LI vintner puts wheels on tasting room for NASCAR
NASCAR tracks like this one in Darlington, S.C., the site of a race earlier this month, are a venue for a Long Island vintner’s wine tastings in a huge recreational vehicle. (May 6, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
Offering red wine to spectators at NASCAR racing events might seem to make as much sense as selling French food at a mud-wrestling match.
But Old Brookville-based Banfi Vintners is doing it. The importer's Riunite Lambrusco and Moscato-based Riunite d'Oro are being offered at nine NASCAR races this year around the country, all served in a "wine tasting room" inside a 42-foot-long, fully-loaded and customized 2010 vintage Fleetwood Providence recreational vehicle known as the "Riunite RV."
Banfi describes the RV as "about the size of a New York City one-bedroom apartment, with amenities that make a city dweller jealous." The RV is equipped with three slide-outs that add space, a full kitchen, a Sony flat-screen HDTV, Sony stereo, leather sofas, love seats and a recliner.
The wine "has been extremely well received" at the NASCAR events, said Banfi spokesman Lars Leicht.
In fact, Leicht said, this year marks the fifth that Banfi has sent out its Riunite van. Banfi said RV driver Craig Daniels logs about 60,000 miles a year on the race circuit.
"I get a kick out of the look on peoples' face when I pull the RV into a venue, and the surprised delight they show sipping Riunite for the first time," said Daniels.
Leicht said the Riunite that is served at the racetrack "is a little more fruit-driven. It's definitely for a younger set. It's something you would want to sip at NASCAR."
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