Posts Tagged ‘ Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery ’

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Of Warwick Valley’s five reds, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Black Dirt Red, I chose the Black Dirt because the shelf notes indicated this was a 100% Baco Noir.  Never having heard of the grape, at least not to my knowledge, odds were that I’d never tasted it before either.  And what’s the point of adventuring if you don’t take a chance on new experiences?  And thus, the Black Dirt Red made the cut and joined the Chardonnay and the Riesling in my basket that afternoon.

Before trying the wine, I decided to learn a bit more about the grape.  A quick Google search turned up several articles, including a Wikipedia entry.  Baco Noir is a hybrid grape produced from a cross of the Folle Blanche and an unknown American varietal.  First cultivated in Europe, and once fairly common in France, Baco Noir grapes were introduced into North America in the early 1950s.  Today, the grape is grown primarily in cooler regions, and while you may find it grown in the mid-Atlantic states, you’ll most often find it across the Northeast, the Upper Midwest and Canada, particularly Ontario.

First the grape, then the wine…  The Black Dirt Red is a medium-purple color with flashes of ruby.  The nose is dusky and earthy and rather subdued.  Given the description, I expected the nose to be stronger and fruitier, and at first was concerned that I had perhaps gotten a bad bottle.  But no fear, the first sip dispelled any fears, and the grape lived up to its description.  I was quite taken aback by the almost overpowering presence of the fruit with that first sip, but by the second – or third – sip, it started to grow on me.

The predominant notes are tangy cherry and rich plum.  Together they give the wine both a brightness and a sweetness that is rather distinctive.  Based on my initial reaction, I expected the wine to be off-putting over time.  But I wasn’t quite ready to walk away and by the end of the first glass found the wine to be more intriguing than I had first given it credit for.  Over time the fruit layered in the mouth providing a depth I hadn’t expected.  I poured a second glass to pair with dinner, which was a simple grilled strip steak and a creamy risotto with fontina and parmesan cheeses.  The food didn’t cut or even subdue the strength of the fruit, but it did bring out a touch of warm spice on the finish, a welcome balance to the brightness of the fruit.

According to the articles I found online, New York is one of the larger producers of Baco Noir, and I wonder if this is a grape at the heart of many of the Finger Lakes Reds.   I haven’t yet been to the Finger Lakes although my good friend Greg Rogers and his family live nearby, and Greg has kindly gifted me with some of his favorite Finger Lakes wines over the years.  I’ve generally found the Reds to be somewhat sweeter than I tend to prefer and definitely very fruity.  I chalked that up to  Greg’s personal preferences or the general style of the region’s wines, but now I’m starting to suspect it may also be due to the grape.  The bright tangy cherry I’m finding in the Warwick Valley Black Dirt Red reminds me of the hallmarks of some of those wines Greg has brought me over the years.

Definitely calls for more research.  In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the remainder of the Black Dirt Red, and my next encounter with Baco Noir.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

A few days after finishing Warwick Valley’s Chardonnay, I opened the Riesling.

The color is medium-yellow, and like the Chardonnay a darker, richer color than I often find in the Northeast.   The nose is subdued and earthy, really pleasant and a nice change from the floral and fruity noses I’ve been finding lately.

In the mouth, the wine is richly fruity, not what I expected given the subdued earthiness in the nose.  I definitely picked up notes of pear on the front and green apple, a very tart green apple on the back.  It’s a wonderful combination, starting off soft with the light sweetness of the pear, and then opening up in the mouth to the tart, more robust fruitiness of the apple.

A drier Riesling, this wine stands up nicely on it’s own with a nice bite of acid on the finish providing crispness.  It also pairs really nicely with food and stands up to stronger, spicier flavors.  I paired it with Tuna which worked really well with the tart crispness of the wine.  However, what really surprised me was how it held up against the sharper heat of wasabi.   But instead of clashing, the wasabi brought out more of the pear’s sweetness and helped soften the tartness of the green apple.  As a result the wine felt more full and balanced.

I definitely preferred this to the Chardonnay, and will be picking up a couple more bottles on my next visit.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

I don’t do well with crowds in the best of times, and the end of a long day with three wineries already under my belt does not make for the best of circumstances.  So I opted not to try to navigate my way through the throngs of the people at the bar that afternoon and instead take a chance and bring home several bottles to explore at my leisure.

The first of the three Warwick Valley wines I chose that afternoon was the Chardonnay.  The color is a beautiful, sunny yellow – one of the darker yellows I’ve seen here in the Northeast and more reminiscent of the golden yellow Chardonnays of the west coast than the paler yellow/straw-colored Chardonnays of New England.

The nose is dusky and oaky with light notes of green pepper.  In the mouth, the wine was very smooth, with no really strong notes on the front.  However, the wine opens up a bit in the mouth and notes of green pepper pull through in the back of the mouth.  There’s a nice acid on the finish with just a hint of citrus that gives the wine a nice bite.  The oak adds a butteriness without being too soft and sweet.

