about the business

phyllis
of

vineyards
a valley table interview

feder clinton

Seyval Blanc isnt exactly a household name, even among wine lovers. A French-hybrid grape (that happens to grow especially well in the Hudson Valley) captured the heart of Ben Feder, an artist, chef, businessman-turned-winemaker, who devoted his entire vineyard in Clinton Corners to Seyval Blanc. You might say the next thing that captured Feders heart was Phyllis, his wife, who joined him in his vineyard venture in 1988. The two made a formidable team, transforming their 100-acre vineyard estate in the Hudson Valley in the tradition of a small French estate, producing the most romantic of wines (including one named Romance), championing a Hudson Valley Wine Country brand and winning converts to Seyval Blanc. Since Bens death in 2009, Phyllis has taken the helm of the winery; production continues in the careful hands of their long-time winemaker, Chris Stuart. This summer, at the Hudson Valley Wine & Spirit Competition, Clinton Vineyards mthode champenoise sparkling wine, Jubilee, took the honor as Best Wine of the Hudson Valley.
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PF The vineyard was planted in 1974; Ben released his first wine in 78that was the 77 harvest. He won all the medals up and down the East Coast. It was a triumph for him [even though] it was just 300 cases. The concept that Ben had (he was a Francophile) was to emulate in some way the tradition of the small estate vineyards in France, where they specialize in a single grape. Seyval is a French-American hybrid and a good grape for the Hudson Valley. The concept is, I think, intelligent; its based on what can grow well here. Ben went to France and learned about mthode champenoise; he came back and then did a beautiful mthode champenoise. And he was making a little bit of Riesling. When Ben and I got together we expanded a bit into more of the mthode champenoise product and included dessert wine. We have our Seyval Naturellethat was the first [champagne]. Then we have Peach Gala. (That was a marvelous discovery. We had been to somebodys house where they were pouring a French pink champagneI think it was called Peche. We said this is pleasant but you know, its weak. So we thought, lets see what we can do.) We have another one called Royaleits Seyval Naturalle with a little bit of Nuit, our wild black raspberry wine. Its a blusha gorgeous color. And one is Jubileeit is really for people who say they like dry. The fellow in France from whom Ben learned about mthode champenoise said to him, You know, Americans say they like dry but they dont really mean it. However, this is dry and a lot of people truly love it. Its very special. So, we were making table wineSeyval Blancwe were making four mthode champenoise and one lateharvest Seyval we called Romance. And that was it everything from Seyval. Enter Norman Greig, who had all those raspberries. He had tested an automatic harvester for the raspberries and before they knew it they had a thousand extra pounds of raspberries. Norman came here and asked if Ben would consider buying his raspberries and making a raspberry wine. And Ben said, No no, I dont do that. We specializewe just grow our grapes to make our wine. Finally Norman prevailed. The wine was so lovely I named it Embrace, and everybody really enjoyed it, so the thought was well buy another thousand pounds. Norman said, Fine, but you have to pick them yourselfhe didnt buy the harvester. Then Ben sought other growers and found a couple of ladies on the other side of the river who said, Oh, yeah, we grow beautiful raspberries, but you should see our blackberries. So he said, Okay, send me a thousand pounds of blackberries. And then he created Desire. So we had Romance, Embrace and Desire. We added on from that. The whole vineyard is a little bit under 14 acres800 vines strong. The other day the fellow who is working with me in the vineyard now, he said that the lines of vines measured a little over 5 miles. Isnt that curious? Maybe we could make a competitionHow many miles of vines do you have?

You can have a lot of money and things still wont go forward.You need leadership, enthusiasm and the ability to bring people into the fold and generate excitement. Without that theres nothing.

