An Afternoon with Matt Spaccarelli at Benmarl Winery & Fjord Vineyards

Back in October I spent the afternoon with Matt Spaccarelli and his partner Casey Erdmann along with their two beautiful children Maggie and Leon. Our day began at Benmarl Winery where I have seen Matt grow as a winemaker, vineyard manager and person from the time his family purchased the winery to the site of Fjord Vineyards, which Matt and Casey began a few years ago, to the birth of their two children. Benmarl Winery joined the Shawangunk Wine Trail shortly after I did and that is when I met and got to know Matt. I’ve been able to watch not just the winery grow but the people behind it and it warms my heart.

Benmarl Winery

My afternoon began at Benmarl winery, home of the oldest vineyard in America, of course tasting some of the wines while I waited for Matt to arrive. I had to go with wines I hadn’t tasted because I am in love with their 2017 Seyval Blanc and could just sip on that all day. Matt does take me to the site of the Seyval and reveals to me his winemaking secret. Keep reading for that.

The first glass was their 2016 Sauvignon Blanc which was sourced from Long Island. It’s nice and refreshing with hints of citrus, limon, white grapefruit with a touch of salinity. Then I tasted their 2017 Stainless Steel Chardonnay which also comes in cans. I will be doing a special tasting this winter with their can vs bottle, but until then, what was in the glass was nice and crisp with soft acidity and hints of macintosh and melon. Then it was on to two of their reds while I was told Matt will be here any minute. The 2016 Cabernet Franc showed nice cherry and vanilla spice with my favorite black pepper on the finish. I had to taste their 2015 Baco Noir grown on their historic estate 60 year old vines. This wine had gone through wild fermentation and showed nice bing cherry hints of herbal and touch of smoke. Baco does age well so it will be interesting to see how this one ages.

It was a beautiful fall day and when Matt arrived I got to present him, his brother Michael who is the winery General Manager and winemaker Laura with some awards. I was so honored and proud to present these awards from the Hudson Valley Wine & Spirits Competition where they kicked ass! Winery of the Year, Best in Show and Best Hudson Valley Wine made with Hudson Valley fruit. Laura, a UC Davis graduate is a new addition to the winery and has some great experience. Having Laura around allows Matt to focus more on vineyard management. They are building a great team and doing some great winemaking!

After the picture for the awards which happens to be at my favorite spot at the winery with the best view of the valley, Matt took me to a part of the vineyard I didn’t know existed. It’s actually hidden, so I called it the back 5. Three years ago he planted some Cabernet Franc clone 214 and 327 on Riparia and Clone 327 on SO4 rootstock. Two years ago they added some Lemberger and Saperavi which is actually a grape native to the country of Georgia along with Traminette and Ottonel. Currently he is looking to change the trellis system to Scott Henry to try to get a little more fruit out of the small crop. They have also been having some critter issues which comes along with the territory. You know, one bird tell the other they found new berries to pick. This year there will hopefully be a nice Cabernet Franc crop from the back 5.

On our walk through the production area of the winery I noticed some kegs. I know keg wine is becoming a thing. I’ve seen it in some bars (not that I get out much). I asked Matt about it. These kegs are “one way kegs” I think back to my college days and a “beer ball.” They get sold to restaurants, and they don’t have to worry about picking up the keg. They are plastic and cost about $15. When the keg runs dry, they just poke a hole in it and put it out with their recyclables. It keeps the wine fresh and wine by the glass doesn’t have to worry about a bottle being open for 4 or so days.

Fjord Vineyards

Now we are off to Fjord Vineyards and Casey and the kids have joined us. Matt and Casey have been making wine under the Fjord label for a couple of years now. Their first wine I tasted was a killer Albarino grown in Marlboro NY on the property of Howard Baker. Yes, I couldn’t believe Albarino was grown in the Hudson Valley. Howard is Matt’s mentor and it all began with the borrowing of a tractor. You just never know where things lead, and Howard was a big influence on helping Matt get started on his own and the creation of Fjord Vineyards.

