It’s one thing to enjoy a winery enough to purchase every vintage released. It’s another thing to buy the winery itself. But when presented with the opportunity to purchase Glorie Winery in Marlboro, Jacqui Ferrari Heavens and her husband Dan Heavens jumped at the chance to run an operation that already had their hearts.
The leap wasn’t entirely unprecedented. “Having a winery was something we always wanted to do, we just figured it would be closer to retirement age,” says Jacqui, who co-owns the rebranded Quartz Rock Vineyard in Marlboro. When the vineyard’s former owners chose to sell their 54-acre vineyard and orchards in 2019, the Heavens, who’d fallen in love with the place years prior, embraced the opportunity—long before retirement age, and with small children in tow.
“Glorie was the first place Jacqui and I visited to do a tasting together in 2006,” Dan explains. “It was held in their 1913 post-and-beam barn, in this very intimate setting, and we had the chance to talk about the wine with the owners. They had a real passion for growing, and you could tell by their products.”
Doug and MaryEllen Glorie ran their namesake winery for nearly 40 years before deciding they were ready for their next chapter. The property was listed for sale in spring 2019 and the Heavens reached out right away. Several months later, the farm was turned over from the Glories to the Heavens. “They closed in January 2020, and we reopened as Quartz Rock right away,” Jacqui says, “and then, of course, closed again.”
After mere months of owning the winery, Jacqui, a former CPA who does most of the “business side” of operations, was suddenly creating Covid protocols while Dan, who grew up on a hobby farm in Litchfield, CT and had experience with farming and fermenting, was still getting used to the vineyard’s specific growing needs. The farm sits at 870 feet elevation in the quartz-lined Marlboro mountains, hence the new name. “It was a challenging start but we got through, with huge thanks to support from our staff, customers, the Glories, and the surrounding wine and farming community,” Dan says.
Four years later, Quartz Rock is a thriving estate winery along the Shawangunk Wine Trail. “We’re a small winery focusing on high-quality wines grown on site and served in a welcoming, beautiful space,” Jacqui explains, noting the expansive views of distant mountains, hilly picnic areas, and firepits ideal for wine and s’mores on colder days of their year-round schedule.
A few popular wines include the 2020 Cabernet Franc, with notes of cherries, blackberries, a little raspberry, and an earthy, leathery aspect that reflects the minerality of the mountain’s terroir ($57). It’s also a gold medal winner of the 2023 New York Wine Classic (NYWC) and 2022 Hudson Valley Wine & Spirits competition. The Noiret, Unoaked 2021 also won gold at the NYWC and offers a profile of smoke, earth, dark fruits, and spice ($31) that’s well suited to winter.
“The Riesling is popular, too, but those who want a dessert beverage often go for our Heavens Ice Cider, which tastes like a dessert wine,” Jacqui says. Ice cider, like ice wine, is extracted from frozen fruit. “We stood in 19-degree weather transferring this by hand because it was so cold that the hoses froze.” The ice cider goes for $23 per 375-milliliter dessert bottle.
Although the winery has been producing hard cider for years, it’s largely taken a backseat to an extensive list of about 25 wines—until this year. “We’ve heard customers say they enjoy our wines but didn’t know we made cider,” Dan explains, “so we branched out by giving it its own name—Bedrock Ciders. We’ve upgraded our equipment to produce more and have been planting more trees and fruits.”
While Quartz Rock produces about 1,600 cases of wine annually, their cider output is between 1,200-1,500 gallons. Popular cider options include the limited-release Rye Cider ($25), aged in a rye barrel; Golden Granny, an off-dry made from Golden Russet and Granny Smith apples ($15); and the Proprietor’s Reserve ($11), a sweet blend of the 20 different apples grown onsite. Ciders can be purchased online, but are only available for pickup.
“We encourage people to come by the tasting room—bring food or enjoy a meal from a food truck here and have a picnic, or hear live music or comedy in the taproom,” Jacqui says. Dan adds: “We like to have people come here to enjoy the setting—view the apple trees, see how grapes grow—but also to learn about the wine. We love talking with customers about how the fruit is grown, what the weather was for a specific season; we can tell you all of it because it’s all done here. We’re in the fields, we’re in the taproom—we’re passionate about it all. Some might call it a little crazy.”
“It might be crazy,” Jacqui laughs, “but we love it.”
Quartz Rock Vineyard is open Saturday and Sunday 12-5 pm during winter. Summer and fall hours include Friday 2-7pm; 12-7 pm on Saturday; and 12-5 pm Sunday.
Quartz Rock Vineyard
40 Mountain Road, Marlboro, NY
(845) 236-3265
