Our Family
As owners and hands-on operators, the Macari family is dedicated
to producing balanced, age-worthy wines.
Joseph T. Macari Sr.
Joseph T. Macari was born in 1927 in New York City to Italian immigrant parents. The family settled in Corona, Queens, during the Depression, where at a young age Joe helped his parents in their candy store and helped his grandparents sell homemade wine at their backyard bocce courts. Joe developed a thriving real estate business that specialized in residential and commercial sales, building and insurance in Jackson Heights, Queens. Along the way he became a community leader and president of several business and community organizations. He was named the honorary Mayor of Corona in 1967. In 1995, Joe started Macari Vineyards in Mattituck, Long Island, with his son, Joseph Macari, Jr. and his daughter-in-law Alexandra Macari. His memories of his grandfather making wine in the family’s basement in Corona was one of his inspirations. After more than 50 years in business, Joe retired in Southold, New York, with his wife, Katherine.
Joseph T. Macari Jr.
The history of Macari Wines reaches back to the ’30s and ’40s when Joseph’s father, Joseph T. Macari Sr., made wine with his father and grandfather in their basement in Corona, Queens, New York. In the mid ’60s, he purchased a 500-acre former potato farm on Long Island Sound. It would be another 30 years before he began to realize his dream of growing grapes and making wine. The farm was fallow until 1995 when Joseph Jr. and Alexandra Macari moved to the North Fork with their four children to begin planting vines.
The turning point for Joseph Jr. was when he studied with world-renowned visionaries in biodynamic viticulture, the late Alan York from California and Alvaro Espinoza from Chile. From his studies, he developed a complex composting program that includes a herd of longhorn cattle and a field devoted just to compost. His approach is ecological and holistic: He knows that the health of the plants and the character of the grapes depend on well-nourished, living soil and that each step in the process contributes to the final product.
Thanks to Joseph’s devotion to the vineyard, the biodiversity of the Macari family farm provides an extraordinary grape growing environment that yields some of the finest fruit on the East Coast.
Alexandra Macari
Alexandra Macari has been the Managing Director of Macari Vineyards on the North Fork of Long Island in New York for over 25 years. She oversees the Macari and Meadowlark North Fork tasting rooms, the Macari wine club, and hosts private group tastings. She also plays a key decision-making role in the cellar. Born in Queens, NY, to Spanish and Argentinian parents, Alexandra became a registered nurse at the age of 21. In 1995, she left her job to plant a vineyard on the North Fork of Long Island with her husband, Joseph. Alexandra is an active member of the Long Island Wine Council, the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, and Slow Food USA. She volunteers as a Spanish translator for the local community and the Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation in Southold. Alexandra has a deep passion for gardening and cooking dishes from around the world.
Joseph M. Macari
Joseph M. Macari has worked at Macari Vineyards since the planting of the vineyards in 1995. Working extensively alongside his father — pruning, harvesting, spreading compost — inspired him to further his experience and appreciation of viticulture. In 2009, Joseph spent harvest working in Argentina as an intern at MASI in Tupongato, Mendoza. In May of 2011, he graduated from Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, New York, with an Associate in Applied Science in Viticulture and Wine Technology, having also completed the Wine Executive Program at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. While in Canandaigua, Joseph visited and interned at numerous vineyards in the Finger Lakes and Niagara Escarpment, learning from vineyard managers and owners. In fall of 2011, he returned to the North Fork for his first harvest as Vineyard Manager. Joseph is proud to bring home what he has learned and carry on the legacy of ecological stewardship and a deep passion for the land.
Gabriella Macari
Gabriella has worked with her family at Macari Vineyards since its inception in 1995. As Director of Operations, she manages education, distribution, marketing, and assists with cellar and vineyard activities. Formerly an account manager at a boutique PR firm in Brooklyn, NY, she closely worked with Ribera del Duero, Rioja, Wines from Spain, and Moët Hennessy’s Estates & Wine and continues to consult for wineries and regions across the globe. A graduate of Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, she holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing, a minor in English, and a specialization in International Business. She currently sits on the all-volunteer board of Slow Food East End.
Gabriella is a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, holds the WSET Diploma, and completed the Wine Executive Program at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.
She passed the Master of Wine exam in July 2022 and is currently working on a research paper to complete the credential.