North Fork Winery Owner Killed in Riverhead Crash: Police

RIVERHEAD, NY - A Jamesport winery owner died in a car crash in Riverhead on Friday morning, according to Riverhead Town Police.

Police responded to a crash between a 2007 Jeep Cherokee and a Ford F-150 pickup truck at Old Country Road and Harrison Avenue at 5:54 a.m.

It was later determined that the driver of the pickup truck, identified as 49-year-old Jason Damianos, pulled in front of the Jeep while making a left turn onto Harrison Avenue, police said.

Both drivers were transported to the Peconic Bay Medical Center by the Riverhead Town Volunteer ambulance.

Damianos, of Mattituck, was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. The driver of the Jeep, 19-year-old Savanna Lake, of Sound Beach, was hospitalized with unspecified injuries.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the Riverhead Town Police Detective Division at 631-727-4500 ext. 328.

The Damianos family is winery royalty on the North Fork. Jason Damianos, who was the owner of Jason's Vineyard in Jamesport, had a degree in business administration from the University of Hartford as well as a degree in enology from Fresno State University, according to his bio on the vineyard's website.

He then studied in France at the University of Bordeaux before returning to Long Island in 1996.

Jason's father, the late Dr. Herodotus “Dan” Damianos, founded Pindar Vineyards in Peconic in the early 1980s.

Jason's Vineyard on Main Road in Jamesport/Google Maps photo