Fjord is just down the road from Benmarl in Marlboro, NY. There is no sign, just a dirt driveway between two small stone pillars. If I didn’t have Matt next to me, I would have driven right by. As you drive down this dirt driveway there are apple orchards on each side filled with beautiful Red Delicious apples and then the area opens up and there is a building in the middle of construction and a vineyard. It was magical.

The building being built will house Fjord’s tasting room and upstairs will be a private residence. The Cabernet Franc and Seyval Blanc were planted on the property in 2006 and shortly after that Matt began to manage the property. This is the block of Seyval Blanc that went into Benmarl’s Seyval Blanc that I think is stellar! I felt this was the perfect time to talk to Matt about the Seyval Blanc and what he changed in his vineyard management and winemaking to create this outstanding wine. I will own up and say I wasn’t a Seyval Blanc fan. I have tasted wines made at various Hudson Valley wineries and there was always a strange unique aroma and taste that I just didn’t care for. Matt found the secret “When Seyval gets ripe the flavors aren’t good. They are super ripe melon, wet dog and other off notes,” explains Matt “The grapes taste great but the resulting wine not so much.” He changed his protocol on when he picks the grapes and begins to pick them between 17 and 18 brix when it’s really young, crisp, clean and high acidity. There is no contact with the lees, it’s racked twice then filtered and bottled. He is striving for an Alsatian style wine. If you have the chance to pick up a bottle, do so and let me know your thoughts.

2018 was such a wet year there was a lot of disease pressure and as we walked through the vineyard Matt pointed out some disease pressure. Matt explained to me how the secondary shoots were so susceptible to downey mildew late in the season. The primary leaves were still ripening but the leaves showed a potassium deficiency. You can see how the color of the leaves change with the potassium deficiency. Just one of the many things you have to worry about in the vineyard.

You might be wondering when the tasting room will open. No date has been set, but it will most likely be by appointment only.

All About Family

You don’t know what’s behind a winery, the stories, the family and the problems. There were tough times in the beginning as the family faced divorce and with a family business that can make or break it. Benmarl came out with more family members involved like Michael who is now the General Manager. Matt’s role as winemaker and vineyard manager has evolved to launching his own brand and doing some consulting. It’s great to see the young new generation take hold of the wine business and it’s not easy especially with a young family.

If you ever follow Fjord Vineyards on Instagram you see picture of their kids and how they are involving them with the business. Matt tells me how his home is just next to Benmarl and when Maggie is giving Casey a hard time she calls Matt and sends Maggie to hang with Matt at the winery. Maggie grabs the dog and walks through the “Candy Cane Forest” to her dad waiting at the end of the path. (don’t worry, both parents watch her as she strolls through the forest.) I commented on the pictures that Matt and Casey capture of the kids moments in the winery and Matt tells me it’s usually when he’s telling at them not to do something. The kids are young, but it’s great to ge, because you hope you are creating a legacy for them to follow in.

The Apple Orchard

The apple orchard on the property is managed by Fino Farms. There were a few trees that we were able to pick off as the pickers had already been through. The Mutsu trees were up for grabs, so we went and the kids helped me pick some apples to bring home with me. I had to climb the tree and hand Maggie and Leon the apples. They were the best apples I have had in a long time. I kept a few for myself and brought the rest to the restaurant where Gus made some fantastic warm apple pie for our customers. Don’t you worry, the customers at the restaurant got the story on the winery and the apples when they ordered the pie.

Apple factoid: There are 4 million bushels of apples produced in Ulster County and 2 million of those bushels are produced in the towns of Marlboro and Milton.

The Best Seyval Blanc I've Tasted

Seyval Blanc is a French-American white hybrid grape that grows very well in the Hudson Valley. I have to be honest here, I’ve always thought of it as producing an okay wine and I might be stretching at that. That is, until I tasted Benmarl’s 2017 Seyval Blanc and was blown away! I don’t usually get excited over Seyval Blanc, but I’m excited over what Matt is doing with his and I had to share.

