Local Oenophile Hoping to Make Memories Through Passion for Wine
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
From as young an age as she can remember, Jordan Decker had been exposed to many different cultures when she would spend summers with her aunt in Sweden.
The trips to Europe to stay at her relative’s house, which turned out to be a lot less expensive than camp for her mother who raised her alone, included visits to most of the other countries on the continent, and provided a rich education that sparked a love of food and wine.
Now, at 27, Decker gets to realize a dream by launching her first wine that she created herself. The owner of Memories Wine – named for the lyric in the Barbra Streisand song “The Way We Were” – Decker created the business as a tribute to her mother, who passed away two years ago from cancer.
“A $400 ticket roundtrip to Sweden to be immersed in culture and to try different foods and learn about wine, I’ve been doing that ever since,” said Decker, a Westlake High School graduate who also capture the title of 2015 Miss Teen Westchester. “So, that’s where my passion for this came from, and then (I’ll be) marrying into an Italian family; food and wine is a staple.”
On Friday evening, she will be hosting a launch party for her first bottle of Memories Wine at Fortina in Armonk. For those who attend the event, which costs $35 for entry, there will be food as well as a five-ounce sampling of Decker’s wine. There will also be bottles for sale for $20 each.
The red wine is a 50-50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot made with grapes from the Chateau D’Haurets Estate vineyard, which caters to individual winemakers, in the Bordeaux region of France, Decker said. It’s a full-bodied wine that is semi-dry and sweet with the smell of dark fruit and vanilla.
“It’s very light when you taste it even thought it’s a full-bodied wine,” explained Decker, who when she’s not working on wine is the manager of sales and marketing at NuEnergen, a White Plains energy management and consulting firm. “But it’s a perfect balance between dry and sweet.”
The choice to introduce her line with a red wine was rather obvious, since dinner is often a person’s favorite meal of the day. Plus, it’s easier to pair dinner choices with a red wine, she said. From start to finish, it took more than a year to develop and to receive the first shipment of 1,200 bottles.
However, Decker, who now lives in Mount Kisco, will be headed over to France to begin the process of creating a white wine in April. She plans on gradually expanding her offerings over time.
Meanwhile, as the owner of a small operation, Decker has been busy with not only her day job but reaching out to restaurants and liquor stores to carry her first line. Along with building her website and overseeing the social media accounts for Memories Wine, not to mention planning a wedding for December 2025 with her fiancé Nick, it’s been a time for Decker.
She’s also awaiting word on whether she passed her test to become a certified sommelier.
“My end-goal is to create a wine bar. That’s my end-goal, a Memories wine bar and have, obviously, other types of wine, including mine,” she said.
Decker’s passion is as much making a name for herself in the wine industry as it is about leaving a legacy for future generations.
“When I have kids one day, I want to pass this down to them,” Decker said. “There are so many families that have restaurants or businesses that they pass down to their kids, and growing up in a household with a single mom, we didn’t come from anything, I want my kids to have something that they can pass onto their kids.”
Friday’s Memories Wine launch event begins at 9 p.m. at Fortina, which is located at 17 Maple Ave. in Armonk. Admission is available at the door.
For more information on Memories Wine, visit www.memorieswine.com.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
