Jamesport winery adds commercial kitchen for its new bistro

Jamesport Vineyards last week formally opened an enclosed commercial kitchen in its winery to serve a new bistro called Little Oak in a first for a North Fork winery.

President Ron Goerler Jr. said the move formalizes what had been an evolution for his business over the past several years. The winery has sold flatbreads and pizzas to winery visitors for some time, but the fully working kitchen allows it to meet county health standards and turn the kitchen into a revenue-generating bistro with an expanded menu and the potential for growth.

“I decided to take it to the next level,” Goerler said last week from the family-owned and -operated vineyard in Jamesport. “We can do any kind of food service we want.”

The Little Oak bistro was formulating a menu last week that included oven-roasted olives, charred eggplant, watermelon with feta cheese and the winery’s traditional wood-fired pizzas. “We’re looking to give people an experience while they’re here,” Goerler said.

Steve Bate, acting director of the Long Island Wine Council, said Jamesport is the first Long Island winery with an operating bistro or restaurant, both  of which are common at New York's Finger Lakes wineries.

“It’s a good opportunity to showcase how their wines pair with food,” said Bate, who noted Jamesport Vineyards has been on the Long Island region’s cutting edge and was among the first to offer music and serve food.

The bistro will primarily use local ingredients, Goerler said. “We’re trying to use as much local  fare as possible.”

Jamesport benefits from a provision in Riverhead Town rules allowing businesses in its agriculture corridor to open commercial kitchens. Wineries and vineyards across the town line in Southold not only have more restrictions on food service, but they are also barred from having food trucks on their property. Raphael Vineyards in Southold has a kitchen that’s used for permitted events such as weddings that are catered, Bate said, but it’s not a restaurant.

Riverhead Town actually “encouraged us to do this,” Goerler said. “It’s good for the community, and good for the next generation of business.”

The bistro winery model encourages visitors to sit while eating and drinking. “There’s no more standing at the bar,” Goerler said, with guests, especially groups of six or more, encouraged to make reservations.

Jamesport Vineyards was founded in 1981 by Ron Goerler Sr., who with his wife, Ann Marie, bought the former Early Rising Farm and began growing grapes. Today around 40 of the farm’s 60 acres are planted with vines, and the business makes about 4,000 cases of wine a year.

Goerler said his dad encouraged the expansion. “It’s always good to be first, my father would say,” he said. “For the long term, it’s a good investment.”

Goerler has four children ages 15 to 25 who work in the family business and can make a career of it.

“Wine is about generations,” Goerler said.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.