New York Times Features Palaia Vineyards & Hudson Valley Wineries

Where ws I that I missed this earlier in the month? Working the Albay wine show. But I still should have seen this.

Congratulations to Palaia Vineyards, Michael Migliore, and Debbie L. Gioquindo (the Hudson Valley Wine Goddess). Congrats again to the Palaggi's! And congrats to all the Hudson Valley wineries.

The Winemakers | A Couple's Second Act
Homegrown Winery With Season’s Bounty
New York Times
Nov 7, 2008

By DERRICK HENRY
Published: November 7, 2008
HIGHLAND MILLS, N.Y.


Susan Stava for The New York Times
Jan L. Palaggi working with grapes outside the production room at the winery.
IT was morning at the eastern foot of Schunnemunk Mountain, and another harvest was beginning at Palaia Vineyards, where two dozen workers snipped clusters of cabernet franc grapes.

The clusters bounced into gray plastic bins and jiggled. Steam curled from a section of traminette vines, and the sun teetered on a ridge to the east. For a moment it seemed it would roll south. Instead, the sun heaved into the sky and kindled the valley.

“This is a great life,” said Jan L. Palaggi, 50, the vineyard’s co-owner and manager. “You couldn’t ask for a better lifestyle. You’re outdoors, you’re your own boss and it’s fun.”

Ms. Palaggi was sitting in a dentist’s office in Harriman in 1994 when she read a magazine article that urged readers to think hard about what they wanted to do with their lives. Ms. Palaggi, who made custom window treatments, then planted 18 grapevines in her front yard.

“I wanted to see if I could grow grapes,” she said.

After a few years, she and her husband and now co-owner, Joe J. Palaggi, 50, looked for some land. “We drove past this on the way home to Monroe, and there was this for-sale sign up,” she said.

The 10-acre vineyard is situated along the eastern benchlands of Woodbury Creek near the New York State Thruway in Orange County. In 2000, the Palaggis bought the land, which included a house and other buildings on 42 acres, but the field where the vines are now was choked with weeds like dandelions, plantain and Queen Anne’s lace. “It was just a nasty field,” she said last month.

Palaia Vineyards is in the Hudson River Region American Viticultural Area, where about 430 acres of grapes produce about 1,000 tons of fruit each year. Soils range from loamy to limestone to clay, all well drained and appropriate for native American, French-American and cold-weather vinifera grapes. The region extends from the Shawangunk Mountains across the Hudson into Dutchess and Westchester Counties.

The region has at least 39 open wineries, said Michael J. Migliore, president of the Hudson Valley Wine and Grape Association. Mr. Migliore, who also works with commercial wineries, said that more people had been interested in opening wineries in his region over the last 10 years, partly because they saw opportunities to sell to the affluent New York City markets.

“I would say we’re probably adding two wineries a year,” he said. And he said that he didn’t think the current economic downturn would have any impact on the number of wineries opening now, and that it was unlikely to affect those expecting to open within the next two years because planning is made so far in advance.

Like other areas in the New York region, the Hudson Valley has been trying to find ways to lure wine tourists, who usually spend more money on lodging and dining than other tourists do.

“We want to bring people to the Hudson Valley for the wine, but there is more to do here as well,” said Debbie L. Gioquindo, director of Hudson Valley Wine Country, which promotes the region’s wine, nature, history and dining.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/nyregion/long-island/09Rwineryli.html