Through the Grapevine

With spectacular settings, plenty of space, and great wines to boot, vineyards offer a fresh alternative to traditional wedding locations.

• By Jo B. Hoffman
• Published 2004

Drawn by fine vintages and gorgeous views, Manhattan’s betrothed trendsetters have begun flocking to local vineyards to stage their main events. (After all, it was only a matter of time before couples realized that if the entire wedding party was going to get soused anyway, it might just be easier to bring them to the source.) Something of a secret just a few years ago, the increasingly reputable vineyards of Long Island, New Jersey, and the Hudson River Valley are now booked through this year and into the next. Keep in mind that the vineyards are wineries first and wedding venues second: Most simply rent out their sites, recommend vendors, and allow brides to impose their own fantasies—though all require that if you do serve wine, you stick to theirs.

Alba Vineyard
Milford, N.J.
908-995-7800
albavineyard.com
Some fifteen couples each summer exchange vows on this vineyard’s 800-foot-tall pinnacle rock with panoramic views of the Delaware River; just below, a scenic mountainside area is ideal for tented affairs for 100 to 850 guests. The 92-acre site rents for $750, including access to a tasting room in a 109-year-old barn, as well as a gallery filled with regional art that can fit 60 for dinner. Alba’s stellar wines have appeared on the Smith & Wollensky Wines of America list, as well as the tables of Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe.

Clinton Vineyards
Clinton Corners, N.Y.
845-266-5372
clintonvineyards.com
The relaxed, up-for-anything attitude of owners Ben and Phyllis Feder, who began a cottage industry of fruit wines when they came into a surplus of raspberries, carries over to the simple weddings they host on their fifteen acres each summer. For $3,000, the couple simply rents out the impossibly green site at its peak. Ceremonies take place by a duck pond below a gently sloping hill crisscrossed with rows of grapes; tented receptions can accommodate up to 225 guests, and include access to the tasting room, located in a nineteenth-century Dutch farmhouse. Besides the dessert wines, the vineyard specializes in Seyval Blanc and champagne, but you’ll have to provide your own red.

Jonathan Edwards Winery
North Stonington, Conn.
860-535-0202
jedwardswinery.com
The distinctly New England, family-run Jonathan Edwards Winery lies on a 48-acre hilltop 250 feet above the quaint mill town of North Stonington. Ceremonies are often held on a massive stone patio overlooking the vineyards, dairy farms, and, in distant view, the Atlantic Ocean, and are followed by tented receptions for up to 250 guests. The $3,000 site fee also includes access to the winery itself, a whitewashed three-story renovated 1880s barn with an elevated tasting room. Note to California-wine lovers: Jonathan Edwards is the only area winery that ferments its red grapes in Napa and ships them east for aging (white-wine varieties are harvested locally).

Raphael
Peconic, N.Y.
631-765-1100
raphaelwine.com
With 60 gently sloping acres ribbed with grapes and a palatial red-roofed winery, this North Fork gem seems to have been plucked straight off the sun-drenched coast of southern Spain. Brides can descend an interior staircase illuminated by a gigantic chandelier, or get married in the fields. Up to 230 guests move between the Great Hall and the Renaissance Room, where formal dinners and cocktail hours are catered in-house by a chef who trained under Daniel Boulud. The site fee varies from $2,000 to $10,000; catering is $95 to $150 per person, and includes wine (Merlot is a specialty), chairs, linens, and tableware.

Wölffer Estate Vineyards and Stables
Sagaponack, N.Y.
631-537-5106
wolffer.com
Roundly considered the most spectacular—and, at $11,000 to $16,000, the most prohibitively expensive—vineyard of the bunch, this 173-acre estate composes its own Tuscan-style villa nestled along the shore between East Hampton and Southampton. Host to the Hamptons Film Festival reception and the James Beard Foundation’s Chefs and Champagne event, the main event space is a hilltop tasting room decorated with Mexican sconces and walls of French doors. From the tasting room, up to 150 guests meander to a glass-roofed terrace, whose wall of hydrangeas makes florists superfluous. You must use one of twelve preferred caterers and Wölffer wine, whose rosé is ranked among the best in the world.