I paired this with a grilled, blackened chicken breast and summer salad.  The wine worked beautifully with the meal, standing up to the pepperiness of the blackened seasoning.  The smooth butteriness helped “cool” the pepper on the chicken, while the pepper, in turn, brought out even more of the smoothness of the wine.   Very nice.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

A quick 10-15 minutes down the road from Applewood Winery was my last stop of the day, Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery.  As I pulled into the parking area, it was pretty clear that this is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon in Warwick, New York.  Despite it being late afternoon with only 90 minutes until closing, dozens of picknickers still dotted the lawns; all available tables and chairs on the patio were spoken for, and inside?  Inside reminded me of the weekend crowds at the Long Island wineries – the crowd at the bar was easily 4 or 5 deep with more people wandering around the large retail area waiting for their turn at the bar, and people were lined up 2 and 3 deep in the café.

The winery itself is quite large, housed in a beautiful renovated apple packing house.  L-shaped, the main building houses the Tasting Room and retail area and the bottom of the “L,” the Pané Cafe, a full-service cafe serving sandwiches, pizza and salads made from local ingredients and bread baked fresh, from scratch, every day.   Locapour and Locavore – can’t beat it.  The smells from the cafe were heavenly, and I’ll definitely plan time for lunch during my next visit.

The interior space is open and inviting, and the dim coolness of the interior was a welcome respite from the sharp sun outside.  Warwick Valley is obviously well-used to the crowds and have laid out the space nicely to manage traffic flow.  To the left of the front door as you enter is a small gift area and a cooler with chilled bottles of wine for purchase.  Wine kegs are clustered around the wood support posts running down the middle of the room providing additional space for people to enjoy the wine and a snack from the cafe.  A large U-shaped Tasting Bar holds court on the back wall with plenty of space to accommodate the crowds of people I suspect they get every weekend.  And just past the bar around the corner from the gift area, the space opens up in front of a wall lined with wine racks and dozens of bottles of Warwick Valley’s current vintages.  One of the things I appreciated most about the space planning was that I didn’t have to fight my way through the crowd at the bar to get to the wine in the back.  I also loved that they posted descriptions of each wine, making the selection process much easier.  This was one of the first wineries I’d encountered that provided shelf notes, similar to those you often see in wine shops, and I’d love to see the practice catch on at other wineries.

Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery is owned by Jason and Katherine Grizzanti, who bought the property in 1989.  After a particularly abundant apple crop one year they began experimenting with the production of hard cider, Doc’s Draft Hard Apple Cider.  Over the years, they’ve perfected the recipe and have been cited as “one of the great North American ciders” by Carlo De Vito, author of East Coast Wineries.  In addition to the apple cider, Warwick Valley also produces Doc’s Draft Hard Pear Cider and Doc’s Draft Hard Raspberry Cider.

You’d think by now that I’d have learned to read websites more carefully before visiting a winery.  Because the tasting room was so packed when I arrived, and because it was the end of the day and I was tired and didn’t want to hang around trying to fight my way to the Tasting Bar, I decided to forgo the tasting, browse the retail area and pick up a few bottles of wine to try at home.  Not knowing that Warwick Valley started with the hard cider – or that they had pear cider, which I definitely would have tried for how often can you say you’ve seen, no less sampled, pear cider? – I bypassed the ciders altogether in favor of two whites and a red.  Oh well.  I knew I wanted to come back for a full tasting in the future, so this just gives me more impetus to head back.

With the success of Doc’s Draft Hard Apple Cider, the Grizzanti’s continued to expand their repertoire, opening to the public in 1994.  Over the years their wine menu has grown from three wines and one cider in the beginning to 10 wines (5 reds, 4 whites and 1 dessert wine), 3 ciders, and 5 cordials/liqeuers today.  The latter are among the most recent additions to the Warwick Valley line-up, having been introduced in 2001, a logical extension to the cider production.   Warwick Valley is the first fruit distillery in the Hudson River Valley since Prohibition, and today is among the largest producers of hard ciders and fruit spirits in the region with 26,000 cases of wine and 1,500 cases of spirits annually (source: The Wine Trail Traveler)

The winery and tasting room is open year-round from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm, and the Pané Cafe is open Fridays, 12:00 – 4:00 and Saturdays and Sundays 12:00 – 5:00.  Live music is featured every Saturday and Sunday afternoon with no cover charge, except for special events.  Warwick Valley also hosts four festivals throughout the year: The Apple Blossom Festival, The Bob Dylan Festival, The Blues & Wine/Black Sunday, and the Harvest Moon Festival.  Check their website for details.

Warwick Valley’s wines and spirits can be ordered through their website, and they can ship wine to 47 of the 50 states (including Illinois, Gretch!).  Their wines can also be found in stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.  Once again, check their website for details.

I pretty much knew as soon as I saw the crowd at the bar that I was coming back another day.  I just didn’t have it in me to compete for space at the bar. So instead, I consulted the shelf notes, shamelessly eavesdropped on two women nearby who were passionately debating their “favorites” from the tasting they had just finished, and finally selected two whites, the Riesling and the Chardonnay, and the Black Dirt Red, all of which you’ll see featured here in Vino Verve over the next several posts.

In the meantime, I’m starting to plan my return trip, which will probably be a two-fer, a stop at Brotherhood for the winery tour and a chance to try the Traditional Tasting, and lunch and the tasting at Warwick.  Wait a couple weeks for the leaves to start turning, take a Friday off to avoid the worst of the weekend crowds, and this could make for a perfect Fall day on the Win(e)ding Roads.

Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery
114 Little York Road
Warwick, New York 10990
(845) 258-4858
wvwinery@warwick.net
www.wvwinery.com

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