As a native of the Hudson Valley, you can imagine how pleased I am at the proliferation of vineyards in the area. When Fjord opened along Route 9 at a site not far from the Hudson River, I marked it as a must-visit, even if it took me a while.

Fjord Vineyards is owned by Matt Spaccarelli, part of the same family that owns nearby Benmarl Winery. Matt was already making Benmarl’s wines but wanted to branch out. He founded Fjord in 2013 as a 2^nd label, giving him the flexibility to be a little more experimental.

Now, Matt makes wine for both locations. Fjord’s wines are made with their 42 acres of estate grapes, which include 3 acres of Albariño (the largest planting of this variety in New York State).

At first, I thought the name was a homage to a cool piece of Norwegian topography, but it’s more than that.

It turns out a nearby section of the Hudson River might properly be called a fjord, defined by wiki as a “long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier”. This waterway helps remove cold air from the vineyard, allowing them to produce varieties that otherwise wouldn’t survive elsewhere.

My server gave me the low-down on their wines; $20 for 4 samples, out of a total of 6 options including Riesling, Albariño, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, a red blend, and a rosé. They also had other beverage options, including wine cocktails, beer (outsourced), and a Blanc de Blanc.

At this point I did a double take. Wait…what did you say? An Albariño? In New York?!?

It turns out this variety is one of those ‘experimental’ varies my server was referring to, and one they were especially proud of. Albariño is typically a warm weather grape found in Spain and Portugal, hence an unusual choice for cool-weather New York. But it was doing well enough to warrant keeping it.

It’s lucky they did. About a month after my visit, this Albariño won “Best white” at the Hudson Valley Wine Competition (and Fjord earned “Best Winery”). So I guess I’m not the only one who liked it.

Wines I tried:

• Albariño: Heavy on the minerality, with stone fruit on the side. Not as much citrus as I would have expected. Very aromatic, with notes of lemon added in.
• Chardonnay: Bright, lots of stone fruit, especially apricot. I also detected some vanilla notes, perhaps from the barrel. But it definitely wasn’t over oaked; just enough to be detectable.
• Rosé: Red fruit; maybe notes of pepper or spice
• Riesling: Very bright, leaning off-dry
• Pinot Noir: A winner! And tough to grow in this area. Some earth and cherry notes (more the later than the former); very traditional flavors for this variety.
• “Double Fall Line” red blend: Notes of earth and red currant. Very smooth.

Definitely visit on a sunny day so you can enjoy the view!

Between my guests and I were covered all six options (doubling up on the Albariño).