Accidental Tourist: The Seneca Lake Wine Region

Last fall, these "accidental tourists" motored the perimeter of the Finger Lakes, west via Rte. 20, and south via Rte. 14, and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. It was a lovely ride, through farmland and country roads and little historical towns like Marietta, Skaneateles, Auburn, Cayuga, Seneca Falls, Waterloo and Geneva, and down to Watkins Glen. After we passed through Geneva into a rural area, I noticed the aroma of grapes permeating the air, and a check of the AAA book revealed that we had reached an area populated with wineries.

The first winery on Seneca Lake, Seneca Lake Grape Wine Company, opened in 1866 on the western shore. A state-run Agricultural Experiment Station opened at Geneva in 1882, and their grape breeding and research programs established Seneca Lake as a premier grape growing area. Prohibition killed the wine grape market in 1919, and many wineries closed or began producing grape varieties for the juice or fruit market.

In the early 1970s, however, Europeans Charles Fournier and Herman Weimer each opened a winery, and their success, along with the re-establishment of the Agricultural Experiment Station, revived Seneca Lake as a wine producing region. The Farm Winery Act of 1976 encouraged grape growers to expand into the wine business, and the Glenora Wine Cellars joined Fournier and Weimer's wineries in 1977, kicking off the resurgence of wine production along Seneca Lake. The Seneca Lake Wine Trail is now New York's largest wine trail, consisting of more than 35 award winning wineries, two breweries, a distillery and a meadery.

Seneca Lake's depth, the deepest of the Finger Lakes at 632 feet, and its sloping hillsides, provide a perfect grape-growing environment. Robust local grapes and hybrids thrive there, alongside Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir varieties. The Seneca Wine Trail begins at the Belhurst Winery on Rte. 14, just below Geneva on the west side of Seneca Lake, and runs down to the Catherine Valley Winery, around the bottom loop to the east side of Seneca Lake, above Watkins Glen. (See map here).

Visitor friendly programs, called "Passports," have been instituted at nominal fees, to make your wine tours a more enjoyable experience. The "Polar Passport," available from December to March, provides access during the off-season, when the owners and winemakers are more available to the public to chat, while the "Riesling To Visit Passport" is available May to August.. With these Passports, you can visit any of the participating wineries throughout the designated season, where you can enjoy a free "flight of wines," which is three small glasses of wine grouped by category or style to highlight the differences in vintage, winemaking technique and terroir (the special characteristics of a wine caused by geography).

Other annual Seneca Lake Wine Trail events include the Chocolate and Wine Weekend, Cruisin' the Tropics Weekend, Spring Wine and Cheese Weekend, and the Deck The Halls Weekends, where winemakers and chefs demonstrate pairings of food and wine. Finally, there is the Bargain Bash inventory sale in January. Information on these events can be found at the Seneca Lake Winery Association Website.

For more information on Seneca Lake Wine Trail wineries and events call 877-536-2717.

Sources: Finger Lakes Wine Country; Seneca Lake Winery Association; Personal Experience