Hudson River Valley Wineries

This blog is dedicated to news, events, profiles and reviews of fine food and wine in the Hudson River Valley. We especially feature and spotlight the burgeoning wineries of the Hudson River Region. We accept and will relay information about releases, events, festivals and any toher happening related to food and wine in the Hudson River Valley. Send pertitnent information to hudsonriverwine@yahoo.com

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Location: Catskill, NY, United States

Carlo DeVito has traveled around the US, France, Spain, Chile, Canada, and Italy. He has been a publishing executive for more than 20 years. He shepherded the wine book program of Wine Spectator as well as worked with Kevin Zraly, Oz Clarke, Matt Kramer, Tom Stevenson, Evan Dawson, Greg Moore, Howard Goldberg, and many other wine writers. He has also published Salvatore Calabrese, Jim Meehan, Clay Risen, and Paul Knorr. He has also publisher such writers as Stephen Hawking, E. O Wilson, Philip Caputo, Gilbert King, James McPherson, Michael Lewis, David Margolick, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., John Edgar Wideman, Stanley Crouch, Dan Rather, Dee Brown, and Eleanor Clift. He is also the founder of Hudson-Chatham Winery, co-founder of the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail, and former president of the Hudson Valley Wine Country. His the author of more than 20 books including The New Single Malt Whiskey, Big Whiskey, and the forthcoming The Spirit of Rye. https://carlodevito.wordpress.com/

Friday, November 25, 2011

The Valley Table magazine Features Clinton Vineyards and Phyllis Feder




Congratulations to Phyllis Feder is the owner of Clinton Vineyards. Here, in anterview with Valley Table magazine, she talks about her late husband, the legendary Ben Feder, about the current state of Hudson Valley wine, and about the goings on at Clinton Vineyards. Great reading! Enjoy!







Read the whole thing at:

http://e-ditionsbyfry.com/Olive/ODE/VLT/Default.aspx?target= href=VLT/2011/12/01

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Shawangunk Wreath Fineries at the Wineries 2011

Wreath Fineries at the Wineries
December 3, 4, 10 & 11


Their most popular event is selling out quickly!

TheNovember 19 & 20th were a huge success! Did you go?! If not, there's still time!

Tickets are still available for Sunday December 4th, Saturday December 10th and Sunday December 11th.

A self-guided tour of 11 wineries. At your first winery, you will get a souvenir Shawangunk Wine Trail Wine Glass, a new Oval Shaped Grapevine Wreath, a special Shawangunk Wine Trail ornament, designed specifically using our new logo, and an ornament from your first winery. Then pick up another ornament at each of the wineries you visit. If you visit all 11 wineries, you end up with 12 ornaments to decorate your wreath and to keep for years. In addition, you sample wine at each winery! What a great way to spend a day, sampling wine, enjoying friends, meeting new people, and maybe even getting some Holiday shopping done along the way.



Sundays are the most enjoyable days to visit the wineries. It is a much more relaxed atmosphere as the wineries are not generally as busy on Sundays.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Hudson-Chatham's 4th AnnualBread, Wine & Cheese!

Hudson-Chatham's 4th Annual
Bread, Wine & Cheese!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
12-5 pm


Cafe Le Perche headlines event, along with Old Chatham Sheepherding, Twin Maple Farm, and R&G Cheese.

This Saturday, the winery will be hosting its annual Bread, Wine & Cheese event. The bread - and other baked goods - will be from Hudson's own Cafe Le Perch! The Cafe was recently written up in the New York Times and The Valley Table, and it is definitely as good as all that!


We will have cheeses from the following area creameries: Twin Maple Farm (with their incredible Hudson Red), R&G (with mouth-watering mozzarellas and goat cheeses), and the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company (if you have yet to try their multiple award-winning Camembert, see what you've been missing!). The cheeses will be sampled and sold by the creameries, and we'll also have a selection of Hudson-Chatham horseradish cheese spreads on hand.Spend an afternoon tasting Hudson-Chatham wines, the freshest local cheeses, most fabulous baked goods, and discovering how to put together perfect bread, wine, and cheese pairings - for the holidays and every day!

Read the NY Times about Cafe Le Perche:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/nyregion/cafe-le-perche-and-its-oven-from-rural-france.html

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Hudson Vvalley Wineries Shine in Saratoga!

The Pride of New York Harvest Festival was held yesterday in Saratoga Springs, NY yesterday (and today), and Hudson Valley wineries were there in force.
Food and wine were in great supply, and everyone had a great time!







C'mon down and see us today! Trty some Hudson Valley wine and see what everyone is talking about!

Howard Goldberg Gives the Hudson Valley Raves



Below is a reprint of a post written by New York Times wine writer Howard G. Goldberg about his notes on a recent tasting of Hudson Valley wines.

