WHITECLIFF VINEYARD

Husband and wife team Michael Migliore and Yancey Stanforth-Migliore started Whitecliff from scratch. From planting the vines to construction of the tasting room, they have done much of the work with their own hands.

The Migliores take particular pride in being part of a vanguard of innovators, who have worked to add European wine grapes, high quality new hybrids, and complex, European-style wines to the Valley’s traditional focus on fruit wines and sweet wines.

Winemaker and vineyard manager, Michael Migliore brings the rigorous approach of a chemist and engineer to Whitecliff. With a Masters in Chemistry from SUNY New Paltz, and many years as a process engineer in semiconductor manufacturing, Michael applied his background in science to teaching himself the chemistry and art of winemaking. He works closely with Cornell Cooperative Extension testing new grape varieties, and pushing the envelope on the quality of grape growing in the region. In that capacity he also serves as president of the Hudson Valley Wine and Grape Growers Association.

Yancey Stanforth-Migliore manages sales and the Tasting Room. Her previous work at regional environmental organization, Scenic Hudson, and for the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, inspires her focus on Whitecliff as a family business that keeps land in farming, strengthens the region’s agricultural roots, and produces a unique natural product that makes people happy.

We’ve completed our new green winery building just in time for the 2011 crush! Its geothermal cooling and heating system is particularly appropriate for wine processing and storage, since we will be working with the year-round underground temperature of 54 degrees – just the temperature for storage of happy wine!

We’re proud to have TWO wines on the list at New York City’s famed Gramercy Tavern: our Gamay Noir and, new there as of this summer, our Awosting White. Gramercy has traditionally focused on classic vinifera varietals, so our Awosting is their first hybrid wine!