William M Dowd Reports Bashakill Vineyards Going Underground

Sullivan County winery going underground

October 25, 2011 at 4:21 pm by Bill Dowd

WURTSBORO — Bashakill Vineyards, the Sullivan County winery that won “Best in Show” honors in the recent Hudson Valley Wine Competition, is going underground.

That’s no reference to hiding. Rather, it’s the implementation of a project owner Paul Deninno has had in mind for a while.

He’s constructing a wine cave that measures 9 by 16 feet, with a 40-foot depth. That will be room enough for a tasting bar as well as 20 to 25 barrels.

Deninno plans to age some of his red wines in the cave, which should be an interesting evolution for the likes of his Black Bear Cabernet Franc that won a double gold and best red wine honors, as well as top show honors, in the aforementioned test I helped judge.

Bashakill is located at 1131 South Road, Wurtsboro. Phone: (845) 888-5858.

Read more at:
http://blog.timesunion.com/dowdondrinks/sullivan-co-winery-going-underground/9607/

Women Wine Producers Launch Happy Bitch Rosé

(Beacon, NY, October 26, 2011) On Thursday, October 20 under the elegant white tent at the Grandview in Poughkeepsie, Keryl Pesce (author of Happy Bitch and co-host of Happy Hour on Mix 97.7FM) and Debbie Gioquindo (Hudson Valley Wine Goddess) launched the very first Happy Bitch wine – a perfectly pink rosé.

One hundred fifty people attended to taste the wine and see it bottled, labeled and revealed for the very first time. They enjoyed the music of the Michael Dell Orchestra and delicious food with excited anticipation until the big reveal. After a few words of gratitude from Pesce and Gioquindo, the guests watched a short video of the creation of the wine. When the bottle was revealed on screen and rolled out “in person” the people applauded and raised their glass to toast to living, to giving, to happiness.

In keeping with their mission to support women in need, a portion of the proceeds from the event supported the Miles of Hope Breast Cancer Foundation, who were also in attendance.

The rosé wine is Hudson Valley produced with aromas of strawberry and melon, lively on the tongue with a fruity finish.

The back label, also revealed for the first time cleverly makes the analogy between wine and women:

At Happy Bitch Wines, we believe happiness is the very purpose of our existence. Believed to be elusive and out of reach, the truth is, the secret to happiness is in your hands right this very moment. All you need to do is choose it and then share it; just like you would a good wine. Each bottle of Happy Bitch, much like an extraordinary woman, is beautifully balanced. She is bold, yet soft. She cares how she looks but knows her true essence is what's inside. She kicks ass if she needs to and warms your heart when she wants to. Most of all she is meant to be enjoyed and celebrated every day.

What does the wine pair with? Not your typical description. As displayed in pink on the back of the bottle: “Pairs well with girlfriends and great memories.”

And to top it off, the two planned a surprise for each bottle. Much like a fortune cookie, around the neck of the bottle is a removable label containing a quote about happiness from Pesce’s book.

“I am overwhelmed at the tremendous response we have seen for our product,” says Debbie Gioquindo. “With over 150 people showing up at our product launch just shows how enthusiastic people are for our wine. I couldn't be more blessed! Happy Bitch is not just a wine, it's a lifestyle - one of friendship, enjoyment of life and happiness.”

“Six months ago, this was an idea in my head,” says Pesce. “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you are on a mission and surrounded and supported by great people. Debbie is right. It’s not just a wine. We’re delivering a message. We’re all about empowering women, giving back and choosing happiness as a way of life. We’re about taking the hard knocks life sends your way and choosing to come out stronger, smarter and yes, happier.”

The wine is available for purchase beginning November 1 in New York State. Liquor stores, wine shops and restaurants can contact Empire Merchants North to carry. For a growing list of where the wine is available and for more information, visit www.HappyBitchWines.com.

BROTHERHOOD WINERY HOSTS COSTUME BALL IN HAUNTED CELLARS

The Brotherhood Winery cellars, among the largest in the country, are visited by hundreds of wine enthusiasts during the day. At night, however, more sinister forces frequent these century old passages, transforming the grounds into a living nightmare. It is believed the original wine master trolls these tunnels, always in search of a new body to inhabit. Come for a visit and see if you're the one he selects.

