Well hello viewers and this afternoon it's our first day in the US and we are in
Rhinebeck. The old Rhinebeck aerodrome, there's a classic plane show.
At the moment, those a remote controlled ones not real ones.
So that was Rhinebeck aerodrome. That was really pretty amazing those
planes . Did you see some of those really old ones I wouldn't have fancy doing
that. Look's like they we're not gonna take off.
One didn't manage to, it you just went down the whole runway
about two foot off the ground and that's it. He had second thoughts and landed and came back.
Anyway, I think they do this every Saturday, you can come you know,
You should come in any case even if they haven't got the big thing on.
It's really interesting let's go and taste some Bourbon Mel.My nose has
led me to booze. Let's go and taste some booze.
"We have only been here for about two years as far as this building but we've
been distilling for about five"
Anyway it's Bourbon time. Even the dogs are on the booze. "So we're just taking kind
of a step up so we started with the 90 proof rye also this has been aged longer than
the first one that you tried. I'll just do it through my nose.
So there it is, that's
the Red Hook Country Inn, very quaint very old town America something a bit
different from the corporate hotels we normally stay in. It's Sunday morning
and Mel's cross because I said it's really really warm and it's quite cold
this morning. She hasn't got a coat but anyway we're in the center of Red Hook
in Dutchess County. It's really pretty there's tons of really
restaurants and cafes. Reminds of an American like a Disney American
town. It's real yes, I know what you mean it really does.
The food last night was great at the Flatiron restaurant, yeah.
Anyway not too much talking. They had a heat warning in a few days ago and
now it's freezing.
Well hello from Staatsburg Mansion on a quiet Sunday morning in Dutchess County!
That bloke on the mower was waiting for me, he's been waiting there all morning for me
to start my camera. Well anyway we're at Staatsburgh Mansion and it's in Dutchess
County near Rhinebeck. Now this is the library and it's really
a place where they did a lot of their socializing.
You see the Steinway piano card table Mrs. Mills was very much into playing
bridge and then this was also a place where she was showing off her family,
because she wanted to be the next Mrs. Astor she wanted to be the next Queen of
society. On the other side General Benjamin Lincoln and he was second-in-command to
George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown and officially accepted the
surrender the British at the end of the war
This is where they would line up before they went in to dinner and you would be lined up by rank Mr.
Mills would be leading with the highest ranking female and when everyone was
ready, he would press this button and there would be a servant waiting behind
the door, and they would open up the door and then welcome you into the dining room.
So that was Staatsburgh Mansion these are the grounds and that river
that's the Hudson River flowing down to New York why am I putting a stupid
accent on "New York".
Now we're in Millbrook Vineyard.
and we're gonna do some wine tasting. What I like here as we walk out is the
the true essence of a 1981 planting of Cabernet Franc in the V formation
trellis method we talked about and three-year-old Chardonnay clones that
were planted in 2015. The vertical formation of a main stalk then about two
feet off the ground it splits off in the east-west direction and what that does
is it makes it more manageable A. for cluster, pruning everything like that
I've only touched it grazed my hand so I'll show you this guy is at the tail
end of Veraison that was actually our original bottling name as I said earlier
Veraison is where you'll get full ripening of the grapes on the vine.
Anither stop another vineyard and this time we're at Clinton vineyards so this one
seems a bit smaller a bit more boutique.
Well hello from Rhinebeck we've just arrived at the Old Rhinebeck Inn.
It's an 18th century building with only a few rooms but they're really pretty.
Have a look at these.
And cows and goats that have a job we're like standard farm and these teachers had
this idea that they wanted to they wanted a space where they could teach
kids you know biology and history and like standard school things but then
also a space where they could work on more like the life skills of like
responsibility and respect and sort of environmentalism and what does it mean
to take care of the environment. So they thought a farm was the best
place to do that they started a farm in the backyard of the school and
it was wildly successful.
You get less milk from these guys than we do the cows we make two goat's milk
cheeses and then the rest is cow's milk.