Interview with Whitecliff Vineyards Michael Migliore

Michael Migliore, owner/winemaker at Whitecliff Vineyards & Winery speaks about his 2009 Riesling and winning such high honors

Whitecliff 2009 Riesling Wins Best White Wine

Whitecliff Vineyard, one of the Hudson Valley’s premier small family wineries, just took home a Double Gold and the Best In Show - White Wine award at this weekend’s San Francisco International Wine Competition. This is the largest, most influential international wine competition in America, judged blind by a prestigious panel of nationally recognized wine experts. With almost 4,000 wines entered this year from all over the world, Best White is a significant honor for Whitecliff, and for Hudson Valley winemaking.

The honor went to Whitecliff’s 2009 Riesling. We are proud to note that as Best in Show it was chosen over a huge selection of well-known and highly respected wines, such as Chardonnays from Napa Valley and France, New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, and Rieslings from Germany.

The Riesling was produced at Whitecliff from our own Hudson Valley Riesling grapes, combined with grapes from the Finger Lakes and Long Island, to balance the strengths offered by each of these different New York regions. The end result is a truly New York wine. And as many in the wine world know, New York is increasingly recognized as a world-class region for Riesling production.

This year marks the 30th year of the San Francisco International Wine Competition, making it one of the oldest in the nation. Further information is available at www.sfwinecomp.com.

As a small, artisanal winery, Whitecliff produces a total of about 3,000 cases of wine a year, with wines regularly selling out. Less than 200 cases of our award-winning Riesling were originally produced, and at this time we have a little over 100 cases still available for sale. It is medium dry, with 2% residual sugar, a ph of 3.0, and acidity of 8.25 g/l.

With 26 acres of vineyard, and its roots in a passion for farming, Whitecliff is one of the leading vineyard-based wineries in New York’s Hudson Valley. The winery is located at 331 McKinstry Road, in Gardiner, NY. It offers a line of primarily dry, European style wines, from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, to its award-winning Awosting White, and Gamay Noir. Our wines have been featured at many respected restaurants, including the Culinary Institute of America, the Gramercy Tavern, and Xaviers.

Frost Damage

Jonathan Hull of Applewood Winery discusses frost damage.

Getting Ready for Around the World

We are all getting ready for the Around the World event June 19 & 20. Here is a list of what countries the wineries will representing.

Stoutridge Vineyards – USA

Palaia Vineyards – Italy

Whitecliff Winery – China

Benmarl Winery - Cuba

Glorie Farm Winery – Mexico

Brotherhood Winery – Morocco

Brimstone Hill Winery – France

Applewood Winery – Tahiti

Adair Vineyards – Russia

Warwick Valley Winery – Germany.

Baldwin Vineyards - Naples

Pasta Primo Vino - This Weekend

This weekend is the Shawangunk Wine Trail's Pasta Primo Vino. Taste wines from all 11 wineries on the wine trail while enjoying a free sample of a pasta dish.

The wineries open at 10am and close at 6pm. Many wineries will have new releases to taste. This is a great way to visit the wineries and experience Hudson Valley Wines!

Tickets are $22 plus tax in advance and will be more expensive at the door the day of the event.

Wreath Fineries Tickets on sale NOW

Wreath Fineries tickets are now on sale. The Shawangunk Wine Trail is bringing back a limited amount of two day tickets. They are first come, first serve.

Wreath Fineries - Sunday December 20

The Hudson Valley received a dusting of snow. The roads are fine.

The wineries are all open.

Wine Trail Statment on weather - December 19 & 20

In the spirit of the season, The Shawangunk Wine Trail Wreath Fineries ticket holders for Saturday, December 19 will be able to use their tickets on Sunday, December 20. If the inclement weather prevails and you are unable to attend on either the 19 or 20, all the wineries except Adair will be open on Saturday, December 26 and Sunday December 27. You will be able to visit the wineries, receive your wreath, ornaments, glass and wine tasting. Food will not be available. Tickets are non refundable.

December 13 Wreath Ticket Holders

Due To inclement weather on Sunday Dec. 13 the Shawangunk Wine Trail has decided that customers who purchased tickets for Sunday December 13th who were not able to make it to all of the wineries due to poor road conditions that those tickets will be honored by the wineries they could not visit on either Dec.. 19th or 20th.

Vote for your Favorite Shawangunk Wine Trail Wine

The Shawangunk Wine Trail Wineries need You to Vote for your Favorite
Shawangunk Wine Trail Wine

The New York Cork Report is holding a Readers Choice Awards and they need to hear from you!

The editors have chosen their finalists for the wines of the year, but they all have different palates and preferences -- and now they want to hear from you. It's time for our first-ever "New York Cork Report Readers' Choice Awards."

They looking for nominations for wines from across the state, in each region, and we're leaving it up to you to decide which wines should be considered.

The nominating is open until December 15 at midnight. Then they will tally the nominations and choose finalists. From the 16th through the end of this month, they will have polls set up for each reason to pick winners.