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Last year the growing season was phenomenalthe vines did very well, and this year the vineyard is looking spectacular. Im very worried thoughwe need more help in terms of just, you know, workerspeople who do agriculture, who go from job to job wherever they can find work. Its a tough world, being a farmer. Im already starting to get a little anxious about the harvest in terms of just getting the right crew together. In the past, we used to have all these famous fellow travelers whod come to pick our grapes. They would come and pick 12 grapes before lunch, have lunch, go back and pick another 22 grapes before it was time for cocktails. It was a big partywe ran the biggest parties in Dutchess County. At a certain point I said we really have to hire people, so thats what we did. It would be so marvelous to have some sort of cooperative where you had a big crew and they can go from one field to the other. While they concentrated on developing the quality of the Seyval production (Please dont call it Chardonnay), they nevertheless remained open to other possibilities. When New York State removed the ban on growing black currants, they jumped at the opportunity to develop a black currant wine cassisa very limited-production product that has arguably drawn the most attention. PF The cassis was quite a remarkable thing. The black currant plant produced an airborne rust that destroyed pine treesit was actually outlawed. Cornell developed a strain of black currants that were disease free, and their desire was to convince farmers they should grow it. So they brought Ben some black currants and asked him to create something. He didand it was absolutely fabulous. We had a blind tasting herewe had some wines from top producers in Canada, Belgium and Franceand we won, hands down. The amount that he produced then was something like 60 cases; when we saw how well received it was, we went forward. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Im very flatteredI have my own personal thoughts about how well [other wineries] are making cassis but I dont go there. Everybodys palate is different. I can say that, you know, were the only vineyard in the United States to get a gold medal for cassis in international competition. (When we said we were going to enter the Los Angeles International Wine Competition, a friend said, Are you guys crazy? I was standing on a corner with Ben in 1995 in San Miguel Allende and there was an article about our cassis and a photograph in Business Weekit was a wonderful thing to have for Valentines Day.) High on Feders list of priorities has always been the promotion and branding of the Hudson Valley, something shes pursued through the development of Hudson Valley Wine Country, the Duthess Wine Trail, the Hudson Valley Wine and Culinary Project and as board chair of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation. Small, artisanal wine producers in the Valley dont have it easy. The biggest
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challenge remains getting restaurants and markets and consumers to buy. PF From early on, I was very interested in the potential of the Hudson Valleyan extraordinarily rich place with many possibilities, not all realizedand some that were realized were not necessarily known outside of the Valley. A long time agovery long before The Valley TableI wrote a piece (for I forget which publication)I said if you think you have to travel 3,000 miles for beautiful scenery, wonderful food, good wine, think againits right here in your backyard. These days I feel even more so about that because, on the wine level, things have evolved a lot since 1993. And the world has come to understand a lot more about what we have here. Personally, I think the broader stroke is to bring people here because then they have the experience of seeing all of this magnificence, of being on your turf. Thats why farmers markets are so exciting. The GreenMarket in New York Citywhat a gift that is. That is where you could really meet the producers and have a chat. So, I see our job as getting people here, having them see what we have to offer. People come down this road on a busyou know, on a farm-fresh tourand they see cows and sheep and goats and an occasional chicken running across the road and they think my goodness this is an hour and a half from Manhattan. Its a whole awakening. Its something that I care deeply about. Thats what got me involved in the Wine and Grape Foundation. It was eye-opening for me to be involved and to see the evolutionyou know, now were nearing 400 wineries [in New York State]; I think in 1976 there were fewer than 30. And Im happy to say that representation from the Hudson Valley continues.
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I like to be able to look in almost any direction and see something beautiful. Its just so reassuring.

