Stever 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.
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
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
Lakewood VineyardsSince 1988, the Stamp family’s Lakewood Vineyards has been making Finger Lakes wines from its Seneca Lake vineyards near Watkins Glen. The family-owned winery now spans three generations and 100 acres, with certified sustainable vineyard practices and a tasting program that brings visitors into the vineyards and winemaking process. Lakewood is especially known for its award-winning Riesling and Lemberger, including honors from the Berlin International Wine Competition.WATKINS GLEN, NY
Harpersfield VineyardSince 1979, family-owned Harpersfield Vineyard has grown grapes and made estate-bottled wines on its working farm in Ohio’s Grand River Valley. Its Geneva tasting room pairs those hand-picked-fruit wines with seasonal kitchen fare, vineyard views, live weekend music, and a fireside setting in colder months.GENEVA, OH