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Kip Bedell began making wine at his home in Garden City, Long Island during the 1970's, with a home winemaking kit he received from his brother. He and his wife Susan joined a wine tasting group and enjoyed tasting and discussing wines with wine-loving friends. After several years of trial and error, Kip realized that his interest in wines had extended beyond basement winemaking. Aware of the attention that Alex and Louisa Hargrave (the founders of the Long Island wine industry and co-proprietors of Hargrave Vineyards) were receiving with their vineyard in Cutchogue, Kip made several trips out to the North Fork of Long Island. He was encouraged by conversations with the Hargraves and began a search for suitable vineyard land that eventually led him to purchase the 50-acre David's Farm, an old potato farm in Cutchogue, in 1979. For the next ten years, the Bedells commuted to and from Garden City to establish Bedell Vineyards. With the help of friends, they planted the first seven acres of vines and continued plantings over the next three years. The crops from '83 and '84 were the first grapes Kip sold. During the harvest of 1985 hurricane Gloria arrived, creating severe problems with power losses and the loss of most of the red grapes to the storm. Kip prefers to look at 1986 as the first "real" harvest. That year, Bedell Cellars produced award winning wines and won a Gold Medal from the Dallas Morning News Competition with their 1986 Chardonnay Reserve. By 1987, nineteen acres had been planted and annual case production reached 3,000. Kip now oversees the winemaking for a total of 78 acres (the Bedell, Corey Creek and Wells Road Vineyards) and a current annual production of 12,000 cases. | 