Clinton Vineyards

I had a lovely Sunday afternoon at Clinton Vineyards. This was my first «real» wine tasting. I’m more of a beer person and never felt truly comfortable within the wine community/​culture (really because I have no idea what I’m talking about when it comes to wine), but I found Phyllis to be poised, knowledgeable and a gracious hostess. She made me feel at ease and, during the tour, told the group (in so many words) «don’t listen to the wine snobs — if you like it, that’s all that matters!». My husband and I bought 2 bottles of her Seyval Blanc (*ahem AND a bag of chocolate-​covered orange peels). I also REALLY wanted a bottle of the Romance dessert wine, but had to draw the line somewhere…
The property is just beautiful. We will definitely be back.

Very beautiful estate off of Poughkeepsie with gracious owners. It was only $ 8 to do a wine tasting for 4 of their top wines — The Riesling and Pinot Noir are some of the best that I’ve had.
Had a great time hanging out here and will definitely come back!

I am a professional distiller and am very proud of my own Cassis Liqueur, but had always heard amazing things about Clinton Vineyard’s Cassis. I finally got to try it tonight at an event at the CIA in Hyde Park. I was blown away. The deep, earthy tones of the berry are perfectly complimented by the bright acidity and everything is pulled together with just the right amount of syrup (by which I mean very little). A wonderful, light body that fully showcases a most unique fruit which has found a new life in the Hudson Valley after years of languishing in obscurity. Phyllis is a true pioneer in New York wine and I was honored to have her pour for me!

My friends and I LOVE Clinton Vineyards. There’s a cozy tasting room where the owner is almost always there to welcome patrons (if you’re lucky she’ll even do your tasting — she has GREAT stories). They specialize in champagne & wine (they have the awards to prove it) and they’ve just added a red and Riesling as well as a meat & cheese plate! If you decide to take your glass and platter out to the pond or horse sculpture, the staff will happily provide a little picnic basket. A very relaxing and fun activity to do with friends on a lazy afternoon. The staff is super friends and you take a little tour of the back where they process the wine in huge tanks.

decided last minute to stop, beautiful property, very small winery. it was 12 dollars to taste 4 wines which was a little on the expensive side, we weren’t shared much knowledge at all, nor did we get to keep the glass (as most wineries let you do)

Relaxing and low key, this vineyard is a nice stop if you’d like to sit around and enjoy their sprawling, lush green property.
This is the perfect property to bring a blanket and a picnic and lounge for hours. The wine is ok, but you’ll come for the views and the serenity. The tasting room is small and old school but it does the job, particularly since the main event is really their expansive real estate.
We came here after visiting Millbrook which was a much larger vineyard and in comparison I thought the wine wasn’t as good but it was definitely a more relaxing atmosphere.
They only open at 1 PM so be careful when planning a trip because there’s not much in the immediate surrounding are (except Millbrook I guess– which opens at 11AM.

Very pretentious crowd. The wines were average at best and very overpriced. The staff were friendly but the wine has few of the characteristics they claim it has.

This is a small winery specializing with champagne and dessert wines. When I visited, owner was helping our tasting. I did champagnes and dessert wine tasting.
I felt their wines are elegant and decadent. I enjoyed most of their wines.
Owner told me she used to send her wine to queen Elizabeth and Hillary Clinton, many pictures and thank you cards on the walls are proof.
Wine tasting was relaxing and also it was fun. I ended up buying some champagne and dessert wine.
They also sell some of whitecliffe vineyard wine.

Went on a buggy ride today looking for wineries. Went all over the universe from Hyde Park across NYS to the Taconic pkwy and finally found the Clinton Winery in Clinton Corners. Phyllis, the owner greeted my Wife (the better half) and shoved a price list in front of us for tasting her wares. I thought I’d crap! Because she asked for $ 12.00-$ 15.00 and $ 18.00 for three tastings of her three types of wines which were all white dry to semi sweet, dessert or Champagne. Only! She was cool to us. My wife only prefers reds and I do drink white but the price for tastings I felt was really excessive. Especially after spending 45 minutes on a winding road to find the place which was poorly marked. She was kind enough to offer a sampling of a rose she didn’t make but sold as an accommodation for a fellow vintner which I thought was very good and gave me a pretzel. I assure everyone she wasn’t opening any champagne for us! No matter if we paid $ 15.00 bucks.
I hesitated asking to use the bathroom fearing she’d charge me for every flush drop. We hadn’t been to this part of the state in over 22 years and I was used to paying for samples after being educated on the North Shore of Long Island but this is ridiculous.
23 hours ago · Like · 2

The winery specializes in sparkling and dessert wines. The sparkling selection adelicious and different from what you would find at most wineries. The dessert wines are tasty, my favorites are the blackberry and raspberry wines. Overall I love coming to this place when I’m in the Hudson valley visiting family and always leave with a few bottles.

This is a beautiful, little vineyard with a tasting room where you can try sweet dessert wines. As you sip, you learn about what you are imbibing from a glamorous, older woman whom I want to adopt and make my grandmother.

fun and well-​maintained little winery. staff are friendly, and the tasting is only $ 8 if you go on the MTA Farm Fresh tour!
Phyllis, the owner, is nice and hospitable.
I’m not really into dessert wines, but I try to keep an open mind and actually enjoyed some of what we sampled. ended up buying a bottle of a berry/​grape blend wine.
walking around the vineyard is sweet. they have a lake that you can sit by and drink your wine there in peace and quiet, if the store is too busy.

