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Brotherhood Winery
Rating Details »
100 Brotherhood Plaza Drive
Washingtonville, NY 10992
(845) 496-3661
Washingtonville, NY 10992
(845) 496-3661
8 reviews for Brotherhood Winery
We were here for the "Around the World in 80 Miles" event, so I can't speak to their regular tastings. They seemed very well organized, unlike Palaia, but it definitely isn't as homey. Historical, yes, as it's America's oldest winery, and some good wines can be had, most reasonably priced.
Our favorite here was the fruity Riesling, which has the notoriety of being a White House pick since Clinton took office. We picked up a few bottles of this, and at under $10 each, it's quite a bargain.
There were a lot of bachelorette parties with drunken girls teetering on high heels, which was kind of annoying to me, but perceptions on that may vary according to gender.
This shit show is like a boozy, trashy amusement park for adults. I was literally in shocked upon arrival. There was a DJ outside screaming over cheesy music and yelling at people as they walked in (wedding singer style- and not in a funny way). If you don't pay $10 for a glass, they make you you taste wine out of tiny plastic ramekins. A nasty old man gave our tasting and he insulted us the entire time. One example, my husband asked for another plastic ramekin because the guy was going so fast with the tasting and the old curmudgeon's response was "whaddya gonna do mix em all togeth-ah!" Um no. What? He was horrible and mean to everyone the entire time. It was awful.
It's a real shame Brotherhood decided to take this route with their winery because the grounds and structures are pretty cool. What they have come with is really tacky and tasteless with rude employees and screaming DJ's. There were literally charter buses dropping sweat pant clad people off (where were they coming from) in the parking lot. Again, I was in shock. Don't do it.
I have to say - as a local - I can kind of see where the negativity is coming from - but that's why we don't go to the festivals. If you show up on a random weekend, it's quiet, the staff has always been helpful and knowledgeable, and the wines - well - let's just say if you are going to be in business as America's oldest continuously running winery (which is their schtick) you have to be doing something right. They are. I have yet to have anything there that isn't at the very least drinkable, and my husband and I are addicting our friends one-by-one to their port. Seriously - try the port. At $10 a bottle it compares to some of the ports I've had 4x the price.
The grounds are nice, but let's face it - the reason to go to a winery is to taste the wines. And Brotherhood has some really good wines.
Very cool winery, the entire place is very old and historic, truly unique. The wine that we purchased was pretty good, although I didn't really appreciate having to pay to try a few tiny samples. I'll also vouch for the other reviews here, the service was pretty spotty which is a shame because otherwise it would be a great destination.
The winery was hard to find initially because the sign for the winery wasn't properly facing the on-coming traffic. After asking a local, we where directed to the right place.
The winery itself was impressive. I highly recommend seeing it first hand. Our tour guide Bob, was very informative and gave us a very good insight into the history of the winery. He also answered all our questions pleasantly.
So, you ask why we rated this place 1 star? Well, the people who work there are RACIST. We are a group of 6 asians and 1 hispanic working class professionals. We walked into the winery with smiles and greeted them with hellos... just to be completely ignored. The staff, ALL of them, continued to talk among themselves pretending not to see us. We all stood in front of the counter for close to 5 minutes before they turned around and unwillingly served us without a smile or a glance at us. The whole entire time, the lady with the long blond hair stared at the cash register and mumbled at it as she took our cash and issued tickets.
After the tour, we had our wine tasting... the lady Joann, was the only non-racist staff member. She was pleasant and polite.
As we strode thru the winery looking at different types of wine to purchase as gifts and for our up-coming New Year's eve gathering, the staffs were un-willing to let us sample any other wine that were WILLINGLY SERVED to others present at the time. There was a self-serve table for the Chocolate Cherry wine, as soon as I poured one sip of it into my glass, an old man (unnamed), quickly walked over and grabbed the bottle and placed it on a shelf behind the counter. I ended up sharing my sip of wine with TWO friends because my friends weren't able to get a sip of their own.
