This month and next month, to coincide with the Fall In Love With Hudson Valley Wine 2013 campaign, I will be publishing one profile or feature per week featuring someone or something, from the Hudson Valley. These are people and places that have made a unique contribution to the wine region.
Michael Migliore always had a fascination with wine. Both
his German and Italian grandfathers made wine at home. It was on their dinner
table every night. In 1975, Michael bought a small amount of land in the Hudson
Valley. He graduated in 1978 from a SUNY, New Paltz, graduate program, where he
studied organic chemistry. In that same year, he took a job at IBM where he was
trained as a semiconductor engineer. However, the call of the farm was strong,
and began planting vines in 1979.
Michael has lived on the property that is Whitecliff Vineyards since 1975, when he was
studying for a master’s degree in organic chemistry at SUNY, New Paltz. In 1978
he started work at IBM as a chemical engineer in semiconductor manufacturing,
and soon after began experimenting with grape growing as a natural expression of
his background and his skills in chemistry. Wine had figured prominently in his
upbringing: his German and Italian grandfathers both made wine at home, and it
was part of every family dinner.
Yancey Stanforth-Migliore, his wife, joined in the planting soon
after they met—through rock climbing on the Shawangunk Ridge—and married in the
early 80’s. While she doesn’t bring technical skills to the business like
Michael, she has developed the ability to teach about wine that contributes to
Whitecliff’s Tasting Room. The extensive knowledge of winemaking and
viticulture Yancey has built up over the years is leavened by her vivid
memories of learning to love wine through the kind of spritzy, sweet rosés that
are popular with so many Americans.
Establishing the vineyard has been an ongoing process since
1979. It involved years of trial and error to determine which varieties would
produce good yields and quality wine, while withstanding the cold winters. The
rigorous approach of science and engineering, along with a generous helping of
pigheaded determination, provided the knowledge and the strong base necessary
to create a successful vineyard and winery.
“I wanted to do some farming, and this area was historically
a grape-growing region supplying New York City,” Michael has explained. “You
don't have to be a physical organic chemist to be a winemaker, but it certainly
helps.” In the first few years, their production was around 500 cases a year.
Whitecliff currently has one of the largest vineyards in the
Hudson Valley, with over 20 varieties of grapes planted for their continuing
effort to refine their growing and winemaking. Today Michael works closely with
Cornell Cooperative Extension testing new grape varieties, and pushing the
envelope on the quality of grape growing in the region. In that capacity he
also serves as president of the Hudson Valley Wine and Grape Association.
"I did it slowly over time because it's labor and
capital intensive," said Migliore.
With 4,000 cases of wine production for the 2010 vintage,
their goal of bringing Whitecliff to a total of 5 or 6,000 cases was as close as
ever. Now they are one of the leading wineries in the Hudson Valley.
For many years Michael has been a formidable and productive
member of the Hudson Valley. Part proselytizer, part shepherd, he has called,
gathered, and led a flock of winemakers as the head of the Hudson Valley Wine
& Grape Foundation. He worked with Cornell Extension to organize the Hudson
Valley grape school for many years, in an effort to create a solid base of
growers, and to help possible vineyard and winery owners to understand the
risks and work inherent in making quality wine in the Hudson Valley. Classes on
grape selection, trellis selection, growing techniques, spraying, pest
management, and many other topics have always been first and foremost on the
schedule. Teams of Cornell Extension professors have come to the Hudson Valley
to download their knowledge.
Michael would spend hours with prospective wine enthusiasts,
patiently answering questions, offering insights, and alternately bragging
about the possibilities. His bright smile on his tan face, and his wry sense of
humor could be encouraging and comforting. But a stern look could also come
across, he eyebrows furrowing, and his gaze intense, as he would get very
serious about vine growing, its dangers and pitfalls, and the problems with
making wine in the valley. There were more than a few couples whose rose colored
dreams of winery ownership were dashed on the river stones that crop up so well
on many a Hudson Valley farm after talking with Michael.
Michael is an interesting figure. Well built, and still very
taught, with his big grin and tanned face, he looks comfortable and confident
as he discusses chemistry with Cornell’s enologists, dress slacks and a pressed
shirt draped casually over his athletic form, his hair coiffed. You can imagine
him in a lab or IBM’s office park. But at the winery you are just as likely to
see him, in summer, in a sweaty t-shirt, jeans, and a cowboy hat, driving a
tractor or a forklift. That’s Michael. He’s professional, but he’s hard driven.
In front of a grape school crowd, Michael wanted to
encourage people, but he wanted to be honest with them, too. He only wanted
people who were going to be serious. Michael preached quality fruit. Quality
wine. He recruited people who were interested in vinifera and quality. He
recruited people who would make wine the valley could be proud of. He wanted
winemakers who would share ideas and techniques, and help each other raise the
level of their game.