Friday 10/28/11- 7PM-11PM
Tickets $10.00
To Purchase Tickets

Costume Ball
Celebrate the resurection of the spirit of Halloween in our historical cellars with an EPIC party. The secret judges will be watching for the most impressive costumes.
$50.00 per person number of tickets available.
For Tickets
http://store.nexternal.com/browinery/the-legend-of-brotherhood-winery-and-the-haunted-wine-cellars-p80.aspx

The Journal News Raves About Cider Week

Sara Grady of Glynwood with food writer Colette Rossant at Glynwood in Cold Spring. The two are collaborators on The Apple Project, which promotes apple production in the Hudson Valley. / Joe Larese/The Journal News

Local farmers work to raise cider's profile
11:35 PM, Oct. 18, 2011
Written by Karen Croke

The Hudson Valley Cider Route

Along with farms and wineries that produce hard cider, the Hudson Valley Cider Route map also includes farms that make sweet ciders, such as Salinger's Orchards in Brewster, Dr. Davies Farm in Congers and The Orchards of Concklin in Pomona. The route also includes places to pick your own apples; restaurants where cider is served, and bakeries that use locally sourced fruits. For the map, go to www.appleproject.glynwood.org/ciderroute
Here's a look at local hard cider producers.
• Montgomery Place Orchards and Annandale Cidery, Annandale Atomic Hard Cider.
Find them: Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. 845-758-8005 www.mporchards.com
• Applewood Orchards,
Stone Fence Apple Cider,
Find them: Warwick, N.Y., 845-988-9292 www.applewoodwinery.com
• Hicks Orchards and Slyboro Ciderhouse,
Slyboro Old Sin Cider, Hidden Star Cider, Ice Harvest Special Reserve (Ice Cider) Find them: Granville, N.Y., 518-642-1788 www.hicksorchard.com
• Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery, Doc's Draft Hard Cider. Find them: Warwick, N.Y., 845-258-4858, wvwinery.com

Derrick Mead's family has been farming in the Hudson Valley since 1916, but it took this fourth generation son of the land to move the family business into the future by looking to a product from the past. And he's hoping that many more farmers will follow suit.

Mead has helped to spearhead The Apple Project, a new endeavor created by Glynwood in Cold Spring to help preserve apple orchards in the Hudson Valley by promoting the production of cider, both sweet and hard.

The project includes the Hudson Valley Cider Route, an Apple Exchange, and Cider Week, where more than 80 restaurants, orchards and wineries are participating with tastings, dinners and special events.

Read the rest at:
http://www.lohud.com/article/20111019/LIFESTYLE01/110190301/Local-farmers-work-raise-cider-s-profile?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews

New York Post Says Cider Week Rules

Cider week rules
How about them New York apples? As delicious as fine wine, some say
By CHRIS ERIKSON
Last Updated: 4:54 AM, October 14, 2011
Posted: 10:13 PM, October 13, 2011

It’s apple season, and customers at Hicks Orchard in upstate Granville are carting away sweet, crisp Macouns, Ginger Golds and Empires by the bushel. But some of the apple varieties co-owner Dan Wilson is most excited about harvesting are of scant interest to seasonal snackers — in fact they taste more like a bleaching agent than anything you’d want to put in a pie.

Instead, they’ll go into Slyboro Cider, the cidery Wilson and his wife, Susan Knapp, founded in 2001, as an adjunct to the orchard that’s been in Wilson’s family since 1974.

The pair are among a small but growing number of upstate apple growers who are reviving a lost American tradition by making hard cider, a drink that was once as ubiquitous in these parts as water. And starting Sunday, they’ll be among the local producers whose wares will be featured during Cider Week, a program of tastings, pairing dinners and other events designed to spotlight a beverage that aficionados say is both overlooked and misunderstood.


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/food/cider_week_rules_ZG3sXbw617yWwPMv2yFYiP#ixzz1bHYOI2VM

Esquire Raves About HV Ciders

Leslie Pariseau just wrote an fascinating article in Esquire magazine on cider. Among the recommended ciders were Warwick Valley and Slyboro.


Warwick Valley Ciders

"Funky and earthy in a forest floor sort of way, Doc's is one for those who think they know cider. Its weird lumberjack mossiness is a natural partner for washed rind cheeses and funky jamon. This one's for those who like dirty things, by which we mean truffles, mushrooms, and Rhone reds."

Slyboro Night Pasture

"This New York cider reminded tasters of oxidized wine from the Jura in the emerging style of natural wines. Lacking bubbles, but embracing quirk, Night Pasture is like the cute chick who secretly digs sci-fi novels. Best drunk on a warm, Indian-summer day."


Read more at:
http://www.esquire.com/the-side/food-and-drink/hard-cider-for-men-1011#fbIndex1

Some of My Favorite Hudson Valley Ciders

It's cider week in New York state, and there's no better place to go for apple cider, wines, distilled products, and good old fashion cider than the Hudson Valley.

Cider is a very big thing in te hudson Valley. The Hudson Valley is long been one of the bastions of apple growing in New York state. And some of the best cider producers are in this region.

First and foremost among them is Warwick Valley. Jason Grizzanti and Jeremy Kidde have built this winery and distillery into one of the powerhouses of the Hudson Valley. Jason has traveled all over the world, Spain, France, England, etc., to learn more and more about how to make great ciders. The ffort has paid off. Warwick has three great ciders - Doc'sDraft Hard Apple Cider (a classic apple cider); Doc's Draft Framboise (made with raspberries); and Doc's Draft Pear Cider.

