The Hudson Valley’s own pioneering winemaker Cesar Baeza has been a leader in New York’s wine industry throughout his career. A few highlights follow.
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Are you looking for the perfect wine to serve at your holiday party? You might want to consider the versatile and food-friendly Cabernet Franc.
Continue readingCity Winery Hudson Valley
City Winery Hudson Valley
Established 2020
845-424-0222
Visit the website
Yes, patio only
Travis Van Caster
CITY WINERY HUDSON VALLEY is located in Montgomery, NY, at the historic Montgomery Worsted Mills. The scenic 22-acre property consists of a fully functioning winery, restaurant, tasting room and event venue. City Winery strives to deliver a unique high-end culinary and cultural experience to guests who are passionate about wine, music, and food. By combining a winery with intimate experiences and fine dining, City Winery has created a compelling venue for their sophisticated clientele.
The Hudson Valley property is designed to integrate the winemaking process with consumption and enjoyment of wine. Guests can wander from the winery into the Barrel Room tasting bar and restaurant, where they can try house wines served fresh on tap, straight from the cellar. The culinary team pairs wines with flavorful dishes to complement each glass. Tasting flights are offered to sample the many wines made in-house, along with an award-winning wine list featuring over 400 wines from many of the top producers from all over the world.
Savor This
2020 Reserve Pinot Noir “Cuvee Griffin” — Enticingly complex on the nose, this wine is reminiscent of a seaside picnic, with aromas of sage and tarragon over strawberry jam and hints of a salt breeze. It is delightfully juicy, with silky tannins and a mouth-watering, balanced acidity.
In the continuous effort of sustainability, City Winery is preserving the earth one glass of wine at a time. All locations have implemented the use of “wine on tap” to negate the production of wine in bottles. Seventy percent of wine produced goes directly into 15- to 30-gallon barrels after the wine has finished the clarification process. All the energy and gas used to create, fill, seal, label and transport the bottles is unused. This furthers City Winery’s sustainability efforts by saving almost 300,000 bottles per year.
In addition, City Winery’s reusable wine bottle program, Re-Wine, allows Hudson Valley customers to take wine-to-go, return the bottle to be washed and sanitized, and then receive a five-dollar credit towards their next bottle. By utilizing their direct-to-consumer venues, City Winery is paving the path to become the most environmentally efficient winery in the world. With its growler exchange program, City Winery is able to offer customers an on-the-go bottle of wine and eliminate the shipping of heavy glass bottles and corks. The effort to help enrich the earth is ongoing at City Winery Hudson Valley.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
NY International Wine Competition
The 2023 New York International Wine Competition featured over 1,400 wines from 24 different countries. From out of this huge field, City Winery Hudson Valley took home a number of prestigious awards:
Zinfandel of the Year
2021 Zinfandel Reserve “Cuvee Bacigalupi”
Russian River Valley, CA
Merlot of the Year
2020 Merlot Reserve Uva Blanca Vineyard
Finger Lakes, NY
Pinot Noir of the Year
2019 Pinot Noir Signature Series
Willamette Valley, OR
Gold Medal
2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve “Cuvee Obsidian”
Lake County, CA
DIRECTIONS
Hours
YEAR-ROUND
Wed–Thurs: 4–9pm
Fri–Sat: 11:30 am–10pm
Sun: 11am–9pm
CLOSED
Christmas Day
Staff Picks
WHITE
- 2023 "Montgomery Mills" Dry Riesling
ROSÉ
- 2022 Pet-Nat Sparkling Rosé
RED
- 2020 Reserve Pinot Noir "Cuvee Griffin"
- 2019 Reserve Cabernet Franc "Cuvee Alder Springs"
SPARKLING
- 2023 "Vin de Glaciere" Riesling Ice Wine
MEET THE WINEMAKER
Travis Van Caster is a skilled and creative winemaker who currently serves as the Head Winemaker at City Winery Hudson Valley. With over 10 years of experience in the wine industry, Travis has become well-versed in both traditional and modern winemaking techniques. He has a passion for crafting unique and high-quality wines that capture the essence of the terroir and reflect the characteristics of the grape varieties he works with.
At City Winery Hudson Valley, Travis oversees the entire winemaking process, from grape selection to bottling. Travis’s commitment to quality and his deep understanding of the winemaking process have earned him a well-deserved reputation as a talented and respected winemaker in the industry.
