Posts Tagged“benmarl”

Benmarl Winery, Very Ready for the Next Ten Years

Matthew Spaccarelli of Benmarl Winery Matthew Spaccarelli speaks with the cautious optimism of a man who feels confident about what’s ahead on the sea of life. Knowing the risks and prepared to seize the opportunities. It has been ten years since he and his father, Victor, took ownership of Benmarl and five since he fully assumed the helm and for that matter engine room, as general manager and winemaker, of this storied Hudson Valley winery. Matt wonders about the claim that Benmarl is the America’s oldest winery, it may or may not be true, nevertheless he is very happy to be working lands…

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Quick Q&A with Kristop Brown, Winemaker, Benmarl Winery

The Hudson River Valley is a sometimes-forgotten wine region in New York, often losing out to Long Island and the Finger Lakes for the attention of writers and much of the wine-drinking populace. But there is an emerging group of quality-focused producers in the region. One winery making some very good wines is Benmarl Winery, which boasts what may be the oldest vineyard in the United States, dating back to the 1770s.  Today, we sit down with Benmarl's winemaker, Kristop Brown, to learn a bit more about him. What (and where) was the first bottle of wine you remember drinking?…

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Three Hudson Valley Baco Noirs

Last night, as a part of my Week of 3s project, I tasted three different Baco noir wines from three different Hudson Valley wineries. These were actually the first Baco noirs I had ever tasted and after the tasting I'm still not sure that I quite know what to expect from the hybrid variety. They were all quite different. So what is Baco noir exactly? It's a cross of Folle Blanche (a French vinifera wine grape) and an unknown American grape from the Vitis riparia family. It first created by French wine hybridizer Maurice Baco, so that's where the name comes…

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