A Sampler of Hudson Valley Pleasures
by Howard G. Goldberg
on Friday, November 11, 2011 at 1:25pm

As the beautiful Hudson Valley's remaining leaves turn further red, ocher, yellow and rusty, and crunchy underfoot, I recall and envy landscape painters of the 19th-century Hudson River School -- (its founder) Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church, Albert Bierstadt -- who recorded the unspoiled region's majesty.

Not having visited the area for some years I miss annual excursions to Millbrook, my friend John Dyson'simpressive, sprawling wine estate, and occasional trips to Clinton Vineyard, in Clinton Corners, another Jewel, established by my friend Ben Feder (now gone) and nurtured by Ben and Phyllis, his remarkable wife.

Another friend (and also my book publisher), the congenial Carlo DeVito, the padrone of Hudson-Chatham Winery, in Ghent, not long ago assembled a batch of wines that illustrate developments in the region, and a small group tasted them high above Columbus Circle, in Manhattan. He brought many of his own wines -- some I had tasted before -- and they made a strongly favorable impression pretty much across the board. The portfolio has deservedly gotten good ink lately. (Yes, I say all that objectively; no buttering-up goes on here.)

By now some of Carlo's and others' wines I tasted have yielded to later vintages, which, on the basis of my tasting, I'd be pleased to explore too.

My favorite was Warwick Valley Winery's nonvintage Black Dirt Red, an exuberant, succulent baco noir.

Close behind was Hudson-Chatham's 2008 Empire Reserve Red -- a clever, grapey, nuanced blend of Hudson Valley baco noir, Finger Lakes cabernet franc and Long Island merlot.

Next came Benmarl Winery's lovely, virtually sweet, lightly smoky, balanced 2009 baco noir.

Followed by Hudson-Chatham's 2009 Masson Place Vineyard, Pulteney Farm, Old Vines baco noir, which was succulent and juicy.

Two from Millbrook were pleasing: the 2007 Proprietor's Special Reserve pinot noir
(light, good varietal character, stylish) and 2008 cabernet franc (dense, earthy, spicy).

Then Hudson-Chatham's 2009 seyval blanc -- I have loved the grape and wine, from various producers, for years -- had a firm acid grip, perfumed nose and a tangy citric bite.

Benmarl's 2009 Slate Hill White, a blend of chardonnay, riesling and traminette, had a luscious texture, gooseberry-like acidity and a tangy grapefruity flavor.

Hudson-Chatham's rustic 2009 Casscels Vineyards chelois was pretty,opulent, a little cherry-like and seemed dotted with herbs. It was inward, and I had to aerate it a lot on my palate to get, rewardingly, at its character.

Hudson-Chatham’s 2009 Casscels Vineyards baco noir reserve was a juicy, gutsy knock-back carafe wine.

Whitecliff Vineyard’s 2009 gutsy gamay noir struck me as somewhat Beaujolais-like. While tasting it, I wanted to wash it down with a burger. The 2010 gamay noir, very light and best chilled, was a pleasant carafe wine.

The 2005 pinot noir from Oak Summit Vineyard, in Millbrook, a property wholly unknown to me, suggested that high seriousness was present and that subsequent vintages ought to be tracked.

Clinton Vineyard’s Cassis (half-bottle), an excellent dessert wine that oscillates on the palate between sweetness and dryness, was lean, dense and showed real breed. A fitting climax.

I would have brought the painter Thomas Cole along if a biographical fact hadn't gotten in the way: (1801-1848).

Read more at:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/howard-g-goldberg/a-sampler-of-hudson-valley-pleasures/225231230877637

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail Ramble



November 11, 12, 13, 2011
This Veteran's Day weekend, you can do special tastings of the wonderful hand-crafted wines, beers, and spirits made by the venues on the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail for the special price of $15 ($5 for designated drivers). Purchase a Trail passport at the first location you visit, and bring it along as you "ramble" the Trail. Each venue will conduct a special tasting for passport carriers, and will feature a special food item to go with it. Trail members are: Hudson-Chatham Winery, Chatham Brewing, Harvest Spirits Distillery, and Brookview Station Winery in New York, and Furnace Brook Winery in Massachusetts.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

HUDSON VALLEY WINE TASTING AT FOX AND HOUNDS IN NEW PALTZ


Hudson Valley Wine Country and Fox and Hounds in New Paltz announce a Hudson Valley Wine Tasting on November 18th, 2011, between 4 and 8 pm.

Attending wineries thus far include:
Amici Vineyards
Benmarl
Brotherhood
Cerehino-Smith
Hudson-Chatham Winery
Palaia Vineyards
Whitecliff Vineyards

Winery representatives will be on premises for discussion. A great opportunity to find your perfect Thanksgiving wine made locally and by hand!

