Long Island Chardonnay Winemakers

The two winemakers selected are representative of indicative aspects of the wine making culture of the East End of Long Island. Pellegrini Vineyards is owned by a family that came to winemaking from a completely different business as did many others Long Island winemakers. Roanoke, on the other hand, is owned by a local wine professional that started a small vineyard with the avowed ambition of making some of the best wines in the region. Roanoke's drive towards excellence represents an important part of the Long Island winemaking culture.

The Long Island AVA, primarily the North Fork and the Hamptons, is essentially a vinifera only region. There may be some small pockets of French-American hybrid based wines but the occurrence is rare and usually a novelty. There are no wines made from Labrusca or old style hybrids, at least to the knowledge of the WinesNY.com staff. There is a great deal of Chardonnay: just about anyone who grows wine grapes grows Chardonnay. Although Merlot is the most widely planted varietal, Chardonnay is the next in popularity in Long Island vineyards. Before Merlot took center stage as the signature varietal many vintners and journalists were considering that Chardonnay might well be the star of the East End.

Long Island's climate is the warmest and most gentle winemaking region in New York State. Winters are tempered and the threat of spring frosts ameliorated by the Atlantic, Peconic Bay, and Long Island Sound. Being the furthest south it receives the most sunshine, has the highest heat accumulation index, and the longest growing season. Despite these advantages, the region is still very much a cool wine growing climate. None the less, all this additional heat, light, and time makes for generally riper Chardonnay grapes than produced by Long Island's sister appellations. The wines are markedly rounder, fuller bodied, and more honeyed. This isn't to say that Long Island produces Chardonnay's like California or Australia. In comparison, East End wines are leaner, more elegant, and more balanced than their extra ripe West Coast and Down Under cousins. Acids are more moderated than say the Finger Lakes but still quite present and provide a solid backbone to the Long Island wines.

Pellegrini Vineyards

Pelligrini Vineyards is situated in Cutchogue on the North Fork. Their first vineyards were started in 1982 with the winery officially starting business in 1991. Pellegrini has expanded its vineyard acreage over the years with acquisition of a number of locations around the North Fork. These new vineyards have allowed Pellegrini to offer a wide selection of varieties and styles. Robert Pellegrini founded a Manhattan graphic-design company in that specializes in annual reports and wife Joyce are the owners of the vineyard.

Winemaker Richard Hearn is a native of Australia and the influences of his homeland can be seen in his winemaking style. Expressed in Pellegrini's wines is an attitude that the wines should be round, rich, and full of flavor. There is more of a New World style than the significantly French influences in many of the other North Fork wineries. The winery has been recognized, almost from its first releases, as a producer of excellent Chardonnays. The wines rated for this article attest to that reputation and tradition.

Roanoke Vineyards

Roanoke Vineyards, in Riverhead on the North Fork, was started by Richard Pisacano, veteran vineyard manager, and his wife Soraya from Cali, Columbia. Richard Pisacano is a native Long Islander, born and raised in western Suffolk County. He began in the wine business in 1977 as an apprentice at the pioneering Mudd vineyard in Southold. He joined the Jamesport Winery in 1982 and two years later started his own 10 acre operation, primarily growing fruit for sale to local wineries. Roanoke evolved into one of the more interesting wineries on the North Fork as they developed a reputation for high quality small release artisanal wines.

Roanoke's winemaker, Roman Roth, is also winemaker and general manager at Wolffer Estate Vineyard, in Sagaponack on the Hamptons, where Richard Pisacano is vineyard manager. Roanoke has shown again that it produces a different character of wine than Wolffer. The two wineries are different in focus and emphasis of the wine they produce. While Wolffer's top rated offerings are more cellar and earth focused, Roanoke's wines are more about the fruit than cellar. Some of these distinctions are due to the characteristic terroir of the two forks but much of the difference is emphasis. The similarity for is that both wineries make beautifully crafted wines but Roanoke's focus is certainly more on the vineyard.