About Seneca Shore Wine Cellars
About Seneca Shore Wine Cellars
Seneca Shore Wine Cellars bills itself as the Medieval and Dragon Winery of the Finger Lakes, and it means it. The tasting room was built inside a converted farm equipment building after the family took their farm winery licence in 1997, and the interior is decked out as a medieval castle with swords, shields, helmets and axes on the walls.
Behind the theme is a serious vineyard. Plantings on this northwestern shore site date to 1979, and the fruit goes into gold medal Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon alongside Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and Lemberger. There are also more than thirty table wines running dry to sweet, plus ports and fruit wines.
Visiting
Open daily 10am to 5pm, with the last tasting starting at 4.30pm and last call at 4.45pm. There is a deck with tables overlooking Seneca Lake, a stockade, and a costume corner for what the winery calls a Royal Transformation. It is genuinely family friendly, with games and colouring for children. Note the group rules: parties of up to six are taken as space allows, groups of seven to ten need a reservation at least 72 hours ahead, groups cannot exceed ten, and buses and limos are not accepted. Outside beverages of any kind are not permitted.
Seneca Shore Wine Cellars is a member of the Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail, which links wineries from Victor down through Canandaigua to Naples.
