Local winery businesses pride themselves upon fostering a united community of wineries and breweries in the Ithaca community to attract customers and locals throughout the Northeast.

Fall is the time for wine

The Finger Lakes is known as the Wine Region of the East with 25 wineries on Cayuga Lake. Three of these wineries, Ports of New York Winery, South Hill Cider and Six Mile Creek Vineyard, are established in Ithaca. 

During the summer and fall, wineries are faced with their busiest season and Ithaca’s local wineries experience this influx of business firsthand.

Owner of Six Mile Creek Vineyard, Mark Renodin, said around 85-90% of their business is tourists that come from all over the Northeast. 

Steve Selin, owner of South Hill Cider, faces a slow ramp up of customers from April until its peak in October. 

“In the winter about 25% of our customers are tourists,” said Selin. “But in the summer and fall, it’s closer to two-thirds.”

Frédéric Bouché, owner and winemaker of Ports of New York Winery, said he has on average 5,000-6,000 wine tastings during the fall season.

“It is a large amount of people to handle in a short amount of time,” said Bouché. “A lot of our customers actually, before checking into their hotels, will come here after driving all day.”

Community representation

With the influx of business and tourism during the fall season, these local wineries can be accredited to attraction in the Ithaca community.

Six Mile Creek is a part of the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, the oldest organized wine trail in the country. More than 50% of the tourists they see, or what they refer to as “leaf peepers,” solely visit Ithaca for its wineries and scenery during the fall season.

Bouché only works with fresh French grapes that are grown locally on Seneca Lake, incorporating his rooted French-style wines to the Ithaca community.

“The way we receive these people is to talk about our region, we really love it here,” said Bouché. “We actually act as a tourist bureau in a sense to customers because we promote our region.”  

Karen Ross, a Ports of New York wine taster who traveled from Stowe, Vermont, said her experience was wonderful and educational.

“I find that some of the local wineries don’t have the capacity to mass distribute,” said Ross. “So by going to local wineries that have their wines for sale, you really get some gems.”

Tourists are not the only customers that Bouché prides himself upon. 

“Our locals have been supportive since day one, without them we would not have survived,” said Bouché.

Steven Selin also chose to start his business in Ithaca because of its cultural center. 

“It’s an honor to be in Ithaca,” said Selin. “There’s a lot of other really great wineries around here and it’s a really great community.”

Uniting the wine community

Winery owners in Ithaca find that it is important to foster a happy and healthy community of wineries and cideries to bring customers into the area. 

Mark Renodin, owner of Six Mile Creek Vineyard, previously worked at a winery before buying Six Mile in 2016, where he said they were very competitive with each other. 

“It’s much different here in the Finger Lakes,” said Renodin. “Being a tourist industry, they’re not coming just to see one business, they’re coming to see everybody.”

Selin said he always sends customers to whatever winery or brewery they’re looking for.

“We get into this work not just to make cider or wine, but because we like to share with people and so it’s the same with other producers and wineries as well,” said Selin.

Fall is also grape harvest season, where they must juggle starting fermentation and the business of customers. Winery owners often share equipment and supplies to support one another during this time. 

“If my pump goes down and I desperately need it, I know there’s a couple of places I can call and everybody does try to help each other out,” said Renodin. 

With a united community of wineries in Ithaca, NY, customers and locals are able to come together to enjoy a glass of wine or cider in harmony. 

“The more that we all support each other, the better this whole community will be,” said Selin.