Please visit the New York Cork Report and in the comments of the post, nominate at least one your favorite Shawangunk Wine Trail Wines as your choice for Wine of the Year. The rules are simple: The wine has to have been released in 2009. That's it. And if you aren't sure, nominate it anyway and we'll double-check the release date.

Thank you for your support!

Warwick Valley Winery Wreath Fineries Specials

Warwick Valley Winery is offering two great specials for people attending Wreath Fineries at the Wineries December 5,6,12,13,19&20.

• If you are starting at Warwick Valley Winery receive 20% discount on any 3 American Cordials purchased between the hours of 10am and 12noon.
• 10% discount on any Gift Basket purchased during the Wreath Fineries event

Wreath Fineries at the Wineries update

Dec 5-Sold Out.

The following are sold out Dec 6 - Warwick, Applewood and Baldwin.
The following are sold out for Dec 12 - Brimstone, Benmarl,Warwick,rotherhood & Palaia.

Remember you can begin at other wineries.

Wreath Fineries Ticket Update

Wreath Fineries tickets are selling quickly. On Saturday, December 5th there are only three tickets available. Two tickets starting at Palaia and one ticket starting at Glorie.

On Saturday, December 12 Warwick Valley Winery is sold out for starters.

Don't delay get your tickets today.

Online event registration

Veggies and Vino this Saturday

Don't miss this one of a kind event, this Saturday, September 26 at Whitecliff Vineyards and Winery.

Veggies & Vino!

featuring The Bernstein Bard Trio

Saturday, September 26th, 2009
Two sets - starting at 3:30 and 5:30pm

This exciting new Whitecliff tasting event offers an exploration of wine pairings with seasonal vegan and vegetarian cuisine, built around local Hudson Valley produce. Recipes will come from the cookbooks of local cookbook author, Nava Atlas, who will speak briefly, and will be available to autograph books. (This is a tented event, and will run rain or shine.)

Tickets include:

* Tapas sized portions of 3 different dishes
* 6 wines selected for their pairing ability with the foods
* Live music by The Bernstein Bard Trio (on mandolin, guitar & double bass).

Glasses or bottles of wine will be available for purchase throughout.

Choose from 1 of 2 sets, starting at 3:30 or 5:30pm. OR, if the weather is fine, bring a blanket for lawn seating, good for both sets.

* $19 in advance
* $21 at the door
* $25 for lawn seating if the weather is nice
Call 845.255.4613 to reserve your tickets!

Getting ready to harvest - nets in place

Getting ready to harvest is no easy task. Here is some video of the netting in place at Whitecliff Vineyards. The netting keeps out birds and deer that can do a lot of damage to the crop. Well..the eat it,and the netting keeps them from chowing on the grapes that are meant to make good wine.

Bounty of the Hudson Pictures

Here are pictures from the Bounty of the Hudson Wine Festival held at Millbrook Winery on August 1 and 2.

Bounty of the Hudson -This Weekend

This weekend don't miss the Shawangunk Wine Trail's Bounty of the Hudson Wine Festival at Millbrook Winery. Festival hours Saturday and Sunday are 12noon to 5pm.

There will be 19 wineries, farms for your fresh veggies, and many other vendors. Live music to picnic by and the restaurants that will have food for purchase are Twisted Soul, Gigi's, Parties by Tomas and Slammin Salmon.

Don't miss this wonderful wine festival featuring all Hudson Valley Wineries.

Weather reports say it is going to be a great weekend. Hopefully they are correct!

Ticket special for those reading the Gunks Wine Blog. Receive $10 off each ticket with Code TWBTY by 7/31 http://twurl.nl/1n4o6n. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery featured on the Today Show

Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery was featured on NBC's Today Show. You can read all about the cocktail that was created with their American Fruits' Black Currant Cordial.

Click here to read the article.

Eric Clapton Tribute

Are you an Eric Clapton Fan? If so you don't want to miss the Tribute to Eric Clapton featuring Steve Devenuta and 337 this weekend July 18 at Applewood Winery. 1pm - 5pm. Best of all FREE ADMISSION! **Rain date of Sunday July 19th

Happy 4th of July from Applewood Winery

Michele and Jonathan are excited about their vineyard. This spring they decided to farm all their own grapes organically. This means that no synthetic chemicals are used in the production of the grapes. As you know however, we just had one of the wettest June’s on record. This means that there has been incredible disease pressure on the grapes. But despite all this the organic methods have been working well for us. It’s a lot more work requiring much more attention. So we see all this soggy weather as having a silver lining. It’s shown us that organic grape growing is viable here in the Hudson Valley.

SPECIAL 4th OF JULY HOURS We will be open Friday July 3rd in addition to our regular hours of Saturday and Sunday 11 to 5pm – Live music in the Courtyard 2-5PM, Try our signature “Summer Sangrias” WayWay Blue, Blackberry Fields or International Blush Café open..