John Dyson was appointed as Commissioner of Agriculture by Governor Hugh Carey in 1970's. He was, along with Mark Miller, instrumental in the crafting and passage of the 1976 Farm Winery Act. This law allowed for the development an industry based on small farm wineries
producing hand crafted small release artisanal wines. The act not only transformed the wine industry in the state, but in many ways saved New York State winemaking as a whole. Post prohibition, there had been an increasing concentration in the industry to a handful of major players, primarily Canandaigua Wines (now Constellation Brands) and Taylor. For various reasons, in the 1970's, both essentially stopped purchasing New York grapes. The local industry was in decline and the Hudson did not have long to live as a viable wine making region. The Farm Winery Act was created in part to provide wine growers in the state an opportunity to develop a different business model. The implicit catch was that the old days of producing mediocre grapes for mass production fortified wines were over. To survive these new farm wineries had to develop an attitude of producing high quality wines.
Dyson started the Millbrook Vineyard and Winery in 1982 and committed the operation produce wines from vinifera grapes only. His vision provided the region with two very important models. Dyson, as a wealthy man showed that he was betting a part of his personal fortune on the viability of the Hudson River Valley as a wine growing region. Secondly, being the first to plant only European varietals he expressed a faith that the Hudson Valley could be a producer of more elegant wines styles. He demonstrated that the region could look to a time when it would take its place as a recognized producer of esteemed wines. In many ways, Dyson provided a challenge to his neighbors to raise their game.
When Dyson started his Millbrook his neighbors kindly informed him that the climate was too cool for the fragile European grapes. Only native grapes or old style hybrids – Catawba, Isabella, and Dutchess, and so on – could survive. Although there had been centuries of failure to back up his neighbor's claims, times had changed, and the failure of vinifera was no longer assured. Dyson, in his role as Commissioner of Agriculture, worked with Dr. Konstantin Frank and was familiar with Frank's success with just the sort of grapes he was interested in planting. He also noted that the climate of the Hudson is not too different from the great French region of Burgundy, where they certainly can make wine. Dyson was successful with his experiment and his wines are widely regarded as some as the best made in the state. His example proved that the Hudson could support European grapes and that the wines produced could, indeed, be exceptional.
Millbrook is no longer the only "vinifera only" wine grower in the regions but there are still aren't many. What has been seen is that more and more farmers are beginning to plant European varietals in favor of the old "stand by" hybrids and vitus labrusca. They are making higher quality wines from the grapes that they grow; even the hybrids being produced are more sophisticated and elegant that the Catawba, Norton, and Iona that used to dominate the region. The conversion will take time and experience before complete but the start that Millbrook made is beginning to take hold.
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