MEET: VAL FELDMAN, STABLE GATE WINERY, Castleton
Val Feldman, owner of Stable Gate Winery, Barn + Vineyard in Castleton, N.Y. talks natural wine, mead, fermentation, inclusivity + expanding her family’s four-generation business.
Interview : Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: Victoria Sedefian/The Dishing
Location: Stable Gate Winery, Castleton, N.Y.
Tastemaker: Val Feldman | IG: @val.moonsun
Business: Stable Gate Winery, Barn + Vineyard
Website: stablegatewinery.com | 10 Linda Way, Castleton-on-Hudson, NY | IG: @stablegatewinery
Hometown: Albany NY
Current city: Castleton On Hudson, NY
Personal style: Earthy, comfortable and androgenous
Listening to: Country and Reggae Music
Favorite classic cocktail or non-alc drink: Manhattans in NYC and Pina Colada on the islands
Coffee or tea – and what’s your order: Espresso and whipped cream
Biggest professional industry influence(s): My father and grandfather
Industry trend that should end: Glass ceilings
Welcome to The Dishing’s Quick Serve interviews where we talk matters of taste with tastemakers in the hospitality industry and trailblazers at the intersection of food, culture and art. Today we’re talking with sommelier + winery-owner, Val Feldman, who hand-planted a vineyard in her early twenties + is expanding her family’s four-generation catering + event business with natural wine, mead, vermouth + an inclusive space where all are welcome.
Thanks for talking with The Dishing, Val. Let’s get into it.
Your winery is on a former dairy farm in Castleton which your family bought in 2000. It’s beautiful. Since your father runs the large-scale weddings and events through Birch Hill, and you run the winery and smaller events on the same property. How do you two divide the land and the vision?
Great question, it did not happen overnight, it has taken a number of years to show my dad the value of the winery’s public offerings. He now sees how many people like to come and weekend at the winery, and sometimes when our regulars sit around “patio 1” he is reminded of how everyone used to sit around over at Herbert’s and Daddios (our family restaurants.) Now he is able to see how every weekend service and for public events the winery brings in so many prospective folks who might want to have a function of any size with us here! Otherwise, as our established rule of thumb, he covers a lot of the culinary aspects over at the farm and I mainly handle the vineyards, public events, and the bar/winery. He went to the CIA so food has always been his area of expertise!
Birch Hill Catering is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year after its founding in 1936 as Herbert's Catering in downtown Albany. The whole Feldman family is woven into this property with your mother Wendy in the tasting room, your sister Serena coordinating weddings, your grandmother Felice tending the flowers. What is it like carrying that legacy forward as the fourth generation, and what does your dad Steven's retirement mean for the family business?
Ever since I was young I had planned on joining the family business, and I have always watched my father carry such a heavy load since my grandfather passed prematurely. My Aunt Jan and Grandmother were his right hand for a while through 2010 when she moved to FL. Otherwise, it had always been empowering as a young person to know exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up and that was always being a part of something greater than myself, and carrying on the mission of my ancestors was a gift. My fathers retirement will certainly be a massive loss, as he is the hardest working man I have ever met in my entire life, but the next generation is ready and all operations are in place to ensure that we still continue on while paying proper tutelage to his success over the years, and carry on this torch.
You were born into the restaurant business, and went on to study hospitality at Endicott College in Boston with opportunities to study abroad in Italy, Spain and France as part of the program. Did those experiences seal the deal for your future in hospitality or was starting the winery a way to create something separate but connected for yourself?
Needless to say that my time abroad, as well as out in California, brought so many new ideas and concepts, a lot of which were foreign to my dad and my family's business. It was at that point that I had decided to slightly branch off from the family tree and have an area for my creative freedom, expression and being able to take advantage of all that the farm has to offer. It ended up being that I still wanted to be involved, just on a parallel path. The farm of course, and being in out in nature, is one of my favorite things so after moving back from CA, I have always gravitated more towards the farming side. But I will say… I am not sure which is more back breaking, catering or farming, as they are both very hard work! I have always taken solace, felt like home, in most every aspect of service.