The apple cider is clean and refreshing. Perfect for a fall day. The Framboise is an elegant, sweet mix of apple cider and raspberriies in the classic Belgian/French tradition. Absolutely fabulous! And the Pear Cider is an elegant, effervescent sparkling wine. Tremendous!

Next up would be the Apple Dave's Stone Fence Apple Cider from Applewood Winery. This is a classic Hudson Valley hard cider with wonderful flavor or tart apples and a hint of sweetness. Just absolutely superb!

Then comes Annandale Cider from Montgomery Place Orchards. It's sold at the farm stand in Mason jars. It's clean, dry, and very refreshing. Really has a huge apple nose, and nice.

Next I would have to recommend the Hudson-Chatham Pomme Bulle. This is a nice sparkling cider, with nice apple on the nose and not too sweet. Very good.

Also in the region are two tohers defintely worth mentioning. Firstly is SLyboro House a small artisanal producer deviooted solely to apple ciders and dessert wines. Tremendous small production stuff. Really wonderful.

And lastbuit certainly not least are the cioders from Furnace Brook Winery. Yes, they are Massachusetts, but they are just over the line, and they belong to the Hudson-Berkshire Beverage Trail. They make a French farmhouse style cider (Zvery elegant) and then a more popularly styled slightly sweet styled classic hard cider. Both are excellent!!

Have fun tooling around the valley and tasting these tremendous ciders.

New York Wineries Shine at Goold's Apple Fest

It was a glorious and busy weekend at the Goold's Apple Festival this past weekend in the Hudson Valley.

Many people and wineries were on hand.

Brookview Station Baco Noir

At the wildly Goold's Apple Festival just this past weekend, Brookview Station Winery unveiled their latest wine - Brookview Station Baco Noir.

Sue and Ed Miller, and Karen Gardy, were all on hand for the release, which was in the wine tent at the Goold's Apple Fest.

It's a deep dark purple wine, with lot's of fruit up front, and a nice smooth finish. A lovely, lovely wine!

Congrats to all the folks at Brookview Station!

Patricia Savoie Raves About Hudson Valley Wine in ICON magazine.

ICON is an arts and entertainment mag that is distributed to 20,000 households in
Bucks County and Philadelphia, PA, and Hunterdon County and Princeton, NJ.

Pat Savoie is a wine and culinary travel writer living in New York City. She is a frequent contributor to Sommelier Journal magazine, and a regular contributor to Wine Enthusiast magazine since 2003, where she wrote a monthly feature on American Viticultural Areas until March. Pat has been the wine columnist for ICON magazine since 2003. Pat has been Co-Chair of the Wine Media Guild, an organization for professional wine writers, for three years. She helps organize all of the monthly tastings and the annual Wine Writers’ Hall of Fame induction dinner. She has been a member of the Society of Wine Educators for several years.



Her articles for Sommelier Journal include in-depth interviews with Randall Grahm, Neal Rosenthal and Michael Chiarello. She also has written for Wine Business Monthly.
She and a co-author have been asked by a partnership of Fairleigh Dickinson University and The New York Times to create and produce a multi-class course on wine that will be carried on the Times’ online Knowledge Network.



In the most recent issue of ICON Pat Raved about the Hudson Valley's wines.

Millbrook Winery's 21st Annual Harvest Party

October 15, 2011
12:00 - 4:00 PM


What: A Hudson Valley inspired menu by Chef Angelo Sosa from Top Chef: All Stars working with Bull & Buddha restaurant (Poughkeepsie)

Where: Millbrook Winery, 26 Wing Road, Millbrook, NY 12545

Tickets: $125 per person +tax

800-662-9463 x17 or online at: https://shop.millbrookwine.com/SHOP.AMS?LEVEL=MID&CAT=ET

For more information visit: http://www.millbrookwine.com/events-a-news/harvest-party


CANAPES

LOCAL CHEESE DISPLAY WITH STONE FRUITS & LOCAL HONEY

CURRIED MCINTOSH SOUP

DUCK PASTRAMI WITH CHERRY CONFIT

ASIAN MEATBALLS WITH APPLE AND GINGER SALAD



WINES:

2005 BRUT PROPRIETOR'S SPECIAL RESERVE

2010 TOCAI FRIULANO

2007 MERLOT PROPRIETOR'S SPECIAL RESERVE

HUNT COUNTRY RED



First Course

WARM FALL SPICED PUMPKIN PIE SOUP WITH BUTTERSCOTCH

WINE:

2009 CHARDONNAY PROPRIETOR'S SPECIAL RESERVE



Second Course

SLOW ROASTED SALMON WITH CHARRED EGGPLANT AND SWEET & SOUR CHERRY

WINE:

2010 PINOT NOIR



Third Course

PORK BELLY WITH OLD FASHIONED MUSTARD, CORTLAND APPLE & GINGER CHUTNEY WITH ASIAN SUCCOTASH AND GRILLED BOK CHOY

WINE:

2007 CABERNET FRANC PROPRIETOR'S RESERVE


Dessert

GOAT CHEESE CAKE WITH PRETZEL CRUST