Uncorking a delicious 150-year overnight success
Hammondsport is home to 700 people, one lake — and roughly a century and a half of reasons the Finger Lakes is suddenly everywhere. {dedicated}
Uncorking a delicious 150-year overnight success
Seemingly overnight, wine from the Finger Lakes is popping up in Tokyo, and everyone is clamoring to try the Rieslings, no wait, the Cab Francs.
The fact is, the Finger Lakes suddenly presenting as the “it” wine region is the kind of “overnight success” that takes centuries to accomplish. While the Finger Lakes region broadly is now widely recognized for its excellence — Wine Enthusiast naming it American Wine Region of the Year certainly helped — there’s one tiny town that was foundational to its success.
And like many delicious, gorgeous and fascinating things about Upstate New York, this one town remains stubbornly under the radar: Hammondsport.
This wee little town perched at the southern tip of Keuka Lake, population 700, has been instrumental in shaping not just how the Finger Lakes was planted and first perceived, but how it evolved — and now, where it’s headed.
Hammondsport’s storied, influential past
Hammondsport is the cradle of New York wine.
The first grapes intended for wine production (but not commercial operation) were planted in 1829 by Reverend Bostwick, who planted Catawba and Isabella in his rectory garden.
Just three decades later in 1860, the Pleasant Valley Wine Company put down roots there, and in 1867, shocked the world by becoming the first American winery to win a major, prestigious award in Europe for sparkling wine. Pleasant Valley also became the first bonded winery in the entire country, and helped kick off the “American Champagne” movement that was headquartered in Hammondsport.
In 1880, Walter Taylor founded The Taylor Wine Company in town, and guided it as it became one of the largest and most successful wineries in the country — thanks to an array of pioneering hybrid grape plantings that many growers today are revisiting, due to changing tastes and the unpredictable vagaries of climate change.
A modern era
New York's modern winemaking era was sparked (how else?) by a Frenchman in Hammondsport. Charles Fournier, a former chef de caves at the grand Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, was brought in post-Prohibition to revive Gold Seal Vineyards — the local sparkling house that was internationally celebrated before Prohibition shuttered American wine. Under Fournier, Gold Seal reclaimed its reputation, and he eventually rose to become its president.
In 1953, Dr. Konstantin Frank, a Ukrainian immigrant with 30 years of growing grapes in cold climates at his back, met Fournier at a seminar at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, where he had found work. When Frank told Fournier about his plan to plant classic vitis vinifera, or European wine varieties, in New York, Fournier was intrigued.
Prior to that, it was widely thought that the freezing winters would kill vitis vinifera, and that only hybrid and native grapes could thrive. Frank and Fournier embarked on experimental plantings that soon led to what became the region’s Vinifera Revoluton.
Confident about his vision, in 1957, Frank purchased 188 acres of property alongside the western flank of Keuka Lake. By 1962, his vinifera vineyard was up and running.
Hammondsport’s present + future
Visiting Hammondsport feels both gloriously vintage and futuristic.
Step into the Hammondsport Historic District, which the National Park Service recently recognized as encompassing the entire village from Wheeler to Davis Avenue, and Water to Pulteney Street, and you’ll understand why Country Living magazine named it one of the “25 Best Small Lake Towns in America.”
Hammondsport is more than worth a visit for its rural charm, with stately Greek Revival homes, Victorian architecture and Craftsman touches. There are quaint boutiques and antiques shops to browse, delectable B&Bs, fantastic eateries, and of course, wineries that reflect the town’s outsize effect on New York — and indeed, U.S. — wine culture, past, present and future.
Where to taste
Dr. Konstantin Frank: Visit the oldest Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir plantings in the Eastern United States, and sip their traditional method sparkling wines, crisp whites and rich reds.
Bully Hill Vineyards: This fun, family-friendly winery is celebrated for great wine, but also excellent and relaxed dining options, complimentary wine tours, and irreverent museum with rare bottles, wine artifacts, and hundreds of artwork made by the founder, Walter Taylor. (Many of his paintings also double as wine labels).
Weis Vineyards was opened in 2017, and in 2022, 2024, and 2025 it was declared New York State Winery of the Year at the New York Wine Classic. Founder Hans Peter Weis’ wines are crafted in classic German style, filtered through a Finger Lakes lens.
Point of the Bluff Vineyards is a landscaping project turned winery, and today it is actively helping the region’s young and aspiring vintners with a custom crush facility. Plus, there’s a restored 1800’s schoolhouse tasting room, bocce courts and a concert venue.
Keuka Lake Vineyards is doing exciting things with top-notch, cold climate grapes like Vignoles and Leon Millot.
Ravines Wine Cellars is considered a benchmark for Finger Lakes Dry Riesling. Founded by French-born Morten Hallgren, the wines here have landed in the Wine Spectator Top 100 five times, plus multiple other “Best Of” lists.
Where to eat
Crooked Lake Ice Cream offers killer diner-style breakfasts and lunch and from-scratch ice cream (the flavors and options change constantly) in a cozy 1950s style space.
Verns Bakers has giant, buttery-crisp croissants, and an array of other sweet treats.
Where to stay
The Park Inn offers the most central location in town, with a fabulous, eponymous hyper-seasonal restaurant tucked on the first floor. The well-appointed suites feel like home, but look much better. Plus, there are snacks, coffee, and other free goodies available for guests.
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