By Amy Conway
Photographs by Abigail Fenton

Klocke Estate gets its name from the Middle Dutch word for “clock.” The restaurant was designed by architectural firm Barlis Wedlick; the hilltop site was chosen for its 360 degree views of the surrounding valleys.

A winding gravel road takes you through vineyards and orchards and up the hills of Klocke Estate. When you finally reach the top, the rewards are rich: a spectacular setting with breathtaking views of the Catskills and the Hudson Valley, the promise of excellent spirits and a fine meal. All worth waiting for—just like the brandy being made there.

“Patience, passion, heritage,” said John Frishkopf, founder and CEO. It’s the mantra here. Brandy takes time. Indeed, when Klocke opened last month, most of its signature product was still aging in French oak barrels in the post-and-beam chai (a French term for a barrel-aging room, pronounced shay)—and could be there for another two, five, or even 30 or more years. Frishkopf is playing the long game. He hopes that, after he’s gone, Klocke Estate will be renowned for producing the best brandies in North America.

An entrepreneur with a background in investment banking, Frishkopf grew up in Boston and was in college at MIT when he took a wine course and “caught the wine bug,” he said. After traveling and tasting wine around the world, he spent a decade living in Europe. It was during his time in Prague that he fell in love with brandy, and even learned how to make it from a friend who had a little apricot orchard in the country.

“It’s this wonderful thing,” he said. “You take the apricots, you turn them into this alcoholic apricot mush, and then you distill it. And now you have an amazing spirit that just has the essence of apricots—or plums or pears, whatever you’re making.” That’s essentially the process taking place on the 160-acre property—25 of which are planted with grapes, 35 with apples—in Claverack, just outside Hudson.

When Frishkopf was ready to return stateside, he considered going into the wine business, but wanted to be back in the Northeast, where “it’s very difficult to make wine,” he said. Suddenly, it came to him. “What about brandy? Made using the best practices of Cognac [a grape based French brandy] or Calvados [a French apple brandy.] There’s a huge opportunity.” They closed on the property in January of 2018 and started preparing the land (it was a farm gone fallow). They planted their first grapes in 2020.

The Hudson Valley’s climate, with its shorter growing season, happens to be ideal for grapes for brandy. “You get enough sun to produce the flavors,” said Frishkopf, “but not so much that you’re worried about getting too much flavor, too much sugar.”

Klocke’s estate manager and brandy distiller, Caleb Gregg, has a particular affinity for the area: Born and raised in Chatham, he grew up on his family’s farm, working in vegetable gardens and pruning apple trees and grapevines. “I always just had a love for the outdoors and nature and farming,” he said. After college, he was working in landscaping when he met a good friend of Frishkopf’s, and joined Klocke right at the beginning. They worked closely with consultant Dan Farber, renowned founder of Osocalis, an artisan brandy distillery in California. “I had a very quick, deep dive,” said Gregg. “What we’ve done here can take people 10, 15 years.”

Klocke uses sustainable, organic, and regenerative practices to grow the best fruit while nurturing the land. On the 35 acres of apples, there are 43 different varieties—a mix of mostly bitter, sharp, and bittersweet apples meant for cider- (and brandy-) making, not eating out of hand. In modern fruit farming, 1,000–2,000 trees are often planted per acre but Klocke has about 330, said Frishkopf, or 11,000 apple trees total. “It’s a bigger rootstock, which means a bigger tree, which will last longer and is better for climate change,” he explained. “And we think it will mean better apples.”

It’s too early to tell what effect the Hudson Valley terroir, or soil and other conditions, will have on the fruit. “You have to be patient,” said Gregg (there’s that word again). “The brandy and the trees, we think of them like children. As they grow up, they’re going to change in many different ways. But they’re very beautiful at the stage they’re in right now. The apple brandy is spectacular.” He’s referring to their first release, a limited edition of unaged, unoaked brandy they’re calling “00” (zero age, zero wood). He believes their approach to growing will let them, over time, capture the true terroir, or “what the ground wants to express.”

The location of Klocke wasn’t just chosen for the soil and the sun; the Hudson area attracted Frishkopf for several reasons. It’s roughly midway between Boston and New York City, and there’s already a tradition of farm-to-table agriculture here. “It feels truly rural, very beautiful, very real,” he said. And yet: “Hudson is a fabulous city, with so much going on culturally.”

Making the distillery a destination—an experience—was the plan from the start. Frishkopf believes that many people need to learn more in order to embrace brandy, and that providing an exceptional and engaging setting is key. (In addition to the restaurant and bar, there will be tours and tastings.) “The category is so broad,” agreed Kristine Danks, general manager of hospitality at Klocke. “Technically, brandy is any distillate from fruit. So you can have an unaged, fresh eau de vie, all the way into super-aged, extremely rich Cognacs and Armagnacs. You can really get into the nuances.”

BRANDY BASICS

All brandy is made from fruit (while whiskey is made from grain). If the spirit is simply called “brandy,” it’s grape-based. If other fruits are used, it’s in the name: apple brandy, for example. The fruit is crushed and fermented, resulting in wine (if grapes were used) or another alcoholic liquid (cider in the case of apples). That base alcohol is distilled twice; this process of separating alcohol from water via evaporation and condensation results in a more pure and concentrated liquid. At this point, that liquid can be enjoyed as unaged brandy (if made from grapes) or what’s known as eau de vie (French for “water of life) if made from other fruits. After distillation, the unaged brandy is aged in oak barrels.

Klocke is all about those nuances. In addition to their own products, they offer brandies from around the world, to explore on their own or in cocktails—and a cocktail is a great entry point for novices. “A sidecar is essentially a brandy margarita,” said Danks, who brought in top mixologists to conceive the menu.

Chef Becky Kempter has also incorporated the spirit into some dishes on her menu, soaking peppercorns in Cognac for her pork au poivre, for example, or cherries in brandy for a dessert. Originally from California, she came to New York in 2016, landing in Tannersville, where she started an organic community farm; she joined Klocke after several years as chef de cuisine at Cedar Lakes Estate in Port Jervis. “Working with local farmers is really important to me,” said Kempter, who describes what she’s doing at Klocke as seasonal American food done well, with European influences.

For the interiors, the team at Klocke turned to celebrated designer Ken Fulk, who is known for his lavish, layered style. Fulk described the result as “a timeless destination that telegraphs the elegance of Klocke’s brandy and the majesty of the Hudson Valley.”

Despite the extraordinary setting and elevated menu, the experience is meant to be warm, welcoming, and flexible—you can have a multi-course meal at the bar or a snack and a spritz on the patio at sunset. And, by all means, take your time.

“The brandy and the trees, we think of them like children. As they grow up, they’re going to change in many different ways. But they’re very beautiful at the stage they’re in right now. The apple brandy is spectacular.”

Klocke Estate
2554 County Route 27
Hudson, NY
klocke-estate.com