himself anticipating a taste, as if it was just as much a virgin experience for him. Each of the three dipped and dabbled, exchanging the glances of knowing proud parents, and then it was finally my turn. My choices were described with great care to detail; Sangria (the only flavor that has a garnish of orange on top), May Rosé, Pinot Noir, Riesling from a Hudson Valley vineyard, and a bold and earthy Cabernet. Carefully, I scrape a healthy sampling of the Cabernet, and immediately I am compelled to shout out descriptives; “sumptuously grainy, nervy and daring, yet blissfully dander light!” I say. In response, they all just nod knowingly, with nothing left to add. As William Sokolin, a famous wine author, once said: "What is the definition of a good wine? It should start and end with a smile." I hear you Mr. Sokolin. I got in my car with a satiated palate and smiled my way all the way out of Brooklyn and over the the Kosciuszko Bridge!
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