Wine has become very important to Americans. We are becoming a country of mealtime wine consumers, and characteristically doing it in great gulps instead of sips. Moreover, we are drinking increasing amounts of wine grown in our own native soils as well as (and frequently in preference to) wines originating in famous old-world regions. This acceptance of our own wines is quite a recent development. It has come about only through the efforts of a few American winelovers who are determined to demonstrate that fine winemaking, both as an art and as a business is well within the capability of our nation's climate, soils, and talents. . . Hundreds of stories could and will be told of the difficulties and rewards experienced by these dedicated people during this accomplishment.

One such story concerns the Miller family who began wine growing as a hobby, saw it become a kind of privately sustained research station and eventually become what friends have described as "more a crusade than a business". It began appropriately on a vineyard in the Hudson River valley, the oldest wine district in the United States. Wine has been made from the grapes of this region since the 17th century when the French Hugenots grew vines and made wine in nearby New Paltz. U.P. Hedrick, author of the Grapes of New York, called the Hudson region "the birthplace of American viticulture" citing a planting in 1827 at Croton Point as the nation's earliest commercially successful vineyard.

Among the young farmers attracted to this burgeoning industry in the early 1800's Andrew Jackson Caywood bought and planted a handsome piece of land high above the river in an even older Hudson region grape growing community, dating from 1772. When it incorporated as the Village of Marlborough in 1788, a cluster of grapes carved in its seal commemorated its major crop. Mr. Caywood became an outstanding viticulturist and leading authority in the development of new grape varieties. By genetic crossing he created numerous hardy wine varieties which anticipated by 10 years the French hybrids later bred to combat viticultural problems plaguing European winegrowers in the 1800's.

When the Miller family bought the Caywood property in 1957 and re-named it BENMARL, it had outlived all of its early contemporaries to become America's oldest professional vineyard. The Millers rebuilt its steep terraces, replanting them with excellent European wine grapes, hybrid and vinifera, carrying on Caywood's private experimentation at a time when New York's wine industry was at a low ebb and long before New York State officially began experimental wine study.

To help them support their work, the Millers created the Société des Vignerons, inviting friends interested in perpetuating the Valley's viticultural traditions to become "vicarious vignerons" by taking on the annual support of two or more of Benmarl's experimental grapevines and receiving in return their produce in the form of wine.

The Société caught the imagination of serious wine lovers. Its work in the vineyard inspired many regional farmers to plant better wine vines. Its innovative work in the cellar has helped to give eastern winemaking new dimensions never before considered possible. In only a few years the Société has seen its earnest crusade to bring about a renaissance of our country's first vineyard region evolve into
a veritable fountain of astonishingly fine wine enhanced by a regional character which sets it apart from any others in the world.

Benmarl was very fortunate to have its wine well received. Judgment of the quality of wine is, of course, a very subjective matter. One drinker's preference may be another's anathema. In order to gain general acceptance a new wine, like a new idea, must overcome a formidable series of barriers to acceptance representing a tendency in all of us to resist change. The very idea of wine as a part of our American cuisine was resisted for a long time and even now when we are at last learning to use wine at our tables many people are still reluctant to accept wines which are not grown in a famous region. With this in mind it would not have been surprising for the wine from this little known vineyard to be disparaged for its regional differences or simply to be ignored. But happily it met quite the opposite reaction. There has perhaps been no other American vineyard, during the past few years, which has received more attention from those who write about, think about, and enjoy good wine than tiny Benmarl.

TIME Magazine, in a handsome full color feature, described Benmarl and its eastern farm winery counterparts as "a new breed of winemakers, whose wines of fine quality and elegance are shaking California's throne."

The highly respected NEW YORK TIMES wine columnist Frank Prial became interested in Benmarl and its Société when it sought his help in publicizing the need for legislative reform to encourage farm wineries in New York, and he described its wines as "remarkable examples of what dedication can produce." Author and wine authority Alixis Lichine wrote in his ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WINES AND SPIRITS that "Benmarl promises to be among the finest vineyards in the nation" -- High praise indeed. In its warm radiance Benmarl's Société has grown from a few friends to many hundreds all over the United States. And Benmarl's example is being followed by an expanding number of small wineries throughout America.

Benmarl is gratified to have had one of its wines voted the "Best US Red Wine" by the independent judges at the prestigious 2000 Atlanta Wine Summit International Competition

 

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