As more wineries join in, we'll announce them.

See you there!!!

Sunday, November 06, 2011

THE HUDSON VALLEY IS EXPANDING

Includes Reporting by Debbie Gioquindo

There’s a wonderful scene in Annie Hall when Alvie (Woody Allen’s character) as a young boys is sitting with his mother in the doctor’s office. The Doctor is asking Alvie what’s bothering the young boy.

“The Universe is expanding…” says the perturbed young boy.

“What does that matter?!. We live in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!” yells the vexed mother.

But indeed, the Hudson Valley is expanding. Five wineries in the last 9 mos have begun major expansions, to help handle the growing demand for Hudson Valley wine. And the biggest evidence of that is watching five quality fine wine producers begin major expansions.

Whitecliff Vineyards
The first and foremost (because it is nearly done) is that of Whitecliff. Whitecliff is owned by Michael and Yancey Migliore. The winery is nearing its tenth year of operation, and to celebrate, they built a new, state of the art winery, complete with geothermal heating, offices, and enough space to do custom crushing.

According to Debbie Gioquindo, Michael Migliore, owner/winemaker said they outgrew their original space and needed to build a new winemaking facility to handle the capacity to be able to grow. "Three years ago we were a 3000 case winery, now we are a 5500 case winery and growing. Not only do we do our own, this enables us to do custom crush and make wine for other facilities," Michael told Debbie, the Hudson Valley Wine Goddess.

“Geo-Thermal in layman terms - 8 feet below the surface is a constant 55 degrees. Long tubes are put 8 feet underground that go out into the field horizontally and back into the winery in a loop,” wrote Debbie. “ Glycol is pumped through the pipes to maintain a 50 degree temperature. Upon return the glycol is and put through the heat exchanger to heat or cool the water that is then pumped through the winery floor. This regulates the temperature in the winery. This was their first harvest in the new winery.”

"It was so nice to have the space and the room,” said Michael. “and to be able to increase capacity. We had tons of room to process grapes more than we had before. It was so nice to be able to process inside when weather was bad."

Brotherhood Winery

Brotherhood Winery is America’s oldest winery, located in Washingtonville, NY. Brotherhood is one of the largest wineries in the Hudson Valley, or the state in for that matter. Their new construction will almost double there already massive capacity. There are six 5,000 gallon tanks. Then there are two more that hold even more wine! This is additional capacity on the massive gallonage they already produce. Construction continued in mid-October with the pouring of the footings in the winemaking facilities.

This is major news in the valley. The event in and of itself was so large that Bortherhood and their construction company invited guests to the groundbreaking.

Tousey
Tousey just recently unveiled their revised and expanded winemaking facilities the other evening. Tousey is new to the Hudson Valley winemaking scene, but the new facilities and equipment make them an immediate player in the Hudson Valley fine wine scene.

New shining stainless steel tanks, new machinery, and tons of new flex tanks show that the winemaker has more than tripled in size in the last year-and-a-half.

Bashakill Vineyards
Paul Denino of Bashakill Vineyards is now he in the midst of building his wine cave which will be 40 feet deep, 16 feet wine and 9 feet high when complete. “There will be room for 20 - 25 barrels and a tasting bar when complete,” wrot Debbie. “Paul is looking forward to bringing his red wines to a new level by aging them in the cave. Note: This year Paul's Cabernet Franc called Black Bear won a Double Gold and best red wine in the Hudson Valley Wine Competition.”

Hudson-Chatham Winery
Hudson-Chatham Winery, after a prolonged five month long delay with red tape and planning officials, is now about to double its capacity, adding 22 x 22 foot expansion, as well as adding another separate building (added barrel room capacity), to double is winemaking capacity, and allowing for extra retail space in its retail area as well. The new buildings will house several new tanks and new winemaking equipment.

All this activity augers well for the Hudson Valley and for the demand for the quality wines of the Hudson Valley.


For expanded coverage please see the following posts by Debbie Gioquindo:
http://networkedblogs.com/pfx3z
His Building / Her Building - Whitecliff's New Winery
http://networkedblogs.com/oU1H2
Bashakill Vineyards Building a Cave

Facebook:
Brotherhood Winery: Expansion of the winemaking facility

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Kevin Zraly Names Three Favorite Ulster Wineries



OK, so I am a little late to the party on this. I should have done this almost a month ago. But in the inauguralissue of Ulster magazine, Kevin Zraly, of the WINDOWS ON THE WORLD WINE SCHOOL and author of THE COMPLETE WINE COURSE and THE ULTIMATE WINE COMPANION, named his three favorite Ulster County wineries.



Congratulations to Whitecliff Vineyards, Stoutridge Vineyards, and Benmarl Winery!