This place sure has some great wine! We were in Hyde Park visiting the Vanderbilt Mansion and we wanted to find something else to do in the area. This was a great find! The road to get to the vineyard is fairly secluded and it provides a beautiful scenic ride, which is an added bonus. The vineyard itself is very pretty and you can explore the grounds at your leisure. Tastings are $ 10 a person and you get to try around 5 – 6 wines each. I was with my fiancée and we got different ones and tried each others, so we were able to try everything, about 10 – 12 different wines.
The winery specializes in dessert wines and champagne and they make quite a few really, really good ones. Their raspberry wine is super sweet and would go really well with a rich, chocolate dessert and their peach champagne is one of the best wines I’ve ever had. One of our favorites was their black currant wine and it’s nice to see black currants being used, since they’re so tasty.
Overall, this winery is very nice and they make quite a lot of very good wines, though they are very expensive. If you don’t like sweet wines or champagne, then this is definitely not the place for you. However, if you have a sweet tooth, you’ll love this vineyard!

Interesting vineyard that uses hybrids and I thinks some labrusca. They make a very good cassis and a similar blackberry product reminiscent of mure. The still wines did not strike me as especially interesting. The sparkling wines are not bad. The vineyard is located in a pretty isolated area near a lot of farms and the countryside is beautiful .The tasting at $ 10 is a little pricey. The staff is very friendly.

The staff are great. They are very hospitable, and they seem to be very knowledgeable of their Seyval wines.
However, the wines themselves are just too sweet for my taste. They are known for their dessert wines, which are just something I do not like. There were 2 that I somewhat appreciated, but just didn’t enjoy enough to purchase. That was their Seyval Natural sparkling wine and Embrace.
They have an adorable dog and their farm looks very well maintained.

Went to this as part of MTA North’s Farm Fresh tour. Beautiful area and a nice selection for the wine tasting ($ 8). Really good desert wines– bought a few to take home.

Love
The dog
And the fields.
Tastings cost 10
Bucks for whites and dessert wine. Good, not great.

I was so happy to pass a technical exam that I decided to go for a ride, pulled my handy dandy GPS and picked the first place of interest nearest to me (Clinton Vineyards).
I had never been to the Hudson Valley or Clinton. So, I told myself –Why Not?
I found the Vineyard, and contrary to other posts, my experience was really good. Enter the bright red door contrasting against the green walls and was instantly intrigued and found it kind of fun to see the pictures of past historical figures taking a break and having some wine at the very same spot.
I took a tour of the place (very romantic by the way), did some tasting, ended buying a few bottles of their Seyval Blanc and some Romance dessert wines to take back home. Both my friends and family agreed the Clinton wines I selected were pretty good.
I don’t remember the name of the guy at the tasting area, but I do remember he was very welcoming and helpful.
My only regret was not having my wife with me at the time to share this experience with her as she would have loved the scenery.
So, my random GPS adventure was very worthy of my time and money as it was an experience I will never forget.

Beautiful setting and was really looking forward to trying the wine, but one of the employees (he might have been the owner?) really turned us off and we decided to leave. We asked him about the gravel path that went through the property up towards the vines (we wanted to take pictures) and he said we can go for a walk as others were doing, but «all he asks is that we buy some wine first». Why else would we be here? So we proceeded to order one tasting ($ 10 for 5 samples which is on the pricey side) and a glass of wine ($ 7). Well the two didn’t add up to their $ 20 minimum for credit cards, so we decided to move onto the next vineyard. Sad the experience didn’t turn out the way we had hoped.

Yes, this is the winery whose sparkling wine was tucked into the gift baskets for attendees at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. No, that is not why we went to this winery.
We went because all four of us visiting the Hudson River Valley love sparkling wine. It is so expensive to get those bubbles into the bottles, as it were, that few wineries produce bubbly in NY and we were intrigued to try this vintner’s product. Even if they do use Seyval as the base varietal. (Not our fav.)
Lovely setting.
Fun and funky tasting room.
A great guy behind the tasting bar (CIA graduate now moved from food to wine) pouring one of the vineyards two sparklers and several of their wines derived from fruit other than grapes. A modest tasting fee ($ 10) provides five tastes of your choice.
But I’m sorry to say we were not fans of the wine. Sparkling or otherwise. We almost always buy at least one «courtesy bottle» at a winery, even if we’ve had to pay for tasting. But we couldn’t do that here.
More fun or not depending on one’s politics is the photo wall of pictures of the owners and Hillary Clinton and correspondence with Hillary Clinton. (Sadly, the husband of the husband — wife owner team passed away last year.)
Wine aside, the setting is lovely and you can stroll around the grounds. And this is an easy — and beautiful — drive from the Hyde Park historical site to finish off a day of history touring. And it’s on route to Red Devon Market, Bar and Restaurant, where we were headed for dinner. (And where YOU should go too… breakfast, lunch or dinner. Extraordinary place. But that’s a different review. :-))
Had I known this would be a first review for Clinton Vineyards I would have taken photos of the lovely setting and better photos of the tasting room. So it goes. But check the web site where beautiful pictures are posted for this charming place. A visit just for the setting is worthwhile even if you don’t appreciate the wine.