A giant in the North Fork wine industry has passed away.
A staffer at Pindar Winery in Peconic confirmed Tuesday morning, Dr. Herodotus “Dan” Damianos, 83, died on Monday night.
“He was a wonderful man,” she said.
According to the Pindar website, Damianos, a forefather of the North Fork and Long Island wine industry, was born in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen, far from the bucolic North Fork.
“A tree may have been growing in Brooklyn, but it wasn’t on 41st Street,” he said, on the site.
In 1966, Dr. Dan, as he was known, an internist, moved to Stony Brook, where found grape vines on he property, the site said — and a legacy was born.
He purchased farmland in Peconic in 1970 and, in 1980, began planting his vines; the first wines were introduced in 1982, the site said.
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