The Hudson River Valley is one of the most picturesque wine regions in America, the main streets of its small towns lined with gracious Victorian homes, framed by giant weeping willows, branches draped out over the roads. The vineyards are scattered along the river ridges and amidst the green, undulating hills that fold into the horizon, sheltered by the granite peaks and rock outcroppings of the Catskill Mountains to the west. The steep, palisaded river valley acts as a funnel for warm ocean air from the Atlantic.
 

One of the earliest settled regions of the U.S., the Hudson River Valley was home to Dutch colonists long before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth. It was the first region of the U.S to make wine, while California was still controlled by the Spanish. The region's winemaking tradition dates to 1677, when French Huguenots in the vicinity of New Paltz, New York made wine from native grapes growing wild. Those experiments proved less than successful, and inspired them to import vine cuttings from Europe, graft and hybridize new varieties and lay the groundwork for the true origin of the Eastern wine industry. The nation's first commercial winery was built on the banks of the Hudson River at Croton Point, and New York's oldest, continuously operating winery, Brotherhood, opened in 1839.
 

Today, the rustic farm wineries of the Hudson Valley, often housed in renovated nineteenth century barns and chalets, are nestled in the foothills spreading east and west of the river, amidst the wild and picturesque beauty of the forested slopes and foothills above the sparkling waters of the Hudson. The region is blessed with an abundance of grape varieties that range from French-American hybrids such as Seyval Blanc and Vignoles to vinifera varieties imported from Europe like Chardonnay, Riesling, and Cabernet Franc.