On a family farm overlooking Cayuga Lake, Airy Acres Vineyard grows grapes and makes estate wines in Interlaken, New York. The Bassette family has held the land since 1918, planted its first vines in 2015, and now farms 21 acres while continuing to supply fruit to Finger Lakes wineries. Its name comes from the working grass runway built on the property in 1957, and tastings are hosted by members of the third-generation family business.
Lucas VineyardsFounded by the Lucas family in 1980, Lucas Vineyards makes wine from its estate vineyards on Cayuga Lake, where roughly 33 acres of plantings support more than 26,000 cases annually. The Interlaken winery was the first established on Cayuga Lake and grew from Ruth Lucas’s family grape-growing venture into a three-generation business. Ruth also helped co-found the Cayuga Wine Trail in 1985, and the winery remains known for pairing its wines with a welcoming tasting-room experience.INTERLAKEN, NY
Frontenac Point Vineyard & Estate WineryFounded by Jim and Carol Doolittle in 1978 on a former fruit-growing property overlooking Cayuga Lake, Frontenac Point Vineyard & Estate Winery grows its own grapes and makes small-batch Finger Lakes wines. The Doolittles handle the work from planting and hand-picking through winemaking, bottling, and presentation, with son Lawrence continuing the family business as its second generation. Licensed as New York’s farm winery No. 44 in 1982, Frontenac Point is especially distinctive for wines made entirely from grapes grown on its Cayuga Lake estate.TRUMANSBURG, NY
Buttonwood Grove WinerySince David and Melissa Pittard purchased the property in 2014, Buttonwood Grove Winery has grown into a family-run Finger Lakes winery producing estate wines beside Cayuga Lake. Dave’s roots at the fourth-generation Beak & Skiff Apple Farm inform the Pittards’ blend of agriculture and winemaking, while the family’s expansion of the vineyards and new winemaking building carries the property into its next chapter. Its 2016 Riesling won the 2017 Governor’s Cup as New York State’s best wine, and the site now pairs tastings with lakeside music and cabins among the vines.ROMULUS, NY
Stever Hill VineyardsStever Hill Vineyards is a fifth-generation family farm and winery on the hills above Keuka Lake, producing about 2,000 cases of Finger Lakes wine each year. The Tones family’s grape-growing story began in 1951, and today brothers Harold, Don, and Jim oversee the operation with vineyard managers Jon and Mike Tones and winery managers Liz and Jay Sprague. Visitors can taste the estate’s dry, semi-dry, and sweet wines in the renovated 1850s Crooked Barn Tasting Room, surrounded by hundreds of acres of grapes.BRANCHPORT, NY