About Us

What's the IEMMALLO difference?  

We use…

1. Best Available Grapes

2. Small Batch Production

3. Sound Practices

4. Time

5. Experience

GRAPES:

• The best grapes from the best place in highly reputable wine regions

• Matching vineyard site with grape variety is paramount

• Every grape variety can produce great wine when grown in the right place

• Cabernet Sauvignon needs a long season, plenty of sun, and minimal water to concentrate flavors

• Pinot Noir needs a shorter season, cooler climate and careful management to optimize flavors

• Riesling needs a cool climate, ample sun that is not too strong to burn the fruit

• We source our fruit from family growers that consistently produce high quality fruit
  
  

SMALL BATCHES:

• Small batch winemaking allows more focus and attention to detail

• Allows gentler processing techniques that reduces bitterness and greatly improves quality

• Enables greater control of oxygen management for pure flavors
  
  

PRACTICES: 

• Management practices and advanced monitoring avoids problems

• Monitor and control the reduction-oxidation (Redox) potential to avoid sulfide aromas

• Temperature control improves yeast health and retains more pure aromatics

• Monitor tannin extraction and press based on taste to avoid bitter compounds from grape seeds

• Keeping it clean and sanitary – No human hands ever touch the wine, and every piece of equipment that comes into contact with the wine is sanitized before and after use
  
  

TIME: 

• Time allows for natural maturation

• Wines evolve and greatly improve naturally with time (with few exceptions like Beaujolais Nouveau)

• Our wines take one to two years before we release them for sale

• Bulk aging in hand-coopered French oak casks can smooth and enhance the wine when allowed to age for many months

• Time is the most natural way to mature a wine to realize its true potential
  
  

EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION

• Wine is not a made using a recipe, like beer or bread

• Wine grapes can vary tremendously from year to year

• Formal education from experienced teachers and fellow winemakers plus years of experience is how we consistently produce quality wines year after year

The Winery

Our winery was established in 2020 as a Massachusetts Farm-Winery and is in the 4th year of production.  The Iemmallo Wine Cellars brand is owned by Jammalo Craft Wines, Inc. and we currently produce less than 200 cases per year of hand-crafted wines from single vineyards.  

The winery produces a diverse portfolio each year with our Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve as our flagship wine.  As every wine lover knows, it can take 1 to 3 years to release a wine from the date of harvest.  Our wines were first released in June of 2022 and we are now at full production capacity.

The Vineyards

Our grape growing partners are viticulture experts who have a lifetime of knowledge and experience growing wine grapes in their specific regions.  We source the best grapes possible from Massachusetts and across New England, the New York Finger Lakes, northern California and Washington State, and internationally from Chile and South Africa.

In addition to our grape grower partners, we manage a small educational vineyard which produces about 150 pounds of fruit, or 6 cases of wine from our estate.  The Noiret grapes that we cultivate were developed at Cornell University's Grape Breeding Program and produce a fruity red wine that is best served slightly chilled and has a flavor profile reminiscent of Pinot Noir.  

We grow our vineyard in an environment as natural as possible.  We employ organic and integrated pest management practices (IPM) like leaf removal in the fruiting zone to improve air circulation, have no till soils, and utilize cover crops like white clover to help keep the vines naturally nourished and healthy.  These practices reduce the need fungicide sprays.  

We also encourage native and beneficial plants like goldenrod, milkweed, dandelions and Queen Anne's lace (wild carrot) to attract a myriad of pollinators.  This attracts beneficial insects that help ward off pests.  We never spray insecticide or use any chemical weed killers in order to protect birds, pollinators, and the overall ecosystem.

Our Family Name (and some family history)

The Iemmallo name (pronounced Yemmalo) is the surname of Agostino Iemmallo who emigrated from Gasperina, Calabria, Italy in 1892.  He was an oxman or ox-driver (bovaro in Italian), and a farmer in his native country.  

Living in extreme poverty, Agostino and his brother-in-law Michele Cirullo left from the Port of Naples and came to the United States to seek opportunity and to support his family of 5 children along with his wife, all of whom he had left behind in Italy.  It is a common immigration story from those who left southern Italy because the region was so impoverished in his time and he came to the U.S. at a time of great promise and hope for a better life.  

He immigrated through Ellis Island and settled in the City of North Adams, Massachusetts where he sent for his spouse and children to join him 7 years later, who later arrived in 1899.  Agostino also had a brother Antonio born in 1860 who may have settled in Lancaster, PA.  Once the family arrived in Massachusetts, they had three more sons, Vincenzo, Domenico and Salvatore, in addition to their older immigrant brother Giuseppe and sister Maria.  After a few generations, coupled with the Italian child naming traditions, there were many Agostino Iemmallo's in the same city.  The first born son, Giuseppe, made the first name change, who changed the first letter I to a J, and the rest of the decedents adopted various spellings in an attempt to be more unique.  

Hence the names morphed into multiple versions like Jemmallo, Jammallo, Jamello, and Jammalo.  Other distant relatives have variations that use the phonetic spelling Yemmallo, and another like Temmallo probably misinterpreted from "J" or "I".

Contrary to popular belief, name changes did not occur at immigration, but after families have settled.  Our branch of the Iemmallo family settled in Western Massachusetts.  Ellis Island ship manifests were mostly documented in the country of origin and not the United States, so the emigrant in this case would be speaking their native language at the port of Napoli before they disembarked.  According to our oral family history, the name change was mainly intended to be less ethnic in hopes to assimilate into their new American society.

David Jammalo, the winemaker and son of Augustine Jammalo, is the grandson of Salvatore Jammallo and the great grandson of Agostino Iemmallo.