Photo: The Fred & Harriett Taylor Memorial Library
The Finger Lakes is one of the most storied winemaking regions in the country, with more than 200 years of viticulture history that changed the story of wine in America and around the world.
But it isn’t a history that is exclusively sepia toned. It’s alive and growing and being made every day, with innovators as forward-thinking as those who first put us on the map.
Reverend William Bostwick plants first vineyard in the Finger Lakes in his rectory garden in Hammondsport, NY.
Pleasant Valley Wine Company in Hammondsport, NY becomes the first bonded winery.
Pleasant Valley Wine Company sales catalog includes vinifera.
O-Neh-Da Vineyard is founded by Rochester’s first Bishop, Bernard McQuaid, to make Sacramental Wine for the Church.
Pleasant Valley Wine Company’s sparkling wine wins gold medal at the Vienna World Expo, declared “Great Champagne of the Western world.”
Mastercooper Walter Taylor arrives in Hammondsport to build barrels for growing wine industry; shortly thereafter establishes a vineyard.
The Taylor Wine Company established.
New York Agricultural Experiment Station founded in Geneva, NY.
Widmer’s Wine Cellars established in Naples, NY.
Prohibition begins
Prohibition ends
Canandaigua Industries Co. founded by Marvin Sands.
Gold Seal hires Konstatin Frank as a consultant to begin production of vinifera varieties. Experimental plantings of various varieties and root-stocks begin.
Taylor Wine Company purchases Pleasant Valley Wine Company (Great Western).
Dr. Konstantin Frank creates Vinifera Wine Cellars, which quickly gains respect for making excellent Riesling.
Charles Fournier, a young European, plants 20 acres of Vinifera on the east side of Seneca Lake while at the same time German native Hermann Wiemer buys and plants 140 acres of Vinifera on the west side of Seneca Lake.
New York Farm Winery Act is passed permitting wineries to sell directly to the public.
Glenora Wine Cellars becomes the first winery on Seneca Lake, followed by Wagner Vineyards, Hermann Wiemer, and Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards.
Dozens of new wineries begin to pop up in the Finger Lakes, focusing on vinifera.
Finger Lakes AVA established.
Cayuga Lake establishes first organized and longest wine trail in the country.
Keuka Lake Wine Trail established.
Seneca Lake Wine Trail established.
Widmer Wine Cellars in Naples, NY and Manischewitz brand assets of the Monarch Wine Company in Brooklyn acquired by Canandaigua Wine Company. The Manischewitz brand is currently produced at Widmer, as well as a number of wines formerly produced at the Taylor Wine Co. in Hammondsport, NY.
Taylor, Great Western, and Gold Seal are sold as part of a package to Vintner’s International.
Cayuga Lake AVA established.
Canandaigua Wine Trail established.
New York wineries number in excess of 110, compared with just 19 in 1976 and 65 in 1985, with all growth in the small premium sector and concentrated in the Finger Lakes and on Long Island.
Semi-Dry Rieslings from Dr. Konstantin Frank’s and Fox Run Vineyards each earn a Gold medal in Strasbourg’s Rieslings of the World Competition.
Seneca Lake AVA established.
Finger Lakes Wine Alliance incorporated.
Finger Lakes Wine Alliance hosts first Riesling Camp.
Shifts during COVID (wineries adapt to different traffic with updated hospitality programs).
New York Sustainable Winegrowing Certification established for vineyards looking to advance their environmental, social, and economic stability.
FLWA celebrates 20th anniversary.