Business & Tech

St. James Winery to Open Tasting Room on Monday

Whisper Vineyards to begin selling bottled wine, offer tastings to residents on Nov. 25.

After years of hard work, Whisper Vineyards in St. James will become Smithtown's first winery on Monday. 

Whisper Vineyards will open up a tasting room and begin selling bottles of its wine on Nov. 25, Times of Smithtown reports. 

Owners Barbara Perrotta, Steve and Laura Gallagher, have had the old Borella farm stand fully renovated with heat and air-conditioning units to create a public tasting room where residents will be able to try different varieties of Whisper Wines, made by Long Island winemaker Eric Fry. They will be selling bottles of the wine, alongside beer, cheese and gourmet chocolates. 

Whisper Vineyards has applied to the Town of Smithtown for  a special event permit that would allow the vineyard to host weddings and other outdoor event has been the center of local controversy

“For more than a year now, during the summer time, we’ve been putting up with the popping sound of a cannon once every minute,” said Jeannette Scully, of Smithtown, at the public hearing in April. “We’ve given up enough for Borella Farm, we don’t need more music or noise coming from that property.” 

Others raised concerns about noise levels and the possibility of drunken drivers on local roadways. 

In response to these concerns, the St. James winery has created a website titled, "Setting the Record Straight on Expansion of Whisper Vineyards." On the site, Whisper Vineyards promises it will comply with the town's noise ordinances that require outdoor music to be 65 - 70 decibels or below and that most events will "not have anywhere close to" 360 guests technically possible under town ordinances. 

Whisper Vineyards is located at 485 Edgewood Avenue in St. James. The winery's tasting room will be open from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. through Christmas, according to Times. 

Read more on the Times of Smithtown about the opening of Whisper Vineyards tasting room. 


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