Wölffer Estate Vineyard Marks 35 Years with New Restaurant and Zimmermann Rosé
In celebration of 35 years in business, the Hamptons’ Wölffer Estate Vineyard will unveil a revived restaurant concept this summer.
Named after Christian Wölffer, the vineyard’s founder, Christian’s is a seasonally driven family-friendly restaurant located in Amagansett offering a summery menu designed to complement the vineyard’s wines. The new restaurant takes over what was formerly Wölffer Kitchen, which had been in place since 2017.
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Since 2013, Wölffer Estate has been run by the late Christian’s children, Joey and Marc; this summer marks 10 years with them at the helm. Joey says in that time, she’s learned to trust in herself as a customer, and let that drive what people want to see from Wölffer.
“Basically we were like, ‘Listen, we’ve had this restaurant for years now and we know what we want and we don’t necessarily need to feed into the standard Hamptons menu. We want to bring something that really feels wine friendly, because that’s our whole focus — to highlight the wines and food that people want,’” Wölffer says over Zoom this past week. “Great oysters, vegetables from Amber Waves, vegetables from farms, what’s in season. It’s still all about the wine and it’s still all about the people and the vibe and the energy, but it’s OK to give new life to something,” Wölffer says. “We’re coming on 35 years of the winery. We wanted to tie it back a bit more to the winery as well.”
It also felt especially poignant to name the restaurant for their dad, while marking his vineyard’s 35th anniversary.
“He had a vision in a time when nobody had that kind of vision. And it’s nice to have this and it feels nostalgic to be there and have it named after him,” she says.
The vineyard is also marking 35 years by getting into their first partnership. Available now, their beloved Summer in a Bottle rosé has been wrapped by Zimmermann, arriving in a specially designed bottle.
“This, again, is the idea that while we have an incredible brand, we still have to reignite life into it. You can’t just sit complacent with these things,” Wölffer says. “I think that you have to keep the customer coming back for something exciting and not knowing what to expect.”
While she approached their first collaboration with caution, the Aussie fashion brand was an easy sell.
“It’s got this real passion for beach life and summer and the synergy is perfect,” Wölffer says of Zimmermann. “Summer in a Bottle is such a special brand and we don’t love to share it with everybody, but it’s nice to share it with somebody that has that kind of brand integrity as well.”
Wölffer is also rereleasing a wine as a 35th anniversary celebration, the blanc de blancs, in a specially designed bottle.
“We really try to keep it special, because we don’t need brands being shoved at everybody all the time. So, it’s a really nice time to do that and to celebrate us,” Wölffer says. “It’s really a focus on our customers being able to celebrate summer with our great wines.”
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