The Finger Lakes region is renowned for its ‘cold climate’ wines.  Most of the wineries are of the boutique variety so very few of these wines are tasted outside the northeastern United States. Our region produce spectacular wines made from vinifera grape varieties including Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Franc, Lemberger (Blaufränkisch) and Pinot Noir.  In 2007 New York experienced a great vintage outstripping every other wine region in the world.  You will have an opportunity to try some of these excellent wines upon release.  In addition to vinifera varieties there are fine everyday wines produced from French-American hybrid grapes that add the range of your Finger Lakes wine experience.

Within close proximity to Hobart and William Smith Colleges there are opportunities to try many of these world-class wines.  Fox Run Vineyards  just south of Geneva, produces outstanding Rieslings (try their Reserve Riesling), a bracing cold climate Chardonnay, and a delicious version of the Cabernet Franc-Lemberger blend that is rapidly becoming the signature red wine of the region. Try any and all of their reserve red wines. Fox Run also has one the best views of Seneca Lake and an informative winery tour .  Anthony Road Wine Company produces outstanding Rieslings, Cabernet Franc-Lemberger, and excellent ice wines (not to be missed).  Nearby Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyards also produces excellent white wines.  These are just a few of the excellent wineries near Geneva—there are many more producing outstanding wines.

Other Seneca Lake wineries include Atwater Estate Vineyards , Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, Red Newt Cellars and Lakewood Vineyards.

If you have some additional time in the area a visit to Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars where Dr. Frank pioneered growing and winemaking from vinifera grapes in this region, and Bully Hill Vineyards, where Walter Taylor developed the widest range of French-American hybrid grape based wines, on nearby Keuka Lake will reward the effort of the visit.

William Waller
Professor of Economics
Director of Wine Studies
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
waller@hws.edu