Channing Daughters Winery was founded in 1982 by a multi-faceted venture capitalist and rennaissance man Walter Channing, who became the first to plant a vine of Chardonnay in the Bridgehampton area of Long Island, in New York state. And within this are, he made the decision to set up his winemaking operation on the South Fork, rather than the flatter North Fork area more popularly chosen by winemakers. He hired Larry Perrine to experiment with planting different Italian grape varieties, instead of the Bordeaux varieties more popularly planted in the area. In 2001, Cristopher Tracy became winemaker and Perrine CEO of the company. Tracy has stayed on and is still responsible for the many wines of Channing Daughters Winery today.
The many small vineyards of Channing Daughters Winery are cooled by Atlantic breezes, creating a climate well-suited for a variety of different grapes. Here, the soil types are also quite varied, though dominated by Bridgehampton Silt Loam with some blue clay running through it. The winery is a founding member of Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing, and the vineyards are treated with exclusively organic compost.
Channing Daughters Winery produces white wine from 8 different white varieties and red wine from 6 different red varieties. And many of these varieties cannot be found at any other estate in Long Island. Committed to obtaining the highest quality product both on the vine and in the bottle, Channing Daughters Winery harvests and vinifies each vineyard separately.
