Building a Tradition of Hudson River Winemaking
The first recorded winemaking in the Hudson Valley was reported to be by French Huguenots in the seventeenth century. A group of these colonists settled in the New Paltz area in 1677 and purportedly grew grapes and made wines. Although the claim does not enjoy universal
accord, if true it would put these vineyards 100 years before the first plantings in California by Spanish missionaries. What can be firmly claimed was that sometime between 1824 and 1826 a Hudson Valley landowner, Robert Underhill, planted a vineyard in vinifera at Croton Point. By 1827 he was experiencing the same predictable results that absolutely everyone else in the East had with European grapes, they were dying. Tearing out the old vines he planted the native Catawba and hybrid Isabella grapes which thrived in the difficult growing conditions in the Hudson Valley. He was successful selling the grapes to New York City as fresh fruit. Underhill died in 1829 and his twenty-five acres of vineyard were taken over by his sons: William and Dr. Robert Underhill. The brothers continued in the fresh fruit business in separate holdings, eventually they expanded their vineyards to seventy five acres under vine. In 1859 Dr Robert Underhill began shipping wines made from his grapes to the downstate market. His wines were marketed as being both pure and having therapeutic properties. Dr. Underhill lived until 1871. Given the longevity and scale of their achievements, the Underhills are considered the founders of the winegrowing industry in the state.
A Frenchman, Jean Jaques, has the credit for founding the first successful commercial winery in New York. In 1839, at Washingtonville on the west bank of the river, he founded the Blooming Grove winery. The winery stayed in his family until it was sold in the 1870's to the Emerson Wine Merchants who had previously been a primary customer of Blooming Grove. The new owners changed the name, in the 1880's, to the Brotherhood Winery as it is known today. They were one of the few winemakers to survive prohibition. During that dark time they continued producing wine for the medicinal and sacramental markets. The winey is still operating and holds the title as the country's oldest winery.
There was a lot of activity in the region making hybrid grape varietals in the mid-nineteenth century. The effort was driven to produce grapes that had the fruit and flavor characteristics of European grapes but with the ability to tolerate the cold New York winters, demonstrate resistance to the regions rampant diseases, be impervious to the ubiquitous local fungi, and show immunity to the area's voracious root munching insects. These four pestilences were the bane of Eastern attempts to produce European style wines. The early seventeenth century failures in Virginia showed that the vinifera grape was going to have a tough time but people kept trying. It was disconcerting to these early grape growers to look out over their dying European vines to see the prolific native labrusca grapes thriving in the local forests. Many farmers tried their hand at the local grapes but found that they developed less sugar than their European cousins when ripe, displayed objectionable flavors and aromas, and just didn't make great wines. It wasn't until winemaking began in California, protected by the great barrier of the Rocky Mountains and warmed by the Pacific coast climate, that European grapes were successfully vinified in North America. In the mean time, viticulturists experimented with hybrid crosses of the tough local grapes and the delicate European imports. The goal was to produce vines that had the flavor and aroma characteristics of the noble grapes with a tolerance to local conditions of the natives. Much of the 19th century work in this area was centered in the Hudson Valley.
The Newberg area became a locus of this mid nineteenth century hybrid research activity. The Iona grape was introduced by local dentist Dr. C.W. Grant. He purchased an island in the Hudson River, near Peekskill renaming Iona Island. He planted the island in his new grape taking to the business of selling both vines and grapes. The country was experiencing a grape mania at the time and Grant took advantage of the atmosphere to sell his vines to aspiring winemakers. He proved an avid and probably devious promoter of his hybrid. The Iona itself did not live up to its hype. It was reported to be delicate, susceptible to disease, picky about its soil types, and showed a lack vigor. Whatever the case, Grant eventually went out of business. The Island was taken over in 1900 by the Navy as an ammunition dump until 1965.
One of the more important men working with scientific hybridization was Andrew Jackson Caywood. He became interested in grape research from his brother-in-law who had established a nursery in Ulster County. Caywood founded a research nursery and vineyard Marlboro, NY. His primary contribution to grape horticulture was the development of the Dutchess hybrid. The vineyards that Caywood planted in the 1870's are now part of the Benmarl Winery making it the oldest in the country. The work of Caywood and his colleagues developed a tradition in the region of producing sweet wines from labrusca based hybrids. That tradition served its purpose but now has become a drag on the regions development.
A New York City investment banker, Alphonso Bolognesi, bought 325 acres of land outside of Highland as a summer retreat in 1904. When the stock market collapsed in 1929 he converted his vacation estate into a vineyard. The business, named the Hudson Valley Wine Company, made sparkling wines from native Catawba and Delaware grapes. The winery became self sustaining and helped establish the region as a producer of sweet sparkling wines. It was renamed the Regent Champagne Cellars in 1987 as part of a re-branding effort to keep the establishment afloat. Although they were considered one of the archetypes of Hudson Valley sparkling wines, it was indicative of the nascent changes in the region that the winery has since gone out of business.
The history of Hudson River Valley wine industry was based on the native and early hybrid grapes varietals. This was driven by hard winters and the prevalence of disease and rot in the region. It wasn't until the early 1960's that Dr. Konstantin Frank was able to successful and consistently produce commercial quantities of vinifera wines east of the Rocky Mountains. It was this achievement made European wine styles viable in the State. Although the Hudson had become known for its sweet sparkers and fortified wines, efforts are being made to change that tradition, and change is hard. The transition from older traditions towards believing that quality wines can be produced along the banks of this great river is indeed taking hold. From what WinesNY.com has observed it appears to be a matter of time, experience, and effort before aspiration of general recognition of the quality of the region's output is achieved.
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