Red Hook Winery, the 18-year-old Brooklyn-based producer sourcing grapes solely from Long Island and upstate New York, is moving into a new phase of their New York State of mind production: Cider and spirits. All three labels and areas of production will live under the rebranded umbrella of Red Hook Barrel Yard at 175 Van Dyke Street at Pier 41 in Red Hook.
While head winemaker Christopher Nicholson has dabbled in making cider in the space for the last year or so, the new, official triple-focus will bring a more ambitious tone to the Red Hook brand’s cider production. Founder and owner, Mark Snyder, has brought in New York cider impresario Ryan Burke, formerly of Angry Orchard, to consult, with an official Red Hook Cider roll-out planned before the end of the summer. Snyder will be stepping into the role of head distiller, and Nicholson will continue his excellent ways with New York winemaking.
Red Hook Winery founder and owner Mark Snyder (left); Red Hook Winery head winemaker Christopher Nicholson. (Photos courtesy of Red Hook Barrel Yard)
“When it all started to come together, I realized that it was a very different kind of category and beverage that is really interesting for New York,” Snyder says. “Cider is refreshing, it’s low alcohol. It satisfies the person who says, hey, I just want a beer, or it can satisfy the kind of geeky people who want to explore different flavor profiles, tannin profiles, sweetness profiles, carbonation profiles. There’s a lot to play with in that realm. We’ve barely scratched the surface of the potential of cider.”
To that end, the New York-centric cider will be available on tap at the Barrel Yard and in bottle, with some tightly curated distribution around the state. Styles will range from single orchard, single variety and different textures and sweetness levels, from cracker dry to sweet to sparkling, with five to eight different types planned for the launch.
“I started really researching cider with people from [New York], like Stefan Fleming, who runs the craft beverage movement for the state, and realizing how important cider is for New York, because of the history of apples and the different varietals of apples.”
For the distilling end of things, Snyder is learning the ropes from German spirits consultant and fruit brandy pro Dr. Klaus Hagmann, with plans to begin releasing initial unaged spirits in the next six months, which is going to fit nicely with the two other areas of Red Hook’s liquid production.
“We’ll certainly make grappa because we have the grape skins, but we could also make apple brandy, pear brandy… and we’ll see what other fruits we can find,” Snyder says. “Whatever we can play with.”
Red Hook Winery began in 2008 as a kind of super-group project dreamt up by Snyder, a Brooklyn native who also owns the wine importing and distribution company Angels’ Share Wines. Between his involvement in the wine world and many years spent working in the music industry, he met and befriended famed California winemakers Abe Schoener of the Scholium Project and Bob Foley, who were fascinated by Long Island’s burgeoning winemaking region. Nicholson came on to oversee the day to day, and over the years as the urban winery gained in popularity, grew into the role of head winemaker, crafting and overseeing the production of 50 to 70 different small-production, New York-sourced wines a year.
As production amped up, the little side project quickly outgrew its original space. Snyder was approached by Greg O’Connell Sr., the owner of 175 Van Dyke Street, to move the operation to the much more ample space that once held the Cornell Paper and Box Company in an old brick warehouse built in 1873 on the Red Hook waterfront.
With room for both production and hospitality, plus the killer views of Upper New York Bay and the Statue of Liberty, the little wine experiment that started nearly 20 years ago found a place to both grow and settle in. In addition to the winery, distillery and cider, Red Hook Barrel Yard has multiple bar and dining spaces, serving the food of Snyder’s restaurant, Lundy’s.
“The first time I went there and I saw the Statue of Liberty,” says Snyder, “that was really a kind of pinnacle moment for me in Red Hook.”
With room for both production and welcoming curious imbibers and diners, Red Hook Barrel Yard is serving up a triple-threat of New York-sourced products. (Photo credits: Left, Amy Zavatto; middle and right, Red Hook Barrel Yard)
We outgrew that space pretty quickly. Greg O’Connell Sr. approached me and said I’ve got a place for you. Housed in the space that once held Cornell Paper and Box, the Red Hook waterfront has long been a place of industry, not tourism, but the shift from is undeniable I saw the Statue of Liberty, so that, that, that little, that spot right at the roll up gate was really the kind of pinnacle moment for me in Red Hook.”
