Dutchess Wine Trail in New York State Welcomes Visitors Year Round

The Dutchess Wine Trail is a group of wineries located in the eastern part of the Hudson Valley’s beautiful Dutchess County. Whatever season you choose to visit in, traveling the back roads of Millbrook, Clinton, and Red Hook, where the wineries are located, is a ramble every wine lover should experience.

Millbrook Vineyards & Winery

Small green signs adorned with grapes lead you on the winery trail beginning on Route 44 off the Taconic State Parkway in Millbrook, New York. Your first stop will be Millbrook Vineyards & Winery. The vineyard is part of a 130-acre estate and is open for tours and tastings seven days a week, year round from noon to 5 p.m. They are closed on major holidays, New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

The complimentary tour includes an inside view of the entire winemaking process. From grapes to glass, a guide will lead you through the care of the grape vines, the harvest, the fermentation process, the pressing, the aging, and the bottling. There is a fee for tastings. Millbrook Vineyards has won critical acclaim for their wines, which include Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Tocai Friulano, and some additional rare varietals. Their newest wine is a New York State Hunt Country Rosé, which they say is drier and more full-bodied than traditional rosé.

Clinton Vineyards

After finishing up at Millbrook, you can follow the Dutchess Wine Trail signs northwest to Clinton Vineyards, where visitors can wander through the orderly grape laden vines on their way to the tasting room. The site features 15 acres of land, historic barns, a pond, and lovely gardens.

Established in 1976 by Ben Feder, Clinton Vineyards offers a Seyval Blanc white wine, three varieties of Champagne and 7 varieties of dessert wine including “Embrace,” which is made exclusively from organically grown raspberries, and their award winning Black Currant Cassis wine which won the gold for Best Dessert Wine at the L.A. County Fair Wines of the World Competition held in Los Angeles in the spring of 2005.