Vineyard 48 has just hired Huntington, NY-native Chris Kelly as its new vineyard and estate manager

After being a professional bee keeper in Hawaii for five years, Kelly returned to Long Island in 1982 and pursued a career in vineyard management and has worked Pellegrini Vineyards, Palmer Vineyards and others

He’s been working in Long Island vineyards for 25 years and now believes that boutique wineries have the opportunity to become leading edge pioneers in sustainable agriculture.

Kelly is obviously not the first local vineyard manager to turn to ‘green’ grape growing, but it’s nice to see another one joining the movement. Apparently Vineyard 48’s fields are mostly covered with white Dutch clover–a good organic source of nitrogen.

To this point, the vineyards had been managed with the help of Steve Mudd of Mudd Vineyards.