The Finger Lakes region, a place of captivating beauty with a fascinating and varied geology has been the heart of the New York State wine industry since the Civil War era. The low, rolling hills of this cool-climate region are covered with birch, oak, hemlock and white pine groves, interspersed with sloping vineyards that overlook the shimmering blue water of the lakes. Dilapidated old barns and farmhouses, relics of the nineteenth century, and quaint little towns evoke images of rural, small town America at the turn-of-the-century. Today, the Finger Lakes appellation is the source of a growing number of unique and distinctive wines that are gaining international recognition.
 

Winemaking in the Finger Lakes dates back to the 1820s, when a minister in Hammondsport began making sacramental wine for his parishioners. The region has proven fertile ground for winegrowers as a result of the unique microclimate generated by the series of long, deep lakes, which the tribes of the Iroquois Nation believed to be the handprint of the Great Spirit on the land. Receding glaciers of the Pleistocene era carved out the lake basins and the melting ice sheets left mineral-laden deposits of shallow topsoil on the sloping shale beds along the lakes, creating excellent conditions for viticulture. The two largest of the Finger Lakes, Seneca and Cayuga, are among the deepest lakes in North America. These, along with Keuka Lake, have climate-moderating effects, insulating sensitive hillside vineyards from damaging fall frosts, subzero winter temperatures, and "false" springs, while generating a range of microclimates beneficial to growing wine grapes.
 

Until the 1970s, four labels dominated the New York wine industry: Gold Seal, Taylor, Great Western and Widmer. In the early 70’s, the Seagrams company bought the Taylor Wine Company and moved it to California, leaving many small grape growers with no market for their produce. After a few years of watching their grapes rot and some state enabling legislation, several of these growers decided to buy presses, make their own wine, and open tasting rooms to sell it. Thus, the birth of the boutique wine industry in New York.
 

There have been, and still are, many colorful characters in the Finger Lakes wine business, but perhaps the most important single figure in the development of the region was Dr. Konstantin Frank, a Ukrainian-born viticulturist who proved that European grapes, called Vinifera, including Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Bordeaux varietals could be successfully grown in upstate New York. In the 50’s, he grafted vinifera vines onto Native American rootstocks. Gold Seal's Charles Fournier, a Frenchman who had formerly worked at Veuve-Cliquot in the Champagne region of France, employed Dr. Frank and encouraged his experiment with European vines. Their experiments proved that, given proper vineyard management and winemaking techniques, the Finger Lakes could create world-class wines. Some have even had the mineral, flinty character of more often acknowledged wines from Graves in the French Bordeaux region, Pouilly-Fumé in the French Burgundy region and Barolo from Italy. Without these pioneers, New York would likely have not achieved its current stature as a world class wine region.