My sister also asked to taste their Ginseng Wine, and the server responded, "Well, I cannot be giving out wine like this now!" So rude. It was her FIRST request after our tour. And it was our SECOND request as a group. Note: Not all 7 of us requested the same wine or even requested a taste of ANY wine.
At the end, when we had 6 bottles of wine for purchase, the cashier was unwilling to give us a 10% discount that they were offering to the customers before us. They assumed that we didn't hear them offer the discount.
Overall... great place... racist and unfriendly staff members. I'm sure there are better wineries than this place. BTW... the tour guide told us that they are planning to have a bed and breakfast on site in the future... good luck... with the attitude and service that we were provided... we wouldn't go back.
Please stay away from this winery. Check out the other wineries out on Long Island... MUCH friendlier staff and you even get to enjoy your wine in the vineyard. You can also try wine tasting in the city at Union Square.
I remember way back before Brotherhood got really popular. It was just that winery thing at the end of the road, and hell, you could drive off of the cliff because things weren't really well marked.
Now it's much more spacious, and after the fire (hey, we were in the tri-county news for THAT one!) they've done some re-building, but still kept it rustic.
There are wine sampling areas in the wine selling store area which get some action on busy event weekends, but over all can be kind of empty if nothing is going on. But you get case discounts on wine too, so that's a plus.
The tour... eh, I've never really felt the urge to take the official tour. The Halloween haunted winery is cute, though.
Overall, it's cool to check out when there's an event and it will be busy, otherwise it's just kind of boring. But, because it is from my home town and makes wonderful sweet wines (holy crap, Meade, May Wine, etc are all SO good), I will always have a wonderful place in my heart for it.
Also, don't wear wedges or heels if you're parking far way in the grass. The grass and stone filled dirt paths make it a little less than ideal for walking.
The tour is not bad but the wine sucks. I remember coming here when I was a kid and the vibe was different. Now its just a joke. As for the rude and "racist" staff, I haven't seen it.
Some days back, looking for something active to do on a weekend, we decided to visit this winery. Almost out of the blue as we didn't know anything about it. We had some plans in Rhode Island, the day before, so we needed something to do, to cover the way back to NYC. Well after searching somewhat, we spotted Brotherhood. They had Karaoke!!... i guess you will see that often on my reviews.
Touted as one of the oldest, or the oldest winery in USA, we had to check it out. The promise, Karaoke, grilled goodies and wine.
We got there after going down unmarked winding roads and back roads... It is hidden away in a very rural area and you need to drive up a dirt road to actually reach the winery. As we got there, the sound of music and out of tune singers caught our ears. The sights were not the expected vineyards, as this is the actual processing place, not where they grew the grape. It looked old, run down but serviceable. We got there too late to get on the tour, and what we had gotten there for was the wine, not the sights. Well also for the music.
A few local folks littered the make shift tables on the courtyard between old buildings. A stage was setup and singers wailed to their fave tune. The food was basic, burgers, sausages some sodas. The setup was simple and serviceable. To our left was a long wooden building that housed the cellar and shops. Here at the wine cellar they had some tastings going on, which were pretty full. Their wine selection was varied, with Rieslings, Pinot Grigios, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sevignon Blanc and other usual wines. They also had some spiced options. Prices went from about 10.00 a bottle to way up there for the more select bottles. We purchased a Riesling a Full bodied Red, think it was a merlot... and a Zinfendel (which i didn't have). Prices averaging 15.00 each. Besides their own, they also had some sparkling wines from other wineries. We also got one of these. Besides making wine i suppose that knowing how to select good ones is important.
I wont go into details with the wines as I'm not a wine critic neither an expert. Let it be said that the red was full bodied, strong and rich. The white was nice and crisp, very refreshing if a bit aromatic. The sparkling wine was on the sweet side, but crisp. Nicely balanced. Would have it again in a heartbeat... hmmm if i recalled the name... which always happens to me and i forget what wines i like. I heard the Zinfendel was very tasty as well, on the sweet side.