Cayuga Lake Wine Trail

What is the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail?

A fine wine ages well, and the trail that pours it has aged better. The Cayuga Lake Wine Trail was the first organized wine trail in the United States, established in 1983, and it is still the longest-running. More than a dozen wineries, most of them family-owned, ring Cayuga Lake, joined by a cidery, a couple of distilleries, and a meadery.

It started with one person calling her neighbors. Mary Plane, who owned Plane’s Cayuga Vineyards, now Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery, began organizing nearby vineyards to draw visitors to the region, and the wine trail grew out of that effort. The wineries here sit within the Cayuga Lake American Viticultural Area, and over the decades they have collected national and international awards, including New York Winery of the Year.

Which wineries should you visit?

With more than a dozen stops, a few stand out.

Buttonwood Grove Winery is one of the most scenic on the lake, with a multi-level deck looking out over the water and a handful of log cabins to rent overnight. Sustainability is part of how the vineyard is farmed, and the wines run to cool-climate reds and whites, including a solid Cabernet Franc.

Sheldrake Point Winery, a former New York Winery of the Year, sits right on the lakeshore and is known for Riesling, Gewürztraminer, dry rosé, and Chardonnay, along with serious dessert wines. Its Wild Ferment Riesling Ice Wine is a highlight, crisp and marked by notes of marmalade and stone fruit.

Knapp Winery is one of the larger and older wineries on the trail, with more than forty years behind it and an on-site restaurant that opened in 1992, the first winery restaurant on Cayuga Lake. Knapp was also the first winery in the Finger Lakes to vinify Cabernet Franc, and it has branched beyond wine into cordials and grappa.

Where can you taste more than wine?

Not every bottle on the trail starts with a grape.

Montezuma Winery began as a honey farm, and that history still shows up in its meads and honey wines, alongside fruit wines like Cranberry Bog and a blueberry wine called Blue Moon. The family also runs the on-site Hidden Marsh Distillery, turning out small-batch spirits. The approach, as co-owner Bill Martin puts it:

“We take something traditional and give it a fun twist.”

That instinct runs through the trail. Bellwether Hard Cider, the first cidery in the Finger Lakes, makes dry, complex ciders that taste nothing like the supermarket version, a reminder that the region’s traditions keep finding new forms.

What makes Cayuga Lake good for grapes?

The trick is the autumn. A cold but steady airflow late in the season extends the growing window around Cayuga Lake, giving the grapes more time to ripen than the latitude alone would suggest, while the deep lake moderates the climate through the year.

That long, cool finish is why the region leans on cold-weather and traditional German varieties. Riesling and Gewürztraminer thrive here, ice wines take real advantage of the freeze, and the reds, Cabernet Franc chief among them, come out bright rather than heavy. It is cool-climate winemaking with a long heritage and, as the trail likes to put it, a Cayuga twist.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail

🍷 Featured Cayuga Lake Stops

A quick reference to the producers covered above, by type and what they are known for.