I recently spent an afternoon with Matt Spaccarelli who is winemaker at his family’s winery, Benmarl and he and his partner Casey have their own label Fjord Vineyards. (There will be more later on that afternoon)

The Grapes

“The grapes are real tasty when their ripe says Matt, but the resulting wine we don’t like that much.” That is when the super ripe flavors and the wet dog smell come into play. Instead of picking at 21 or 22 brix, Matt picks at between 17 and 18 brix.

“We pick them young and get a crisp clean and high acid almost like a Melon de Bourgogne, says Matt. This year (2018) the grapes have no lees contact. It’s been racked twice, all that needs to be done is filter it, then in the bottle by Christmas.” We can look forward to this vintage in the spring.

The Wine

I don’t know where to begin. The grapes for the 2017 were picked at 17.9 brix. Nice minerality, fresh acidity and is so well balanced with hints of chamomile, mutsu apple, hint of citrus and lemon. Think Alsatian style blanc. This wine is a good apris ski wine, sitting on the deck wine, by the pool wine, holiday wine. It retails for $17.

Wine and Politics a Pairing?

It is a pairing at Clinton Vineyards.  Last Wednesday Phyllis Feder of Clinton Vineyards released her 2012 Victory White.   This is the latest chapter in the Clinton Vineyards tradition of support for Bill and Hillary Clinton that dates back 23 years.

The first Victory White was released in 1992, inspired by Bill Clinton's election.  Then again in 1996 to celebrate his re-election and in 2008 to support Hillary in her quest to become the Democratic candidate for presidency.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013 Clinton Vineyards released their 2012 Victory White in the hopes that Hillary with throw her hat into the ring.  As a part of the Victory White 2012 campaign, Phyllis will make a generous contribution to the Ready for Hillary Pac.

Victory White is 100% Seyval Blanc that is estate grown in Clinton Corners, New York.  It's crisp and refreshing with hints of green apple.  It does have a slight aftertaste, but by far a very good vintage and a double gold medal winner at the 2013 Hudson Valley Wine & Spirits Competition.

Clinton Vineyards was established in 19977 by Ben Feder, a New York book designer and artist who fell in love with the Hudson Valley.  He modeled the 100 acre Clinton Vineyards in the tradition of European vineyard estates and chose to specialize in producing white and sparkling wines.

In 1988 Ben's wife Phyllis joined him and together they created a line of Estate Bottled Wines.  Ben passed away in 2009 and today, Phyllis continues to maintain her husband's legacy.

Listen to the press reception below in Uncork Your Mind.
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A Hudson Valley Thanksgiving

I've lived in the Hudson Valley all my life and as time goes on I realize how important traditions play in everything we do. As old traditions leave and new traditions are born we are grateful to the special friends and family we surround ourselves with during the holidays.

In Hudson Valley Tradition here is keeping it local.

Quattro's Poultry & Game farm is the happening place to order your bird.  Not just your bird, you can pick up your farm fresh eggs to use in that pie, cake or cookies you will be baking.

Your cheese spread can come from the abundance of cheese producers in the Hudson Valley

• Acorn Hill Farmstead Cheese, Pine Bush, NY
• Coach Farm, Pine Plains, NY
• Lynnhaven Nubians, Pine Bush, NY
• Old Chatham Sheepherding Company, Old Chatham, NY
• Rainbeau Ridge, Bedford Hill, NY
• Sprout Creek, Poughkeepsie, NY

Now to my favorite part - the wine!  What Hudson Valley wines will you put on your table to pair with the turkey?  Here are a few of my suggestions.

Gamay Noir - Whitecliff Vineyards and Winery is the only Hudson Valley producer of Gamay.  It's a light red and slightly chilled will go great with the bird.

Baco Noir - This will go great with the sausage stuffing!  Benmarl Winery and Hudson Chatham Winery produce Baco

Tocai Friulano - Millbrook Vineyards & Winery is the producer of this nice crisp wine. They have a version that was aged in neutral oak which depending on your palate will work well the turkey.

