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Home Photo Galleries Equipment Galleries Richard Prenata • Milford, CT

Richard Prenata has been making wine since 1989. He admits to having spent a fair amount of money on his hobby since then ... but in return, he’s won close to 60 medals at local and regional American Wine Society competitions. Despite his impressive home winery and high-tech equipment, he still prefers to foot-crush his grapes. “Not because I have to,” he says, “but because I want to. I truly believe it makes better wine — it’s more supple, with less tannin.”

Richard’s winery (with red doors) is outfitted with hot and cold water, a walk-in fridge, and cabinets for equipment. It is completely climate-controlled. The small vineyard is planted with Chardonnay vines. Two tanks sit outside during the off-season: a 200-gallon stainless fermenter and a jacketed tank used for malolactic fermentation.

The Winery
Richard and his friends filled 1,200 bottles of Chardonnay on a rainy day last June. His crew included 25 friends, including his brother Michael (left) and Larry Mordarski.

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Greg Harla and Anthony Paternostro play with the hose while bottling Chardonnay on June 7, 2003. They set up a cleaning area outside the winery to prep the barrels.

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This is the all-purpose area. The cabinets are filled with testing equipment, scales and other miscellany. There are stainless tanks for storage, a wine pump in the corner, a bottling machine next to that, and a plate-and-frame filter next to the chair. An old barrel, topped with glass, makes a fine table.

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The walk-in fridge is used for cold-barrel fermentation. The room can be set at any temperature, but it’s usually at 55 °F for fermenting whites. The floating-lid tanks hold 80 gallons.

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The wash area contains a platform to hold barrels and stainless tanks. Hot and cold water makes the job easy, and a floor drain makes clean-up a snap.

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