Finger Lakes Canadice Lake, New York
Canadice Lake wineries
Canadice is the smallest of the Finger Lakes and the highest, a 3-mile ribbon of Rochester's drinking water inside a state forest, with no house, road or winery on its shore. What it offers a wine traveller is the morning: a level trail along the west shore where a cottage road once ran, an overlook on the ridge above with Honeoye Lake laid out below, and then 35 minutes east to Naples, where four tasting rooms sit within ten minutes of one another. This guide explains why no vine was ever planted here, how to walk the lake, and where to taste afterwards.
The smallest Finger Lake, and the highest
Canadice Lake is 3 miles long, 0.3 miles wide at most and 649 acres in area, with its surface 1,096 feet above the sea: the smallest of the eleven Finger Lakes and the highest, nearly 200 feet above Hemlock Lake in the next valley west and almost 300 above Honeoye in the next valley east. Its Seneca name, ska-ne-a-dice, means long lake, which says something about the standards of the people who named it. It is 95 feet deep, and its water runs the 30 miles to Rochester by gravity alone.
That has been its job since 1919. Rochester was authorised to draw on Canadice in 1873, from 1895 bought up the shores of both lakes and cleared the cottages, hotels and farms from them, and saw the last Canadice cottage go in 1947. In 2010 the watershed passed to New York State as the 6,849-acre Hemlock-Canadice State Forest, which keeps the old discipline: no swimming, no camping, no motor over 10 horsepower, nothing built. Hemlock and Canadice are the only Finger Lakes with undeveloped shores.
So a visit here is a walk first and a tasting second: the morning on the old road along the west shore or at the overlook above Honeoye Lake, then 35 minutes east to Naples, where Hometown Wine Company, Inspire Moore Winery & Vineyard, Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars and Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery sit within about ten minutes of one another, or 25 minutes west to Deer Run Winery on Conesus Lake for a flight and lunch. Keuka's west side, an hour or more away, is a separate day.
The wineries nearest Canadice Lake, on the map
Each pin sits on the winery's street address. The chips show only what a winery states on its own website, and they narrow the list below as well.
Every winery on all eleven lakes, with wine-style filters, saved favourites and suggested stops between one tasting room and the next.
The wineries nearest Canadice Lake
No winery stands on Canadice Lake, so what follows is the 12 nearest: one on Conesus Lake to the west, seven around Canandaigua Lake from the Naples valley up to the city, one at Mendon on the road to Rochester, and three on the west side of Keuka Lake. Plan around the Naples four; two small farm wineries between Naples and Canandaigua keep Saturday hours; the Keuka three deserve their own day.
Nearest first. Each name opens the winery's own page, with hours, wines and places to stay close by.
Nearest wineries 12 wineries
The 12 wineries nearest Canadice Lake, ordered by straight-line distance: Conesus Lake to the west, the Naples valley and the west side of Canandaigua Lake to the east, Bloomfield and Mendon towards Rochester, and the west side of Keuka Lake. Drive times are approximate and assume you start at the Purcell Hill Road parking area at the north end of the lake.
| Winery | Town | Drive | Dogs | Kids | Food | Book online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deer Run Winery | Geneseo | Conesus Lakeabout 25 minutes via Route 15A and Route 20A to Lakeville, then West Lake Road | Yes | |||
| Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery | Naples | Canandaigua Lakeabout 35 minutes east via Honeoye, Route 20A and Route 64 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars | Naples | Canandaigua Lakeabout 35 minutes via County Road 36 along Honeoye Lake, then Route 21 to Naples | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Inspire Moore Winery & Vineyard | Naples | Canandaigua Lakeabout 35 minutes via County Road 36 along Honeoye Lake, then Route 21 to North Main Street in Naples | ||||
| Hometown Wine Company | Naples | Canandaigua Lakeabout 35 minutes via County Road 36 along Honeoye Lake, then Route 21 into Naples village | ||||
| Barrel Necessities at Randall-Standish Vineyards | Canandaigua | Canandaigua Lakeabout 40 minutes via Route 20A and Route 64, then Dugway Road across to Route 21 | ||||
| Raymor Estate Cellars | Bloomfield | Canandaigua Lakeabout 35 minutes via Route 20A and Route 64 towards Bloomfield | ||||
| 20 Deep Winery | Mendon | Near Rochesterabout 40 minutes north via Route 20A and Route 64 to Mendon | Yes | Yes | ||
| Acquilano Wine Cellars | Canandaigua | Canandaigua Lakeabout 40 minutes via Route 20A and Routes 5 and 20 into Canandaigua | Yes | |||
| Stever Hill Vineyards | Branchport | Keuka Lakea little over an hour via Naples and Italy Hill Road towards Branchport | ||||
| Point of the Bluff Vineyards | Hammondsport | Keuka Lakeabout an hour via Naples to Keuka's west side above Hammondsport | ||||
| Azure Hill Winery | Hammondsport | Keuka Lakeabout an hour via Naples and County Route 76 to Gallagher Road on Keuka's west side |
The trail on the old West Lake Road, and the overlook above Honeoye
Start at the north end. Two miles south of the hamlet of Hemlock on Route 15A, Purcell Hill Road turns east and drops to a gravel lot for about 20 cars beside the outlet, and the trail leaves it southward along the old cottage road, laid out in the mid-1800s for the summer places the city later cleared. It is packed dirt, wide and nearly level, with the lake in view through a thin screen of trees the whole way; the last mile and a half opens out, and the final three quarters of a mile loop round the southern tip through a wetland of drowned trees and birds to Canadice Lake Road by the car-top launch, 4 miles from the start. With a second car it is a four-mile morning; on foot it is eight. The east shore keeps the only road and the only other access, a gravel ramp part-way down near Birch Hill Road and a few pull-offs used by anglers.
