Warwick Valley Winery

After spending a week in Napa and Sonoma I always put my nose up at the thought of a NY State winery. But this weekend I found myself at Warwick Valley Winery, Warwick, NY. It took a little over an hour to get there from NYC yet it felt like it was lightyears away.

Beautiful scenery, great wine, knowledgable staff and the best hard apple cider I have ever tasted!! They also have entertainment in the afternoon.

Even BETTER was the food - they have a full kitchen where they make delicious snadwhiches and pizzas and some of the finest baked goods I have ever eaten.

Have anyone else been to the winerys in NY State? Whether upstate or downstate? Similar experiences?

I've never been there, but I'm from a town called Goshen, which is a few towns over from Warwick. Not far from Warwick there is also a winery in Washingtonville called Brotherhood that is supposed to have exceptional wine.

I've mentioned it here a few times as well! We go there all the time - but we are alot closer, about 1/2 an hour away. I was supposed to get information together about the Christmas winery tour to try to organize some people on Roadfood that might be interested...I have yet to do that You're post has now motivated me to do so....

BTW - winter at WW is awesome too - they decorate with fresh pine swags and have the woodstoves going - very romantic! Please email me when you plan to go again. Perhaps we can meet you!

What a great idea to have a Roadfood trip out there!! I didn't even realize that they were open all year - I can only imagine how romantic it must be in the winter!! I'll look for a new boyfriend, and when I find one i'll plan another trip back. HA!

Seriously, I will definitely email you next time I go back, you email if you find yourself heading out there - I was there with 4 friends - but I am a strong believer in the more the merrier!!

We dont live far from Warwick - about a half hour, but I've never been there. Aleswench tells me it is a good place to visit, so we definitely hope to get there sometime soon. Warwick also has a distillery which, I am told, is turning out some very nice brandy - I do not know if they are open for visitors.

Unless Brotherhood has improved a whole lot over the past dozen years it is not worth a visit, unless you like the romance of "the oldest winery in the United States". Last time we were there it was hard to tell their wine from Night Train Express...

We had a very nice bottle of Rose from Whitecliff Vineyard in Gardiner, NY ( near New Paltz) last Wednesday at a local restaurant.
That winery is only about five years old and they are already making at least one decent wine - I'd recommend a visit if you are in the area. Also in Gardiner is Rivendell Winery, the makers of New York State's best wine this year, where you can get a taste of the wines of about a dozen other NYState wineries.

And, Baconbits, I'd recommend you visit two wineries in Dutchess County. Clinton vineyards in Clinton Corners, near Poughkeepsie, and Milbrook Vineyards in Millbrook. Check them out for visiting hours and directions before you go. Also, I'd recommend a long weekend trip up to the Finger Lakes for some very fine Rieslings and beautiful countryside.

Cheers, John

quote:

Originally posted by seafarer john

We dont live far from Warwick - about a half hour, but I've never been there. Aleswench tells me it is a good place to visit, so we definitely hope to get there sometime soon. Warwick also has a distillery which, I am told, is turning out some very nice brandy - I do not know if they are open for visitors.

Unless Brotherhood has improved a whole lot over the past dozen years it is not worth a visit, unless you like the romance of "the oldest winery in the United States". Last time we were there it was hard to tell their wine from Night Train Express...

We had a very nice bottle of Rose from Whitecliff Vineyard in Gardiner, NY ( near New Paltz) last Wednesday at a local restaurant.
That winery is only about five years old and they are already making at least one decent wine - I'd recommend a visit if you are in the area. Also in Gardiner is Rivendell Winery, the makers of New York State's best wine this year, where you can get a taste of the wines of about a dozen other NYState wineries.

And, Baconbits, I'd recommend you visit two wineries in Dutchess County. Clinton vineyards in Clinton Corners, near Poughkeepsie, and Milbrook Vineyards in Millbrook. Check them out for visiting hours and directions before you go. Also, I'd recommend a long weekend trip up to the Finger Lakes for some very fine Rieslings and beautiful countryside.