You told me you physically planted the two acres of vines at 23 years old–as an entirely self-funded plan. What gave you the confidence it could work? And when you look back, are you ever in awe that you had the nerve?!
Believe it or not I planted the first vineyard when I was 21! I had asked my dad upon studying abroad in Italy and learning wine grapes grew in NY (it was not as popular then as it is now!) so I then got a job at Hudson-Chatham Winery, a local winery in Hudson, upon graduation. After asking the owners how they did it and how I could do this on my family farm, they said take $100 bills, wrap them around the base of each vine, and then light them on fire… (haha!) For the first few years it did feel like that was true, but I just kept up my side hustles and after a few years only had to file one W-2 a few years after we opened in 2018. I am not in awe of my accomplishments back then as I was motivated by some sort of force that I can’t even really describe, but I know that I don’t think I could do it again! We are going to apply for a distillers license, so that is the next adventure!
Right after college, you took a more corporate direction as F&B Manager at the Bay Club in San Francisco and internships at big name wineries in Napa Valley, while coming home to harvest + produce your first vintage in Castleton, N.Y. You’re self-taught, so what pushed you to sit for the Court of Master Sommeliers?
I very quickly learned after 11 long months of sticking it out that the corporate world was not for me, and that the front of the house jobs in SF and Napa pretty much required that level of training. It was easier to find production jobs or vineyard jobs without that experience, but if I wanted to show face and talk wine, I had to be a somm! It was the best choice ever, self-studying on the Silverado trail with some of my fellow wine afficionados—It was as close to dreamlike as I can imagine. The wine “culture” out West is really infectious; they live, breath, drink and eat wine. I am so grateful to have had these experiences and spent that time out there.
You're drawn to small producers, low-intervention winemaking + events like the ABV Ferments conference. How has that shaped what you make at Stable Gate? Did becoming a certified sommelier change the way you think about what you're growing and making here?
Sooo yeah, the term natural wine is something that I actually heard after I was doing what I was doing. Throughout my 15+ year journey learning from 5 or 6 different wine makers and continually asking, “well, what if we just didn't add this x, y, z” and the response was continually “no, we have to.” And I now get it: Large producers have a “reputation to watch” in the sense that a lot of mainstream consumers have the same expectation of vintage-to-vintage, which in the vineyard really is not the case, so it forces wine makers to manipulate the juice to maintain consistency. Upon beginning my personal wine making journey, it was purely experimental and I had actually never worked with anyone who had been using non-interventional methods. Back in 2013 when I sat/studied for C.O.M.S., natural wine was not even in our book! It is so great to be at events like ABV Ferments because I am like wow! This is amazing so many people who are doing what I am doing, is always such a great time to get RE inspired, talk shop, and get weird with people who are doing some really fun and unique stuff —like us!
The tasting room at Stable Gate is built around your own wines, infused meads, Dionese's + other New York made wines and ciders. Can you tell us about the wines you produce?
We make raw, natural and organic wines and meads. The meads are made with our estate honey and the wines are a combination of our estate fruit and some grapes grown at another local vineyard. We only grow hybrid grapes on the farm which are cold hearty, late budding and early ripening as to avoid NY frosts. We do not add any commercial yeasts, sorbates, or sulfutes to anything we make. We offer wine flights of our Estate whites, Seyval Blanc, Wild Niagara and Oaked Rose, and Estate Reds, Wild Concord, Rougeon +Dionese’s sweet vermouth, as a sweet fortified wine.
Every day in the tasting room is a new opportunity to educate guests not only about natural wines but also about hybrid grapes! If you come into our tasting room expecting more conventional wines, there’s a good chance that with an open mind you might leave with a new favorite wine that you never have even heard of before and a lot of that is our mission. A lot of times people have no idea how many chemicals, colors and flavors are added in the grape juice for fermentation without any disclosure on the label!
Let’s talk about Dionese's — the vermouth and bitter aperitif which make in collaboration with Francesco Dionese in New York City. How did that partnership come about, and what was your vision for creating a Campari-alternative rooted upstate?
