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Finger Lakes Wineries Books, Part 1

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When people think of the Finger Lakes, they often think of grapes and wine – rightly or wrongly. There’s a lot going on here BESIDES wine, after all.

*But wine is, in fact, very important to our region economically, and even in forming the “viewshed” of the Finger Lakes. Personally, I don’t drink at all. But I don’t mind those who do (in moderation), and I know that wine is important to our heritage (going back almost 200 years) and to our finances (delighted Pulteney folks, around 1860, found that grapes were the first thing that justified the taxes on their property).

*In recent years quite a few books have been published on Finger Lakes wines. Here’s a little wine-book tasting (wasn’t that clever?). Some of them can only be found on the used market these days.

*KEUKA LAKE AND THE GRAPE, by Richard Sherer. Dick was Steuben County historian for years prior to his death, and he dug deep into grape and wine history. He labored for years to identify every winery that had ever operated on Keuka. He told me that one, for which he found only a single reference in a newspaper, gave him fits. He finally discovered that a bank had accepted a vat of wine as collateral on a loan, then foreclosed on the vat. In order to sell the wine off and recoup their losses, they needed to be licensed as a winery. So that’s all that that winery ever did, is sell the single vat.

*Dick listed the wineries in chronological order, threading through all the intricacies of corporate changes. His book has plenty of photographs, including brightly-colored rape labels.

*CULTURE IN A GLASS: REFLECTIONS ON THE RICH HERITAGE OF FINGER LAKES WINE, by Richard Figiel. Rich doesn’t actually reach the Finger Lakes until chapter 2 and page 16, starting out with the ancient roots of winemaking. But that’s a really good foundation for telling the story of grapes and wines throughout the entire region, with lots of great historic photos and engravings.

*Then comes a chapter on the geography of the Lakes Country (and why it matters to the grapes), a chapter on the types of grapes, and “The Winemaker’s Calendar,” following the process through the year, with lots of photographs to help understanding. If you want an easy-to-digest (53 pages) introduction to the process and the history, this will probably fill your bill.

*CIRCLE OF VINES: THE STORY OF NEW YORK WINES, by Richard Figiel. Rich also did a much longer statewide history, in which of course the Finger Lakes loom large. An appendix lists 19th-century wineries still standing at the time of publication, and the uses they were being put to.

*FINGER LAKES WINERIES: A PICTORIAL HISTORY, by Emerson Klees. First of all, I’ll be up-front about a problem with this book. A dozen or so pictures are distorted, either stretched horizontally or compressed horizontally… unfortunate in a pictorial history.

*However, none of them become unusable – it’s more an annoyance than otherwise – and dozens of other pictures look just fine.

*Em has written extensively for Finger Lakes tourists and travelers, including specialty volumes on the wineries. He’s also well-known as a historian for the region, and here he blends the two interests.

*And does it well, using photos and other illustrations to tell the tale from the earliest days right through and including the current day, plus 20 pages describing numerous grape varieties, and an 11-page glossary of grape and wine terms. (Which is very useful for the neophyte in a field that prides itself on arcana for those who’ve been admitted to the mysteries.)

*May I add that both “Circle of Vines” and “Finger Lakes Wineries” gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Steuben County Historical Society? And we’ve got more books yet! Come back next week!

Finger Lakes Wineries: A Pictorial History

Folks have been making wine commercially in the Finger Lakes for 165 years. Wineries have waxed and waned, come and gone. Some have been small backyard mom-and-pop operations… or “boutique” wineries, if you want to get hoity-toity about it. Others have been huge employers and major tourism magnets.
Emerson Klees has been making wine for 35 years, and writing books about our region for twenty. Blending both varieties, his latest work is Finger Lakes Wineries: A Pictorial History. Here he covers wineries past and present in 110 pages of well-captioned photos, plus more text bringing the total page count to 160.
Much of the book covers Keuka Lake – unsurprising, given the historic nature of the work. But an entire chapter is dedicated to Widmer Winery in Naples, and the last two chapters – covering the time from Repeal of Prohibition to the present day – range all across the region.
I look at a LOT of old photos, and I was excited to find plenty in this book that I’d never seen before. One full-page 1880 image shows men and horses cutting the caves four stories deep at Pleasant Valley… it’s remarkable how sheer they’ve cut the face of the rock. In other photos men strain at a grape press, heaving on a bar that seems to be an undressed tree limb. Men riddle champagne bottles, or cap, wrap, and pack at Gold Seal. A horse-drawn wagon is laden high with filled grape flats for Empire State Wine Company in Penn Yan.
A lot of what I see in the course of my work is nineteenth-century images, so I was intrigued to inspect photos from the mid- to late-twentieth century showing, for instance, machine corking; large apparatus for pasteurizing; conveyor belts; and hydraulic presses. Governor Hugh Carey, Governor George Pataki, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy glide through the pages.
From time to time I guide tour buses through Naples on the way to Canandaigua, and I enjoy telling the passengers the Widmer’s story, which gets its own chapter here. Widmer’s has a beautiful setting, and adds a special sparkle to Naples. Mr. and Mrs. Widmer moved from Switzerland in 1882, and set about planting grapes even as they were building their home. There’s one story Emerson doesn’t mention, but which his pictures still illuminate. Mr. and Mrs. Widmer wanted expansion capital at an early stage, so they went to banker Maxfield for a loan. Since he had his own winery, he turned these new competitors down. The Widmers thrived anyway, and in 1940 their son had the great satisfaction of buying the Maxfield Cellars and folding it into the business his parents had begun and built.
Several of the wineries have their own interesting stories or offerings. Eagle Crest in Conesus was founded by Bishop McQuaid to supply communion wine for Catholic churches. Ray Fedderman in Prattsburgh was the first African American vintner. Earle Estates brews mead (a honey-based alcohol) as well as wine. At Cayuga Ridge, enthusiasts may lease, tend, and harvest ten, twenty, or thirty vines.
Of course there are many familiar faces, for the story of the wineries is, like all the other stories, a story about people. The Taylor family is here, from Walter through Greyton, Fred, and Clarence down to Walter S. So are the Franks, from Dr. Konstantin down through Willy and Fred. So is Paul Garrett, who watched his family name die out and created Garrett Chapel to preserve its memory.
Also valuable, especially for us non-specialists, is a TWENTY-PAGE appendix briefly describing grape species (some with regional names such as Aurora, Steuben, and Cayuga White), plus a ten-page glossary of grape and wine terms. The whole thing makes a very useful and enjoyable introduction to Finger Lakes winemaking. Thank you, Emerson – again!