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Rich Olsen-Harbich receiving the of Bedell Cellars Sustainability Award from NYWGF executive director Sam Filler. (Photo credit: Jeremy Garretson)

Wine lovers get to experience the literal fruit of a winery’s labor, but there’s so much more that goes into that juice you pour out from a bottle — a multitude of decisions, processes and hard labor to reach a certain level of quality and, in the best circumstances, to set an example that elevates themselves and the region around them. This past week, both Bedell Cellars in Cutchogue and Macari Vineyards in Mattituck were honored for doing just that.

Last week, the New York Wine and Grape Foundation‘s executive director Sam Filler journeyed to the North Fork to present both Bedell and Macari with two of the 11 annual statewide Unity Awards: the Sustainability Award for Bedell and the Winery Award for Macari. 

Rich Olsen-Harbich of Bedell Cellars. (Photo credit: Jeremy Garretson)

Winemaker Rich Olsen-Harbich was on hand to accept the plaque for Bedell presented by Filler, as the New York winery that has exemplified sustainable practices — something Olsen-Harbich has been deeply involved in as the co-creator of Long Island Sustainable Winemaking, the nonprofit organization founded in 2012 to create wine-growing guidelines aimed at co-existing in a healthier way with the region’s fragile ecosystem, as well as the humans and creatures that dwell in it. 

“In this kind of eco-system where the soils are very porous, we’re so close to the water table, we have so much water around us — all of that really is the reason we can do what we do, but it’s therefore so important that we protect it,” says Olsen-Harbich.

It’s a topic that’s been on his mind for many years, studying viticulture at Cornell University as an undergraduate and in writing his masters thesis at Stony Brook University on climate change back in 1990. That connection between agriculture and its results has long ran round his brain, and was the impetus in spending years working to come up with guidelines that now serve as the statewide model for sustainable grape growing and winemaking. 

“What I’m most proud of, and what I find is most important, is to talk about this in ways that are not just ideological and dogmatic,” the winemaker says. “In terms of the environment, there’s so much ideological debate right now, left and right. It’s science that is the one thing that should guide us into finding the answers.”

Oslen-Harbich and Filler were even asked to head to California two years ago to be part of a sustainable winemaking conference with the California Sustainable Wine Growing Alliance, one of the foremost thought leaders in the United States for creating and honoring sincere sustainability efforts in American viticulture. So impressed were they with the work done in New York, the organization awarded NYWGF and LISW with grant funding, which inspired the state to begin work to create a statewide sustainability standard for wineries across all six wine-growing areas in New York, which includes a new sustainability wine seal that goes on bottles that fulfill all the standards.

“Since I started in my role eight years ago, [Rich] has always been a great partner and mentor,” says Filler. ” He and I have been working together professionally to expand sustainability practices in New York State.”

That same afternoon, Filler awarded Macari with the Winery Award, which recognizes a New York State winery that has made major contributions to advancing the image and reputation of the New York wine industry, both within the state and as ambassador beyond its borders.

This year’s NYWGF Unity Awards Winery of the year winner Macari Vineyards, from top L to R:Joe Macari, Sam Wood, Jennifer Brown, Sam Filler, Gabriella Macari, Nicole Hennessey, Lauren Conklin, Erin Shields, winemaker Byron Elmendorf, Joe Macari Jr.; bottom L to R: Meghan Corazzini, Dylan Carruba, Brianna Piirotto, Andrew Kim, Bernard Ramis.

Macari was founded by the family patriarch, Joseph T. Macari Sr., in 1995, along with his son, Joe Jr., and daughter-in-law, Alexandra. It was a combined passion for family, winamaking (which Joe Sr. did with his own Italian immigrant father in the basement of their Corona, Queens home) and agriculture that led him to the purchase land in Mattituck and to take the leap from hobby winemaking to a full-blown business. It eventually encompassed the next generation of Macaris, too: Gabriella, now director of operations, and Joe Jr.’s son, Joseph M., who took over as vineyard manager and land steward of their 500 acres from his dad. 

From L to R: Sparkling Pointe direct to consumer sales manager and president of Long Island Wine Country Melissa Rockwell, Macari head winemaker Byron Elmendorf, Gabriella Macari, Joe Macari and Sam Filler. (Photo credit: Jeremy Garretson)

The staff, too, tends to stick around for longer than just a harvest or a season, like Macari wine educator Gibson Campbell, who’s been with winery since 2010, and current winemaker Byron Elmendorf, who’s now on his fifth harvest with the 30-year-old winery. 

“I think it’s just so much bigger than one person. You can’t operate a winery or vineyard with one person. It’s a major team effort from people spending the year working in the vineyard to the cellar and then even to the team that sells the wine,” says Gabriella. “It’s a multifaceted business combining agriculture, business, chemistry, sales, marketing and the biggest part is community and storytelling. Our grandfather started the winery because he said wine brings people together and that’s what I think we did here.”

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