So many things have gone into one's expectations when you finally find yourself travelling to that long imagined
destination: island, city, beachfront or mountaintop. You've never actually seen it before, but the lore you've managed to
acquire and the little brochure snapshots of someone else's defining vista' have led you on until it's finally time to take the
wrapping off your daydream, climb inside the cockpit so to speak and sally forth. Well, the Fingerlake region of Western New
York state had been pulling at me since I landed in Manhattan 6 years ago. Despite the occasional New York Times article and
pictures of the wineries, the Finger Lakes and the wine country remained enigmatic. It seemed hardly anyone ever went there
and, typical of Manhattan, anything 5 hours away by auto might as well be Zanzibar and you probably had to pass through New
Jersey to get there, I mean really!
I had finally determined the migration rhythm and, much like the coming of Valentine's day and Rosemarie Clooney at
the Rainbow Room, the coming of October and the enormously exciting changing of color in the upstate foliage stimulated the
making of plans and the dedication of a weekend to head out into the adventure: Discover the Finger Lakes, visit wineries, drink
wine, get away with the loved one.
Highway 17 was the route to take from Manhattan, yes, through New Jersey but mostly in the countryside, which would
have us arriving at the southern end of Lake Seneca in about 5 hours. Somewhere around the northern New Jersey-New York
border near a little town called Tuxedo Junction we overtook a passenger train that was pulled by a 1930's vintage steam
engine with B&O marked on the side of the tender car, as we pulled along side the engine with its big wheels stroking along
under full steam I had a premonition that this was going to be a journey to remember.
Perhaps it's the scintilla of Amerian Indian blood in my veins and the recent viewing of Ken Burns "The West", but my
first thought, once we cleared the Adirondacks and entered the mountainous lands of southwestern New York state once
known as the Seneca and Cayuga Indian's Land of the Six Nations, was they must really be pissed. Still seemingly wild and
unbroken by anything other than old cities lying along the river, spread range after range of wooded, low mountains and hills
covered in prime Fall foliage. Once we arrived at Lake Seneca and its neighbor Lake Cayuga I was sure I understood every
Indian's anguish. The lakes are quite long, around 40 miles and they lie in deep, narrow valleys separated from one another by
broad ridgetops about 10 miles wide. From the tops of the valley ridges this provides long spectacular views up and down the
lake and an excellent look at the hillside vineyards or the hilltop farms on the other side. Sailboats and fishing boats move on the
lakes. It is a spectacular sight!
Large farms occupy the broad ridgetops, layed out in large grids which are a holdover from the early 1800's when the
land, confiscated from the conquered Iroquois, was parcelled out to soldiers of the Revolutionary War. Large plantings of feed
corn, alfalfa and other crops attend the occasional "classic" barn and grain silos groupings on the ridgetops.
The vineyards tend to be planted along the ridges overlooking the lake-embracing valleys, presumably to allow the lakes
to protect the grapevines from harsh winter temperatures. Labrusca and French hybrid grape varieties still predominate here in a
grape planting and growing system that evolved over 150 years. 150 years! That predates California and represents a
fascinating story that saw the vineyards of the Finger Lakes first producing eating grapes for the New York City market,
shipped via barges on the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River to the docks of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. By 1860
a license was finally granted to produce wine, long delayed due to New York State's temperance movement. Wine production
was primarily sparkling wine called "champagne" and moved by rail. Wine producers suffered under the temperance
movement for many years thereafter, including Prohibition. But the real hurdle in producing great wine was overcoming a climate
that killed the Vinifera species and the indigenous root louse that ate their apparently tasty roots. While rootstock that fended off
the root louse (phylloxera) became available before the end of the 19th century, it took a Russian emigrant (Dr. Konstantin
Frank) trained in viticulture and enology and the year 1953 to overcome the problems of growing Vinifera vines in the Finger
Lakes. In 1960 the first commercial wines from European Vinifera vines were released by Gold Seal Winery's winemaker
Charles Fournier. A few years later Dr. Konstantin Frank started his own winery and a nursery to disseminate Vinifera vines,
advice and the cult of Vinifera.
(Editors note: The vinifera species includes today's popular grape varieties, e.g. Chardonnay, Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot and many more.
The Labrusca species produces wines popular for eating and lesser wines, e.g. Catawba, Niagara and Concord. The French hybrids are
grapebreeders efforts to breed good wine qualities together with cold and disease resistance resulting in the grape varieties, e.g. Seyval blanc,
Vidal, Baco noir, Foch.)
After 1975 the number of wineries in the Finger Lakes mushroomed from 6 to over 50, roughly the number that had
existed over a century before. Today there are 50 wineries with plans for more producing Vinifera wines. Here are a few that
we managed to visit: Standing Stone Winery, Seneca Lake,highly recommended. Silver Thread, Seneca Lake, organic wines
and recommended. Knapp Winery, Cayuga Lake, excellent restaurant serving their own plus other wines, Very highly
recommended. Fox Run, Seneca Lake, recommended. Anthony Road,(plenty of souvenirs) tasting room, Seneca Lake,
recommended. Prejean, Seneca Lake, recommended. Hunt Country, Keuka Lake, a family operation out in the open and
charmingly unpretentious, recommended. Dr. Frank's, Keuka Lake, should be a shrine and it's crowded, Very Highly
Recommended. Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars, want to visit a California tasting room in New York?, soaring ceiling and
great views, highly recommended.
There is much to be heard from these new upstart wineries struggling and striving to make
world class wines. And when the weather gives them a break you'll be drinking some excellent
wines with precise varietal character, great acidity and balance. You'll never see
Gewurtztraminer like theirs in California, nor White Reisling. I drank the first American
Sangiovese that was in perfect balance and possessed the complexity of a good Tuscan
Sangiovese, not fat and overipe. Pinot noir, excellent if you can find it, Cabernet sauvignon nice
and rich, Merlot coming along.
In the end the quest of the Finger Lakes proved to be beyond imagination and beyond
category. I recommend you don't go there. The only thing that could spoil it would be what
passes for success in America today. It is charming and beautiful and amazingly unspoiled. It is
the world of 1950 and, yes, Bing would look right at home in pipe, hipwaders, creel and casting
a fly on one of the pristine lakes or streams. I'll be back, before the Autumn leaves start to fall.
