New York Wine Synopsis

Not only this but you get the amazing and unique varietals of wine that have come out of New York over the years. And Of course with great wine come great accolades from critics and competitions alike from all over the world. So, why don't we take a closer look at this great wine producing area and hopefully get a nice craving for some of their wines in the process.

Though Certainly not the oldest wine producing region in America, a title held by Florida I believe, it definitely isn't a young region. Dating back to around the 17th century, a variety of people have attempted to make wines within this diverse region. The first to try and make wines here was a group of Dutch and Huguenot settlers planting vines in the Hudson River valley. Like the other regions around the country though there really wasn't a whole lot of success due to the various pests and diseases that European vines are susceptible to in the new world. But this didn't deter others from trying though as those settlers were soon followed by English settlers attempting some vines to the East and the French attempting the same in the North of the Hudson River Valley.

Even though there were many failures, as with the rest of America at the time, this didn't stop some from succeeding in these conditions and even flourishing to help form a new industry. One such winery is the Brotherhood Winery in the Hudson Valley. This vineyard and winery has been operating for 170 years now (1839-2009) and is the oldest winery in the US. Surviving tough economic times, wars and even prohibition (by producing and stockpiling sacramental wines) to become an established and successful winery, which also has the largest and oldest cellar system as well. Besides this wonderful gem in New York they also lay claim to the first legally Bonded Winery in the US. The Pleasant Valley Wine Company holds this coveted position with winery license No. 1 established in 1860, which really ushered in the start of America's Commercial wine industry.

And it's no wonder that this region has been so successful with the amazing variety of regions that the Empire State has to offer. With 8 AVA's (American Viticultural Area) you get a lot of great distinction the wines that are produced. Of these 8 Viticultural areas you get have the 4 major growing areas of New York; these being Lake Erie, Finger Lakes, Hudson River Region and the Long Island AVA's. And thanks to the large area of the state and the Atlantic Gulf Stream you get an surprisingly good variation in Climate. This helps give varying lengths to the regions grow seasons and amounts of rain they typically get which really helps them specialize in a sizeable variety of grapes.

A growing class of wine in New York state is the classic Vitis Vinifera, or basically the main European varietals. These consist of vine such as Riesling, Gewürztraminer (a favourite of mine), Seyval Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and of course Cabernet Sauvignon. Besides these European grapes you also get quite a sizeable selection of French and American Hybrid vines, which were quite important before the Vinifera wines could be successfully grown in America. These vines include ones such as Aurore, Baco Noir, De Chaunac, Cayuga, Vidal and Vignoles. But what is really surprising though is that along with all of these varietals somewhere over a third of the grape production is actually Native American Labrusca grapes. These include vines such as Concord and Niagra, predominately used in the making of kosher wines.

Naturally, with such wonderful growing areas and a variety of amazing vines to choose from it was really inevitable that New York would start producing some truly world class wines. For instance Brotherhood Vineyards, the aforementioned oldest vineyard in the US, won best Sparkling Wine at the North and Latin American Wine Competition with their Blanc De Blancs Champagne in 2008. We also have Clinton Vineyards wining a Gold Medal with their Cassis Dessert wine at the L.A. International Wine Competition. Then of course there is also Rivendell Winery, which has an awesome name for you nerds like me out their, who won Double Golds in the Dessert Category at the San Francisco International Wine Fair. And the last I will leave you with is the 2004 Double Gold for Arrowhead Wine Cellars at the Florida International Wine Competition with their amazing Cabernet Franc.

With all of this It's really not all that hard to imagine how it is that New York has come to be one of the most prominent and successful wine region in the US. Thanks to a fairly rich history of wine making, mixed with influences from vintners from all over the world, you get a truly unique and surprisingly stable wine industry. One which holds both the oldest as well as the first bonded winery in the US. Add into this the great selection of wine varietals that can be grown in this area you end up getting some beautiful wines that rival any other region in the world. I'm not the only one who thinks so either, just take a look again at some of those awards above which are merely a small fraction of the number of awards won by wine makers in the Empire State. So if you haven't yet gotten ahold of some wine from this state I strongly urge you to do so, I'm fairly sure you wont be disappointed.