Fighting red tape to market red wine in St. James

It's a good thing red wines age well.

Whisper Vineyard in St. James, which first planted wine grapes in 2004, had hoped to start selling its wine by 2009.

But the owners are mired in the process of getting a state liquor license and need federal approval for the brand name labels on their boutique wines.

Stephen Gallagher, a partner in the vineyard, which is part of Borella's Farmstand and Greenhouses, said the first thing customers ask is, " 'When are we getting that wine?' That's all they want to know."

The 53-acre farm, a local landmark since the early 1960s, was struggling with competition from supermarkets when Gallagher thought of turning 18 acres into a vineyard to diversify and draw in new business.

Smithtown Town officials, eager to preserve Borella's as farmland, passed an ordinance allowing plans to go forward for what would become the westernmost vineyard on Long Island.

Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said the proposed winery "was greeted very happily by everyone in town." Had the town board not approved the plans, he said, the property "could be used for housing, and we'd lose that open space and all that beauty that goes with it."

Suffolk Legis. Lynne Nowick, a St. James native, has fond memories of the farm and said a winery "maintains the farmland feeling" while making it a local attraction. "Every once in a while," she said, "you have to take some property and cherish and preserve it as part of what the community was years ago."

In a recent interview at the farm stand on Edgewood Avenue, Gallagher described Whisper's 2007 chardonnay as "excellent" and a 2007 cabernet franc blend as "phenomenal -- very tasty." For now, wine aficionados will have to take his word for it.

Sixty barrels of red wine are aging at The Lenz Winery in Peconic, where winemaker Eric Fry is overseeing production. And 4,500 cases of unlabeled bottles are stacked and waiting to be tasted, Gallagher said.

"We're hoping to get the wine out to the public in early 2012," he said. "Delays and bureaucracy are holding us up."

He applied for a license in 2008, one year before the New York State Liquor Authority was criticized in a state report for a nine-month backlog.

"There are other wineries out here that have had long waits," said Steven Bate, executive director of the Riverhead-based Long Island Wine Council.

In October, Gallagher learned he would have to start the process again. He took some responsibility for the holdup, noting he, his wife Laura, and sister-in-law Barbara Perrotta have had their hands full with the farm's produce and floral business.

Laura Gallagher said their attorney recently told them they have to redo more paperwork. If the process drags on, "By 2015, I might have a concern" with some of the 2007 white wines, Stephen Gallagher said.

But Bill Crowley, a spokesman for the liquor authority said it has made strides in improving efficiency. On Long Island, he said a completed application should now take about two months instead of nine months to a year.