Brotherhood Winery National Register of Historic Places Listing

Jean Jaques started it all. In 1839, this French Huguenot cobbler turned winemaker dug his first underground vaults by hand into the Washingtonville clay. He planted Isabella and Catawba grapes. The business grew, but then Prohibition hit in 1920, threatening to dry up the entire Hudson Valley wine trade. Most wineries died. But Brotherhood survived through a mix of religious loopholes and medicinal tonics. They sold sacramental wine to priests and rabbis. They also sold concentrated grape bricks that buyers suspiciously "warned" customers not to mix with water and leave in a dark closet. They never stopped pressing grapes.

Walk down into the cellars today to smell damp earth and ancient oak. These hand-excavated vaults still hold massive vintage oak casks, some dating back to the mid-1800s. It feels frozen in time. Actually, this place remains America's oldest continuously operating winery, which is exactly why the National Register listed it under number 00000345 back in 2000. The site earned its spot not just for its age, but because those dim stone corridors contain the actual, physical roots of the domestic wine trade. It survived devastating fires and decades of economic shifts. It still pours wine today.