In my conversations with a lot of people in the business hereI used to say, Folks, the Finger Lakes and Long Island are very proactive. Theyre out there promoting. The Hudson Valley is going to get lost unless it really gets more cooperative, making things happen And now theres the beverage trail up in the Berkshiresso to that extent there is more dimension. The [Dutchess Wine Trail and the Shawangunk Wine Trail] have two very separate kinds of focus. The idea of regional branding was a child of the Wine and Grape Foundation. For all intents and purposes, it was their largesse that enabled Hudson Valley Wine Country to work on having a presence at various trade shows and wine events, to develop a website, rack cardsthat kind of promotional stuff. Now there is no specific money earmarked for regional branding. However, we certainly can utilize the wine trail allocations. The Millbrook people and I are very happy to say Lets create more of a presence for the regionhopefully the people of the Shawangunk Wine Trail will agree. I just wish now that the economy, both on an individual level and on state and federal level, were such that you know, projects like supporting agriculture and bringing people up [could be supported]. As you know, my ideas about the Hudson Valley Wine and Culinary Centerwere no longer calling it a center, were calling it a project are that I see it as a way of bringing together all the different activities that are going to support the world of agriculture and wine. You can have a lot of money and things still wont go forward. In order to create that structure you need leadership, enthusiasm and the ability to bring people into the fold and generate excitement. Without that theres nothing.
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A tried-and-true democrat, Feder is not shy about stating her beliefs or her involvement in politics. Having a guy named Clinton elected to the presidency was a marketers dream. In those days, it seemed like the Clinton Vineyards brand was everywhere. And then came the wedding . . . PF In 92, the Democratic convention came to New York City, and Bill Clinton was the obvious nominee. So our wines were everywhere. Im a dyedin-the-wool Democrat, so was Ben, so of course we were very excited about Clinton. At the inauguration, we had champagne in Washington. It was personally rewarding, you know, the whole idea that we were going to have a man in office after all those years feeling disenfranchised. We felt so connected. In terms of the wine, it certainly did bring awareness. It brought people here. We had some interesting negative feedback when there were those problems that the president had there were times when people would make remarks about Bill Clintonone half of a couple would say, I love this wine, then the wife would come along and say, I will not have anything in my house with that name on it. We would have to make remarks like, This is not politicalthis is wine. A funny dog story: We had a woman in the tasting room who had assembled a rather large order. She went to the desk and noticed the dogour wonderful black labhad a rubber toy bust of Bush [in his mouth]. He had been biting it and at this point he was sitting there chewing on George Bushs neck. The lady said to Ben, What is your dog doing? Thats the President of the United States. And Ben said, Yes, I know. She said, Thats disgraceful. Ben made some comment along the lines of But not as disgraceful as whats happening to our country, and she said, Well, I dont know that I appreciate your sentiment. And Ben said, Thats fine if you feel that way. She said, I dont know how I feel about buying this wine, and he said, It was so nice of you to comeenjoy your travels around the area. Period.
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Clearly, there are times when you have to hold your tongue and hope for the best. The 14-acre vineyard stretches across rolling hills. Scattered throughout the property are sculptures and works of art, gardens and a pond. Each sign was hand painted by Ben, a typographer and artist. PF I joined the partnership in 1988. Ben was part of a select group of World War II vets that went to Paris under the G.I. Bill. He was so in love with Paris. I knew we were absolutely right for one another on many occasions, but he took me to Paris once and as we were walking through the Right Bank over to my familys apartment on the Left Bank, he looked up at the sky and he just said, Oh, what a perfect Tiepolo blue. And I thought, this is a guy who knows what Tiepolo blue is and knows that I know it. Ben was a book designer; I was involved in the graphic design world at Push Pin StudioMilton Glaser and those boys. Ben and I collaborated basically on how the packaging should look. We really were a team. I mean we worked well together. Its a challenge when youre married, living together, working togetherthe whole dynamic becomes very sort of complicated, in some good ways and some challenging ways. We were together at events, talking about new things were going to be doing and then we started having more groups coming here [because of], I think, the proliferation of wine clubs and that kind of thing where people started to say, lets go and explore. I was more involved in putting things together, handling those groups. We did a few events here at our place on a couple occasions for NOFA. Whenever there was a local community thing, we were happy to offer our place. We feel part of this community, the town, and you want to support whatever you can. Still, there was life before Clinton Vineyards. There was always music, and art, and travel. PF Music has always been a big part of my life. I was very lucky to have grown up in a family where music was important. Before there was Channel 13, we listened to the Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera on the radio. I used to play but nothing great. I played the cello before I could read music. (My father-in-law, who I never knew, was
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a cellist with the Philharmonic. I just finished having his cello restored and donated for deserving students.) And I was a singer. I sang sort of old standards. I had a very huge range that was not unlike Barbra Streisands. I sang with a jazz combo when I was in college and I loved that whole world of swing. But you know, I didnt have the confidence to be myself nor would I have gotten the support of my family if they thought I was a performer. But I just adored singing. When I was in college, the Budapest String Quartet came, and at the end of the performanceI was part of the welcoming committeeI was standing next to one of the players and he looked at me and in a heavily accented Russian voice he said, I guess theres no scotch here, and I said, Yes, there is, and I went up to my room and brought him a drink. That man and I became very close, and when I graduated he kept saying I must come to New York, I must come to New York, blah blah blah. That was Alexander Schneider. We became close friends, and his brother and all the peoplethey were all part of my world. Yet, it would be incorrect to say that Feder has lived a charmed life--if a life can be characterized in a word, call hers romantic. She is surrounded by reminders of her greatest loves--her husband, art and music--and they form a circle around her. PF I need to live a very long time before Im deserving of a legacy. Ben was luckyhe led a very long and productive and interesting life. I should be so lucky. I dont know what [my legacy] would be other than that I want very much to do high quality wine and I want this place to reflect the aesthetic that Ben and I shared. When I first came here, it was exciting putting it together. When Ben and I were in France I saw all

these wonderful courtyards and such, I said Oh, weve got to have that. I want to look back and feel proud for what weve done. People come here after theyve been to other places and they pick up on the vibe, on the sense of intimacy and the care that weve put into it and they go away feeling good. Its such an affirmation. One of the things that I love, whether its in my house or out here, I like to be able to look in almost any direction and see something beautiful. Its just so reassuring, so nice the way you can see the changing shadows and colors. It means a lot. There are times when I think, my God, what am I doing? I think back in history to women who were in similar situations in other placeslike in France, where they had to pick up where their husbands had left off, whether they went to the war and didnt come back, or just died. So I just think, hey, there are ladies out there who did this, so get on with it. I met Ben on a blind date at Aurora, Joe Baums restaurant in New York. I miss Joe. I dont think anybody knew how to entertain people better than Joe Baum. He was quite remarkable. He was a clientthats how I met him. Isnt it curious about lifethat Joe Baum would be a client of ours, that then I would meet, fall in love and marry Ben. And Ben, with his background in music and my love and friends in music who then became Bens friends, and all the people who came with that. Theres really something quite cosmic about it. Magical. 4 Clinton Vineyards 450 Schultzville Road, Clinton Corners (845) 266-5372
Winery and tasting room: ThurMon noon5; Winter: FriSun noon-4:30 Beginning Memorial Day: ThurSun noon5:30 2011 2012
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