Michael is a man of vision. He has one for his winery, and another for the valley. And he has made an important contribution. While he was not one of the founders of the new wave of winery owners that came after the Farm Winery Act, he was a major force in helping to grow the region, and creating a buzz about a region that had seen frustrating fits and starts of growth. The valley’s failure to coalesce in the 1980s and 1990s was especially un-nerving while both the Finger Lakes and the North Fork flourished. But Michael’s vision of the valley has persisted, and now it is reality. From a sleepy backwater of the east coast wine world, the Hudson Valley has emerged as a region with brilliant wines, rave reviews, and tremendous promise.
“Ten years from now, I think the valley will be known for quality wines of uniform style and consistency. And I think the valley will be a major wine and food destination, like Napa Valley or the Willamette valley in Oregon,” said Michael in an interview. “There will be one Hudson Valley not several trails. I think there are a lot of similarities with the Hudson Valley and the Hunter Valley outside Sydney, Australia. The Hunter Valley is a fertile growing region just outside a major city. Our Valleys have a lot in common.”
“I think we are a great producing area. I think we have to stay on tract and message and get the best fruit producers to start growing more wine grape varieties. There are some gorgeous sites. If we can get some of those folks growing wine grapes you’ll see even better quality wines across the board. In the valley, you can grow vinifera and you can get a really good price. It’s viable business. Right now the best fruit growers have the right sites; good land, the knowledge, the equipment, and the workforce. They have it all. And when they start growing vinifera, then you will see even better wines in the valley.”
"We make first and foremost the things we like
ourselves," Yancey Stanforth-Migliore told the Wall Street Journal.
Michael told the famous wine writing couple, Dorothy J.
Gaiter and John Brecher, that their
vision was, "To produce high-quality, food-friendly wines, generally not
cocktail wines, which tend to be higher alcohol and more fruit-forward. Ours
have more acid structure, generally in the 12%-alcohol range, more of a
European model."
"I will regularly tell people that if you like it here,
you're going to really enjoy a glass of it at home with a meal," added
Yancey. Gaither and Brecher’s review was a rave.
Gaither and Brecher wrote that both the reds and whites
“they had a restraint to them, a vision in which everything—including the
winemaker—took a back seat to the fruit itself. And the fruit was delightfully
pure and real. There was nothing showy about the wines. They just tasted good,
offering a kind of relaxed gracefulness and easy balance that would make them
good on the dinner table.” The reporters took home a bottle of the Pinot Noir
and the Cabernet Franc.
“Wines often taste better at the winery for many reasons,
including the scenery, but these were even more impressive with food,” the Wall
Street duo wrote, after pairing the wines with roasted pork chops later at
home. “Each was varietal in its own way—the Pinot was hauntingly earthy, the
Cab Franc was sharper, more focused—but the vision of both as food wines was
true.”
Asst. Winemaker Brad Martz
They are not the only fans. Kevin Zraly, of Windows on the World fame, and Steven Kolpan, one of the authors of Exploring Wine, are also big fans.
While their legion of fans was growing, something else
wasn’t…the size of their winery. While the number of cases they were making and
selling were growing, the size of the facilities was not. Something had to be
done.
As the winery neared its tenth year of operation, they built
a new, state of the art winery, complete with geothermal heating, offices, and
enough space to do custom crushing.
"Three years ago we were a 3000 case winery, now we are
a 5500 case winery and growing. Not only do we do our own, this enables us to
do custom crush and make wine for other facilities," Michael told Debbie
Gioquindo, the Hudson Valley Wine Goddess.
“Geo-Thermal in layman terms - 8 feet below the surface is a
constant 55 degrees. Long tubes are put 8 feet underground that go out into the
field horizontally and back into the winery in a loop,” wrote Debbie. “ Glycol
is pumped through the pipes to maintain a 50 degree temperature. Upon return
the glycol is and put through the heat exchanger to heat or cool the water that
is then pumped through the winery floor. This regulates the temperature in the
winery. This was their first harvest in the new winery.”
"It was so nice to have the space and the room,” said
Michael. “and to be able to increase capacity. We had tons of room to process
grapes more than we had before. It was so nice to be able to process inside
when weather was bad."
Since that quote, the winery has already run out of room, and Michael is planning the next expansion. They are among the hottest and fastest growing quality wineries in the region.
Michael and Yancey can now celebrate their success, but that's not them. Their drive continues.
Michael’s focus, and their tenacity together, have created a quality
jauggernaught with their wines. And the valley, with Michael’s persistent
vision, salesmanship, and stern voice, has finally coalesced into the quality wine producing region he had been
speaking of for years. The visionary has begun to see the promised land. It's valley is green, and it's filled with rolling vineyards.