Continuing along the Shawangunk Wine Trail, we came across Stoutridge Vineyard.  This winery is located in Marlboro, New York,  which is about 70 miles north of Manhattan, and located in the Hudson Valley.   

Stoutridge Vineyards is built on the historical foundations of vineyards planted in the late 1700’s.  The old winery’s foundation wall is all that remains of the historic structure.  You can see it in the above picture, as it is now the beautiful front wall for the Stoutridge tasting room patio.

This is a very unique winery!

Many of the wines and spirits at Stoutridge are locally grown, and all are from New York State sourced fruits and grains.  The winery is built into a hillside, and the wine cellars are underground.  This establishment uses entirely solar generated electricity, and utilizes the heat off of their stills to heat the building in the winter through a radiant system built into the floor.  How cool is that?!

Stoutridge is also what’s known as a “gravity winery,”  meaning the never use pumps or filters in their wine making. In addition, they do minimal chemical processing to their wines. Stoutridge does not  not “fine” their wines with gelatins, tannins or clays, doesn’t add water or sugar, or chemically adjust the acidity of their wines. They also do not add sulfites or sorbates to the wines after they are made. All of this  means that the wines are pretty much unprocessed, and in a very natural state.  All Stoutridge wines are sold exclusively at the winery, so that they can make their wines using less processing, and retain higher levels of naturally occurring antioxidants in the wines.

We enjoyed a glass of wine on the great tasting room patio with the pups, although the dogs were allowed inside the tasting room at Stoutridge.