The Process
Winemaker Russell Hearn began his career as an apprentice at the age of 16, in his homeland of Australia. He is a dedicated, studious, hands-on winemaker, and has been with Pellegrini Vineyards since its establishment in 1991.

A state of the art membrane press cleanly extracts high quality juice low in solids. Keeping equipment, a cellar and grape juice clean is a vital part of winemaking. Grapes and juice fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks come out tasting vividly like the grapes that went in.

Six unique removable top red grape fermenters with a stainless punch down system (the first on Long Island and one of very few in the U.S.A.) extract deep color and soft tannins gently, avoiding typical levels of bitterness and astringency.

The winemaker's laboratory is well-equipped to analyze and monitor our wines from grapes to the bottle.

Oak barrel aging thrives in the Pellegrini cellar where nature's ideal temperature and humidity are maintaines, allowing for unhurried harmonizing of each wine's components. Each wine every year has its own balanced assortment of oak.

At Pellegrini Vineyards we believe a soundly made wine requires minimal manipulation in the cellar, so we are among the few Long Island vintners to bottle many of our wines unfiltered.

Our Wine Cellars
Alongside modern methods, traditional wine-making techniques thrive at Pellegrini. Deep beneath the winery, in three cellars, lie row upon row of both French, American and Hungarian oak barrels, gently aging the wines to perfection. Our barrels sit on concrete runners above gravel-filled troughs. These troughs let moisture and coolness come directly up from the bare ground below. The cellars are maintained at a temperature of 60 degrees with just over 60% humidity. This helps to minimize evaporation that occurs during a wine's aging process. After Pellegrini Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon reach cellar maturity, they are bottled and stored for at least another year before release. Barrel fermented Chardonnay is also racked and bottled only after it has reached a perfect balance of oak and ripe fruit.