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Having a Wine Time!

By Curtis Schmidt

Coming home - to many individuals it means enjoying and exploring their backyards. The collective backyard for us in this region is the beautiful and historic Hudson Valley that we call home.

For many of us, discovery and pleasure take the form of day-trips. The wineries that dot both sides of the Hudson River provide ample opportunities to check out some of the more unique and interesting venues the area has to offer.

“You have to understand that wineries fit into 2 categories - Those that concentrate on wine-making and those that concentrate on the tourism side of the business.” Bob Ransom, owner of Rivendell Winery in Ulster County explained. “ The Hudson Valley is the oldest in wine-making region in the country. Today, we may have fewer wineries than other (more well-known wine-making) regions, but I see that as a positive because we have a hands-on focus.”

With agri-tourism continuing to be a core economic base in the region, wineries – along with other sorts of agricultural operations ranging from Farm Markets and “Pick Your Own” venues to seasonal hayrides and corn mazes – have worked hard to maintain themselves not just as producers of ever more acclaimed wines, but as places for folks to come out and spend a day or two.

Although the business of winemaking in New York State has existed since Colonial days in the Hudson Valley, Long Island and, later, in the Finger Lakes Region, it has taken some time for New York State wines to come into their own. While settlers to the east coast from wine producing countries like Italy, Germany or France had brought European grape stocks with them in hopes of establishing New World wineries mimicking the fine products from their native lands, they soon found that most regions of New York -except for the Hudson Valley and parts of Long Island - did not have the climate or the soils that would support those traditional grape stocks. As they moved into Western New York, however, they eventually discovered a hardier native species, the Catawba, would produce grapes for winemaking. Unfortunately, the wine was often not all that good. It would take generations to introduce and mature the grafted stocks of Old World wine grapes in New York - and over a century for the wines produced from these grapes to gain much respect in the wine drinking world.

Today, The Hudson Valley alone has about 500 acres under wine grape cultivation and 28 bonded wineries combined produce 1,280 tons of grapes a year. These are mainly white European varieties and white French-American varieties, with Seyval, Chardonnay and several blends of fruit wines and table reds being the chief end product. But it has not been an easy row to hoe.

Many of the region’s winemakers, in fact, no longer actually grow the grapes they develop into wines. But some – such as Millbrook and Ben Marl – continue to tend to their vines along with tending to the thousands of tourists and “wine adventurers” who come into their vineyards each year.

“We’ve discovered that we can grow quality grapes here,” Millbrook’s Director of Marketing Stacy Hudson explained. “It’s not easy, but our wines attest to this fact. We also promote the beauty of the area -- it's a great drawing card for daytrips from Albany to NYC, the west and east into Connecticut and Massachusetts.”

While the valley’s wineries are more spread out as a wine region than the Finger Lakes or the Long Island area, traveling the valley and sampling the wines from various wineries in situ (so to speak) can be an excellent way to while away aweekend in the country. To that end, winemakers and tourism promoters on both sides of the river have developed marked “Wine Trails” for the thousands of thirsty wine adventurers who come up into the country each year.

“We like to concentrate on strengths such as the charm of talking to the winemakers and seeing where the work is actually done, plus all of the other items the area has to offer,” said Hudson, adding that the trails are promoted together with a network of regional farm markets, historic homes, restaurants and B&Bs – developing the regions as a “total destination” away from the noise and bluster of the city.

The marketing isn’t focused solely on “city people,” however, both Ransom and Hudson stressed. One of the goals of the region’s agricultural economy generally is to encourage local residents to explore and sample everything the valley has to offer them – less than an hour or two away from home.

“We obviously want to bring people into the region, but part of our goal is also to encourage people who live here to explore what the valley has to offer -- and our wineries and winemaking is a great portion of that experience,” said Hudson.

Millbrook and Dutchess wine trail members also work with groups such as the Land Conservancy and Town of Millbrook to put together daytrip packages that include wineries, restaurants, historic sites and B&B's. They will also put together itineraries for people, informally…. perhaps over a glass of wine.

“More and more people are turned on by wine and food -- it's the next popular wave - wine adventurers,” said Ransom. “They go out and discover wineries wherever they are. People love seeking out "little gems" -- that is what our wineries are -- with their wonderful charm. That charm is what makes the wineries of this area special - the fact that you can travel to these beautiful country wineries, meet the wine-maker, see how it is made first-hand -- gives you a wonderful perspective.”

If you are in the valley, you are probably 30 minutes from the nearest winery and you could probably visit 2-3 in any one day.

While any day spent sampling the fruit of the vine and enjoying good food, good company and wonderful scenery is terrific, each year, the wineries band together to develop and support a number of special events. In April, for example, there’s the Pasta Prima Vino, self-guided tours of various wineries, paired with pasta dishes to sample. June brings Around the World in 60 miles, a time when many wineries pick names of countries out of a hat and they (their personnel) dress up and show off the customs of that country for the day.

Both side of the river boast a series of Bounty of the Hudson Festivals and many host concerts and other special events throughout the season.

For More Information:

Contact the Dutchess, Ulster and Orange County Tourism Information sites on the web – or your local vineyard.

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