Boutique vineyard in Jamesport on the market for just under $2M
Diliberto Vineyard and Winery hosts visitors in Italian style in 2018. The 2-acre vineyard is on the market for just under $2M. Credit: Randee Daddona
The Diliberto Winery, an “adults-only” boutique vineyard and winemaking operation that includes a house and a tasting room, is on the market for $1.995 million, according to a recent listing.
The winery, founded in Jamesport by Salvatore and Maryann Diliberto in 2001, is listed as a winery-tasting room with a 1,600-square-foot home built in 1997. The property also includes a “private apartment” above the tasting room that rents for up to $299 a night.
Sal Diliberto, a lawyer who had previously been president of the Long Island Wine Council (now called Long Island Wine Country), said the decision to sell now was more of a life decision than a financial one. "It's a lot of work," he said.
"I'm 75 and I'm not getting any younger, and I'm out there on my tractor," said Diliberto, who with his wife hosts traveling tours of Italy. "It gets to a certain point in your life that I don't have anyone in the family who's going to take over. ... It was either sell it now and move on or wait until the inevitable happens and leave it up to someone else to sell. My preference was to sell it myself so I can find the right people to come in and do the right thing."
Diliberto Winery is the latest in a series of wineries and tasting rooms on Long Island’s North Fork that has come up for sale in recent years. Shinn Estate Vineyard was sold to the Frankel family in 2017, and Palmer Vineyards in 2018 was sold to the Massoud family, which owns Paumanok Vineyards.
Newsday described Diliberto as having the “ambience of an Italian piazza.” Sal Diliberto hosts cooking and wine tours in his facility and is known to break into operatic song to visitors.
“You feel like you’re in Tuscany,” said listing agent Valerie Goode of Colony Reality in Jamesport. She said the property is for the “discerning buyer who wants to live, work and play on the North Fork.”
The 2-acre vineyard and winery advertises itself as the “only adults-only” winery on the North Fork. “No one under 21 years of age will be admitted, including children,” the company’s website tells potential visitors.
The Dilibertos bought the barn-centered property in the 1990s, converted it to living space in 1997, planted the first vines in 1998, and became a licensed winery in 2001. The tasting room opened in 2007, Diliberto said.
Goode said there’s been a lot of interest since the property went on the market two weeks ago.
“We’ve gotten some pretty good traction,” she said. “All the COVID people are out here wanting to make living on the North Fork an option.”
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