The original meeting of Francesco Dionese and I is nothing short of auspicious! I had been reading up, studying and preparing to make vermouth for a few months, when all of the sudden out of the blue I get a call from an Italian man in N.Y.C who wants to collaborate on a vermouth! We had so much equal vision on our ethics, process and we just ended up getting along really well, so from 2023 he’s been sharing his family’s Piedmont-style vermouth with our guests and now his bitter aperitif that we can barely keep on the shelves!
The bitter aperitif is more similar to a Campari and we hope to continue to expand our fortified wines and even distillate-based amari, once we obtain our distiller’s license. We have increased production 4 times since we originally started together, and hopefully soon will be even more!
When did you try your hand at fermenting mead and what are some of your favorite infusions that you’ve fermented to date?
I’ve been making mead since 2020 here, and I was actually inspired by a meadierie out in CA I visited who used honey exclusively from bees pollinating carrot blossoms, and the mead had such a beautiful subtle carrot quality to it. While I knew I could not replicate it exactly I was then inspired to experiment with different botanicals. After a few years, we think we' finally nailed it: We make a Candy Shandy, Young + Lively, Artemisia which is our Seasonal herbal and Meddyglyn which is spiced. We will rotate all of the botanicals from vintage to vintage and are always looking for inspiration. [Ed. note: See the full tasting room menu here.]
Our new hopped mead is fun especially as a ‘Meadmosa’ with fresh squeezed grapefruit! Our meads are also probiotic, prebiotic and have antioxidants …. so it’s basically healthy imbibing! [Ed. note: It’s delicious.]
Stable Gate hosts events like Queer Honky Tonk Campout (July 25, 2026) and you're intentional about building an inclusive, welcoming community here. What does it mean to you personally to create that kind of space at an upstate winery?
Well, personally I have always identified as being LGBT and it was not until the last 10 years where it seems that not only does that have to be a secret any more but that people are WAY more open to queerness and the LGBT community, so much actually that they are seeking out LGBT business in order to support—and that means the world! Whether it comes to gender, race, sexual orientation or preference, it's so important to create a space where everyone feels welcome and can come and relax safely. I am so grateful for this collective change for the better and we are here for it! [Ed. Note: Find Queer Honky Tonk info + tickets here.]
I always ask people about the work/life balance, whether they work in restaurants or as producers and distillers. How do you navigate working and living in the same place as the people you love most?
I live here on the farm, and so does my dad, grandma, sister and brother… It can be dreamy! (Most of the time!) We're all adults now so we have all gravitated towards our areas of expertise and comfort without stepping on each others toes. I am so grateful to be surrounded by my family members and even if we sometimes drive each other crazy, we're always there for each other.
What are some of your earliest food memories of food or cooking at home?
My mom was a total fitness buff and she didn’t really cook at home outside of her 3 staple meals, and I was always on the go usually playing multiple sports at a time and eating on the road. I remember though I think I was 12 or 13 years old when I cooked my first Beef Wellington. I remember I had been using this print-out from the internet or a magazine and I’d been trying to memorize it! Otherwise, mastering Gram’s beef brisket, kasha and noodle kugel was a welcome challenge for me and my siblings at the holidays.
Where are three of your favorite spots in the Capital Region or Hudson Valley for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
I need to get out more but: Little City Luncheonette (Albany), my boss doesn't give me lunch breaks (ha!) but I’ll like The Crisp Cannoli, and for dinner, Mr. Cat (Hudson.)
If you could go anywhere in the world, with your travel and reservations made for you, where would that be and what would the day or evening look like?
I don't have an immediate answer in my head, but I think it would be to take my 70-year old mother up to Mount Everest. She recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania this past January and I would love for her to be able to summit even further!
Lastly, what does a day off actually look like for you?
In order to actually pretend like I am taking a day off, I have to go off site. I love to take my two doggies out for mini adventures, just to the park or a body of water. I love to do yoga or meditate. Since we are seasonal businesses, I usually say I take the winter off—so it’s 9 months on and 2-3 off. I always feel the need to make hay when the sun is high!
Thank you for talking with The Dishing, Val. We look forward to sharing your story with our readers + collaborating with you on our Dishing x Stable Gate hora del vermut aperitivo party on August 12!
Thank you!!
