Hudson Valley Wine
For the month of August I was invited to learn about the Hudson Valley wine region and taste wines from three wineries in the region as part of #Winestudio. #Winestudio is an online twitter-based educational program hosted by Protocol Wine Studio. Every month #Winestudio participants engage their brains and palates tasting wines while discussing wine producers, grapes, terroir, regional cultures, food and wine pairing on a variety of topics on Tuesday nights at 6pm PST.
The Hudson Valley is located on the eastern edge of New York state and is the oldest wine making and wine growing region in the United States. Located just 90 minutes from New York City the Hudson River Valley boasts lovely river views, farms and lots of wineries. The region is names after British explorer Henry Hudson.
The French Hugenots planted the first vines in Hudson Valley in 1677 for their own consumption. In 1837 the first commercial winery in the Hudson Valley was established for the production of altar wines. In 1885 the winery was renamed Brotherhood and it is the nation’s oldest continuously operated winery.
During the last ice age, the Hudson River Valley was covered by a glacier. When the ice melted, the soil that remained was composed of glacial deposits of shale, slate, schist and limestone. Typical of glacial terrior, this provides a minerality or wet stone taste to many of the wines made here.
Whitecliff White Rose 2013 $18 is a field blend of Traminette & Gewurtztraminer. This wine has an amazing floral aroma and nice acidity. It has juicy lychee flavor but is dry with great acidity and a long finish. The wine was named after the climbing vine on the cliff behind the vineyard. It was made using float clear so that nitrogen aerates the wine before fermentation clarifying it and making particles float to the surface. This is 100% vegan wine
Brotherhood Winery NV sparkling Chardonnay $11.99 This wine is creamy with apple pear and yeast flavors. It was crafted using the Charmat method, meaning it was double fermented in steel tanks rather than in the bottle. Brotherhood Winery is the oldest continuously operating winery since 1839 and focuses on making great tasting but reasonably prices wines
Millbrook Vineyards Tocai Friulano 2013 $20 This refreshing crisp wine is made from the unique northern Italian varietal of tocai fruliano, which is not commonly found outside of Italy. This wine had great juicy fruit flavors of pear and grapefruit with nice mouth puckering acidity balanced by the wet stone minerality that glacier regions such as Hudson Valley are known for. This is a great summer sipper but with it’s acidity and minerality would also stand up well to food
Millbrook Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2012 $20 This wine is 75% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine had red and blackberry flavors with some spice and earth undertones and tannins and would be best enjoyed with some food
It looks like I’ll have to pay Hudson Valley a visit. The area looks to have amazing views, great produce and farm to table foods and some unique and tasty wines, especially the whites which are reflective of the glacier terrior and wet stone minerality that I really enjoy!
Tags: #WineStudio, Brotherhood Winery, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Hudson Valley, Millbrook Vineyards, Tocai Fruliano, Whitecliff