Seyval Blanc - Hudson Valley produces some great Seyval Blanc.  You can find it in many of the tasting rooms or it's used in a white blend.  What comes to mind is Clinton Vineyards Seyval; Whitecliff's Awosting White; Benmarl Winery's Seyval Blanc; Glorie Farm Winery, Seyval Blanc; Hudson-Chatham, Seyval Blanc

Traminette - on of my favorites!  If you like Gewurztraminer you will like Traminette with your bird. Whitecliff, Palaia, Benmarl Winery all produce the Gewurztraminer hybrid.

From my family to yours have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving Holiday!

Hudson-Chatham Seyval Blanc

Another Seyval Blanc to tell you about before the 2011 vintage comes out.

The 2010 Hudson-Chatham Block 1, North Creek Vineyards was Estate Grown and Bottled had a strong nose of citrus.

A palate of soft banana with citrus and lime flavors with a tart finish that jumps out at you and lingers.  As the wine warms up a bit the lime flavors become more prominent.

If you notice the color of the wine is a bit more yellowish than I'm use to with this type of varietal.  Usually Seyval is more clear with hints of a yellow and a greenish ting. But in any event, the color did not effect the wine.  It was what I expected.

Benmarl 2010 Seyval Blanc

Flipping through my notes, I found my notes for this Seyval Blanc that I've been meaning to post.  I better do it before they release the 2011 vintage with hopefully a better label.

This wine is Estate grown and I've become a fan of Seyval Blancs. It's a great white, especially for the summer.  I was a little disappointed in the label.  When I took the bottle out of the fridge and it hit the warmth of my kitchen, the ink ran.  Maybe this was done on their ink jet printer. I hope not and they take it up with their label printing company.

The wine had a beautiful fresh pear nose with essence of lemon rounding out the aroma. The flavors on the palate were tropical.  Crisp pineapple, kiwi and tropical fruit has you thinking of the beach.

The wine had .75 residual sugar which really complemented the acidity nicely.  It made the wine better balanced with a nice rounded mouth feel.

As the wine warmed up a bit it becomes softer and the citrus flavors become more apparent.  This is definitely a nice wine for summer sipping!

Clinton Vineyards Jubilee

Disclaimer: I received this as a sample from Clinton Vineyards

New Years was upon us and this bottle didn't make it until the 31st.  We actually opened the bottle of Clinton Vineyards NV Jubilee a few days before New Years Eve. If you don't already know, I'm not a big bubbly person, but I think with a little practice my palate is loosening up to the bubbles.

As the bottle opened, I found the aroma a bit bready, but not overpowering. It soon lead way to aromas of green apples.

The sparkling wine was nice, crisp and dry.  It had a beautiful soft, creamy silky mouth feel with soft bubbles.  It was a little tart on the finish.

This sparkling is made with 100% Seyval Blanc grapes in the traditional method.  The wine sells for $35.

Regional Wine Week - Brimstone Vineyards

In the spirit of Regional Wine Week I picked up a bottle of Brimstone Hill 2010 Seyval Blanc.  Brimstone Hill Vineyards in located in Pine Bush.  They are a small winery and have over 10 acres of vines planted.

I like the Seyval grape, it's crispness and citrus notes and I found that in this 2010 vintage from Brimstone Hill. It  had some floral notes on the nose as well and distant hint of bananas.  The color I wasn't to keen on.  Usually Seyval Blanc is very pale yellow if that.  This color was a little to golden to me.

The taste was a bit bland for me, but it did have hints of tropical fruit and guava. I was looking for a bit more.

I wouldn't hold onto this wine, if you have it in your cellar, I would drink it now.

Clinton Vineyards 34th Vintage 2010 Seyval Blanc

Clinton Vineyard has bottled their 34th vintage of Seyval Blanc.  I actually had the opportunity to help with the bottling back in May and the wine was released in June.

I found the bouquet very floral.  The aroma reminds me of a beautiful sunny day with a slight warm breeze. The palate was smooth and fruity with flavors of green apple and citrus.  I found the finish a little tart, but refreshing.

