By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief
Photos courtesy of Hudson-Chatham Winery
Saturday morning, I got an update from Carlo DeVito, owner of Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent, NY, our first harvest report from the Hudson River Valley region.
Over the past two weeks they have harvested fruit from their four local vineyards “after a very tough year in the Hudson-Valley, which suffered a heavy frost (27 degrees) on May 19th, the crops recovered just in time for harvest.”
The first stuff they brought it was from Kinderhook Vineyards — Elvira, Dutchess, and Seyval, all of which were “about 20 brix,” which will become field blend for their Bannerman’s Castle Amber Cream.
Their second picking was at the Hudson-Chatham Winery’s front block, where they pulled a ton of estate Seyval Blanc also at around 20 to 21 brix.
The third vineyard was from Doug Glorie’s vineyard in Marlborough, NY. “Doug’s fruit was beautiful! One half-ton of DeChaunac and one half-ton of Seyval Blanc. Around 19-20 brix each. Very nice color and flavor. Very impressive. A nice clean pick too!” Carlo said in his email.
Final pick was of Baco Noir, aproximately one ton from Cassleces Family Vineyard in Athens. Baco was at 21 brix. Dark, dark berries.
They’ll be harvesting Chelois this week.