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Continue readingAwestruck
Awestruck
Established 2013
Tasting Fee
$8 for (4) 5-oz tastes
TOURS
$10 per person;
Contact for group tours
Production
10,000+ cases
Owners
Patricia Wilcox and
Casey Vitti
Winemaker/DistillerS
Derek Tallman and
Casey Vitti
AT AWESTRUCK, THEIR NAME is their mission. They craft hard ciders that will leave you, well…awestruck! They have an insatiable thirst for tweaking, testing, and experimenting with apple varietals, yeast species, and botanical ingredients to push the boundaries of hard cider.
Awestruck’s three flagships are each unique, yet approachable. Hibiscus Ginger is rose-colored, fizzy and subtly spicy; Lavender Hops is crafted by steeping cider with pounds of culinary dried lavender and citrusy hop varietals, and is at once deeply aromatic and juicy; and Dry Apple + Oak captures the essence of artisanal fermentation – clean, faintly woody, subtly fruity, and deeply evocative of early autumn in upstate New York.
After years working as contractors to fund their appetite for travel and discover new tastes, Casey Vitti and Patti Wilcox returned to their hometown of Walton, NY to found Awestruck in 2013. Inspired by the abundance of fresh, delicious apples throughout the Hudson Valley, they created Awestruck Ciders to blend their home region’s apple growing heritage with their favorite flavors from around the world.
Savor This
Awestruck Cider has won a Best Cider Award at NY’s Best Fest two years running, and was voted the People’s Choice Best Cidery at Adirondack Wine Festival 2019! Visit the taproom to try eleven specialty ciders on draught and enjoy guided tastings and tours of the production facility. Order a charcuterie board to pair with a flight and take a seat on the indoor vintage school bus!
Awestruck’s true passion is creating new limited and seasonal offerings by experimenting with new ingredients to produce new tastes and experiences. They work with local orchardists and farmers to make all their ciders from pure, fresh-pressed New York state apples—never from concentrate, never watered down.
From its humble roots in a 2,000-square-foot renovated section of a local lumberyard in Walton, Awestruck has grown to an industrious team of seventeen employees, working collaboratively on all aspects of the business. As part of their recent expansion, Awestruck opened a taproom at their 8,000-square-foot production facility in Sidney, NY, which has evolved into a cozy bar-restaurant with seventeen rotating taps of unique and limited offerings along with a variety of local craft beers. You can taste one-off ciders, sit aboard a 1970s school bus and compose magnetic poetry on the walls and ceiling. You can also enjoy a small, comfort-food menu, designed to pair with Awestruck ciders and satisfy hungry customers.
Stay in the loop about everything Awestruck by following them on Facebook and Instagram where you’ll find updates on exclusive releases and events. Visit the website for information on where to find Awestruck in stores and farmers markets and festivals throughout the year.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Apples & Pears
Awestruck is excited to introduce this year’s new flavor – Apples & Pears! Apples & Pears is the classic juicy, fresh hard apple cider you crave, elevated by the subtle sweetness of succulent pear. Apples & Pears—a dynamic duo, handpicked and pressed into one enticing refreshment.
This cider is so deliciously fresh, you can almost hear the crisp crack of biting into a tart, just-picked apple and feel the pear juice running down your chin…or is that the 5.5.% ABV talking?
DIRECTIONS
Hours
YEAR-ROUND
Thurs–Sat: 3–10pm
Sun: 3–8pm
CLOSED
New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day
Staff Picks
CIDERS
- Apples & Pears
- Hibiscus Ginger
- Lavendar Hops
- Dry Apple + Oak
- Summer Sangria
- The Viking
- Hometown Homicider
- Winter Solstice
- Lovestruck
- Sugar & Spice
- Peach Ring
MEET THE OWNERS
Casey Vitti and Patti Wilcox
When Casey and Patti founded Awestruck, they set out to craft complex and captivating ciders. They had been enjoying ciders overseas for many years, and were excited by the new and different hard ciders cropping up throughout the United States. From sweet and juicy to dry and funky and everywhere in-between, they were captivated by the boundless variety of cider available. They saw cider as the perfect base from which to create their own blends, and by incorporating botanicals like hibiscus, ginger, lavender, and hops, they could share their passion for unique drinks inspired by their travels around the world.
Casey and Patti understand how intimidating it can be to new cider drinkers to have such a broad variety to choose from. To help people discover this fun and exciting beverage, they put descriptions and slider bars on every bottle of Awestruck so each person can pick their perfect hard cider right at the shelf.