This wine is a great summertime choice for a hot summers day.

The wine sells at the winery for $18.50.  

Bottling Seyval

I got asked two weeks ago to help bottle Seyval Blanc at Clinton Vineyards.  I have never participated in a bottling before so I was excited to partake.

Chris (the manager and winemaker) had left me a message the night before and I swear he said to come at 9am instead of the agreed upon 10am.  So I showed up at 9am and was an hour early.  Chris was stressing out so I went for a walk up to the vineyard.

I've never walked up to the vineyard area before, so I didn't realize I would be met with a gate and lock.  I was walking around the vineyard and the barbed wire fence trying to figure out if I could fit through the fence.  I was going to go for it, but a bell went off in my head and I realized the fence had electric going to it.  I touched the fence to see and yup, there was a slight charge.  So no sneaking into the vineyard for me, just the picture at a distance.

When I returned to the winery it was almost time to get started.  Chris was calibrating the bottling machine, bottles were coming out of the boxes and cork was loaded into the corking machine.

My job for the day was the bottling machine.  Once the bottles were full, I had to take them off and line them up for the lady doing the corking.  I consider myself in decent shape.  I go to the gym, I use the upper body machines as well as the machines that work your legs.  Well I guess the movement of taking bottles off the bottling machine uses different muscles not touched by the machines at the gym.  After 4 hours of bottling my arms were a bit tired and sore.

We bottled 400+ cases of Clinton's 2010 Seyval Blanc.  I did get a small taste, and it was tasting pretty good!  Crisp with green apple and kiwi.  I think it will be released sometime next month.

Clinton Vineyards 2009 Tribute to "Ben Feder"

I thought I would let things calm down before I posted about Clinton Vineyards 2009 Tribute.   I have to admit, I tasted this at the winery the day it was bottled and I thought it was a very good wine.  I purchased 2 bottles and drank them with friends the day Chelsea Clinton got married.

I paired the wine with a goat cheese and leek tart..   The pairing went very well.  First the wine then the recipe.

The 2009 Clinton Vineyards Tribute is a Seyval Blanc.  Named TRIBUTE after Clinton Vineyards founder Ben Feder who passed away September 2009.  The color of this wine is typical of a Seyval Blanc.  Clear pale hint of yellow.

On the nose I found a bouquet of citrus and green apple.   The initial taste is crisp honeydew melon that leads into big citrus with a soft and silky mouth feel.  It ends with a long lemon finish.   When you taste this wine the crispness puts excitement into the air. This wine is very refreshing and a great summer wine!

Tribute is available at Clinton Vineyards tasting room and online.  It sells for $18.50 a bottle.  Here is a short video of the bottling of Tribute: (Leek tart follows)



Now the pairing - Goat Cheese and Leek Tart.  This was an all local leek tart.  The goat cheese was from Sprout Creek, the leeks from Soon Farms, the eggs were from Feather Ridge Farms. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the tart, but trust me it was excellent and paired very well with the Tribute.

Here is the recipe:
The Leeks: Prepare this first.  This can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge for 2 days.
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 large leeks - sliced - white and pale green parts only
2 tablespoons water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons of sherry or day old wine

Melt butter in pot over medium heat and add leeks, water, wine, and salt. Cook at low heat until tender about 25 minutes.  Uncover and let liquid evaporate.  Remove from heat.

The Tart:
You will need a 9 inch tart pan.  I cheated and used a prepared pie crust.  If you have a favorite pie crust recipe, I would make that and line the pie plate with the dough. Put foil over dough and add some dried beans and cook dough for about 15 - 20 minutes until crust is pail golden color.  Remove and toss beans and foil.

The Filling:

1/2 cup 2% milk
1/2 heavy cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
Prepared Leeks

Wisk milk, egg, egg yolk and salt in a medium bowl.  sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over bottom of pie crust.  Spread prepared leeks over cheese.  Sprinkle cheese over leeks.  Pour milk mixture over leeks and cheese.  Bake about 40 minutes at 375 until filling has puffed and is golden in spots.

Enjoy!