Cheers, John

Seafarer, Topic tweaked my intrest here, so I did a quick search.. Here's what I found on the brandy: http://www.demaresthillwinery.com/

quote:

Originally posted by seafarer john

We dont live far from Warwick - about a half hour, but I've never been there. Aleswench tells me it is a good place to visit, so we definitely hope to get there sometime soon. Warwick also has a distillery which, I am told, is turning out some very nice brandy - I do not know if they are open for visitors.

Unless Brotherhood has improved a whole lot over the past dozen years it is not worth a visit, unless you like the romance of "the oldest winery in the United States". Last time we were there it was hard to tell their wine from Night Train Express...

We had a very nice bottle of Rose from Whitecliff Vineyard in Gardiner, NY ( near New Paltz) last Wednesday at a local restaurant.
That winery is only about five years old and they are already making at least one decent wine - I'd recommend a visit if you are in the area. Also in Gardiner is Rivendell Winery, the makers of New York State's best wine this year, where you can get a taste of the wines of about a dozen other NYState wineries.

And, Baconbits, I'd recommend you visit two wineries in Dutchess County. Clinton vineyards in Clinton Corners, near Poughkeepsie, and Milbrook Vineyards in Millbrook. Check them out for visiting hours and directions before you go. Also, I'd recommend a long weekend trip up to the Finger Lakes for some very fine Rieslings and beautiful countryside.

Cheers, John

John- the WVW isn't really in Warwick..its actually closer to Florida NY...

aleswench- How come at the NJ Tour you didnt say you were so close to Middletown???

The WVW is also home to one of the BIGGEST doggies I have ever seen...a Bull Mastiff that could be mistaken for a small horse! Thank GOD its friendly as all heck!

It's funny that you mention the distillery. I was chatting with the owner of the winery and he told me that he received a grant from New York State to build the first brandy distillery in NY State. It's now up and running (I got a tour) - they make Apple Brandy for now - and it's pretty tasty. They plan to age it - so I'm sure it will only get better.

I'm not sure if WVWinery does organized tours - but you can always ask any of the owners or help to show you around - they were more than happy to oblige when I did!!

I opened my bottle of WVWinery Chardonnay last night - it was fantastic.

Seafarer - thanks for the recommendations!

Lou - yeah, we're only about an hour or so from Middletown! And your mentioning the dog cracked me up! Funny story, last time we were there it was a beautiful fall day in September. Bob & I played "hookey" and drove up to Warwick, stopping at Bobolink Dairy - (another recommendation for their bread and cheese), but that's a whole other subject...anyway we headed to the winery and did a tasting, then bought a bottle of their Riesling and sat outside under the trees and had ourselves a wine & cheese party all to ourselves. Out of the blue, like you said, this huge dog comes trotting on through checking us and our food out. What a wonderful dog - he then proceeded into the bakery part of the winery, which was closed because it was a weekday. The next thing we see is this huge Great Dane with the huge day old baguette in it's mouth trotting off into the apple patch. It was so funny. We told the woman working there and she just laughed - said he's always stealing something or other when no one is looking.

I did a little research on the Wine Tour in December. Here is a link:
http://www.shawangunkwinetrail.com/swtevents.html

Scroll down to Wreath Fineries at 9 Wineries - it has the basic information. If you click on "buy tickets" it has even more information. Before I start researching this more, can anyone tell me if they would be interested in doing this? Or would it be better to try to organize something after the holidays? Or both? Please let me know if there is an interest - if there is I can try to organize something.

Or http://www.shawangunkwinetrail.com/ gives greater detail about the 9 wineries.

Aleswench: Why dont you just set a date and an hour and any of us who can will meet there at the winery and toast a few together. We leave for Florida about January 15 and will return home about March 1st. Also, just about any day between now and Xmas is OK with us.

I think that nine winery tour would take an Iron Man to survive the day. We find four wineries a day about our limit - 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I've not measured it , but the nine winery tour would most likely be about a hundred miles of driving - all of it over country roads, and some of those places hard to find even with the best of directions.

Cheers, John

I think you are right on with that - I think it is a weekend type of thing and would be too difficult to organize for the wine tour. I'll talk with Bob and see when a good time would be to go up on a Saturday or Sunday and whoever is interested can just meet. Going south for the winter?? I'm soooo jealous!!

The joys of retirement...

Cheers, John