The other half of the morning is on the ridge. Three miles south-east, above the foot of Honeoye Lake, Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area covers 1,550 acres of woodland above 2,000 feet, begun with 679 acres left to the state by a Rochester horticulturalist and rose expert who died in 1962. It has 22.83 miles of multi-use trail, some nine miles of them groomed for cross-country skiing by the Rochester Cross Country Ski Foundation once the hunting season ends in mid-December. Overlook Road, the seasonal park road open from 1 May to late October, passes the view that gives the place its point: the whole 4.5-mile length of Honeoye Lake below and, on a clear day, Rochester and Lake Ontario beyond.
Why no vine was ever planted here
The law is the obvious answer, and only half of it: nothing has been allowed on the shore since the city began clearing it in 1895. But there is no record of a vineyard here even in the 1860s, when the first vines went into the Naples valley ten miles east, and the reasons are the ones a grower would give.
The Finger Lakes ripen European grapes because the big lakes bank the summer's heat and pay it back through autumn, holding frost off the slopes for the weeks in which Riesling finishes, and in spring stay cold long enough to hold the buds back past the last frost. The effect scales with the water. Seneca covers 43,343 acres and is 618 feet deep; Canandaigua covers 10,558 acres and is 276 feet deep; Canadice covers 649 acres, is 95 feet deep and stratifies at about 30 feet, so most of its water stays cold all summer and the warm layer on top is small. A lake this size has little heat to lend a hillside on an October night.
Then there is the height. The surface sits nearly 400 feet above Keuka's and Canandaigua's and 650 above Seneca's, and the shores rise steeply from it to a ridge that passes 2,000. Height shortens the season and deepens the winter cold that kills vinifera buds, and the narrow valley has little of the gentle bench that Keuka and Seneca growers plant. Canadice lies inside the Finger Lakes AVA, whose western edge runs through Dansville and Geneseo, so a wine grown here could legally carry the name. None ever will.
The western wine story happened a valley to either side instead: above Hemlock Lake, 2.5 miles west, where a Rochester bishop planted vines for sacramental wine in 1872 and the vineyard still operates without regular public hours, and in Naples, where a Swiss immigrant named John Jacob Widmer founded Widmer's Wine Cellars in 1888, a century ago one of the big four names in New York wine, in the cellars that are now Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars.
Where to taste: Naples and the Canandaigua west hills
Naples, at the foot of Canandaigua Lake, has grown grapes since the 1860s and enough Concord to make a local dish of the grape pie. Hometown Wine Company opened in autumn 2025 in the carriage barn of the 1794 Ephraim Cleveland House, one of the first houses built in the village; its owners came from California cellars and make deliberately dry wines, under half a gram of sugar a litre, from growers across the country: a Vermentino, a Bordeaux-style Meritage, and traditional-method Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs. Next door, Inspire Moore Winery & Vineyard, founded in 2007, keeps Riesling at the centre of an estate list that runs to Gewürztraminer, Cayuga White and Cabernet Franc. Above the village, Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars fills the old Widmer cellars with the honest span of Finger Lakes wine: the sweet Catawba-based Red Cat range that is the family's best seller, a dry Riesling, Grüner Veltliner and Cabernet Franc, and a Solera Sherry and a Port. Every tasting comes with a bowl of popcorn, and a 0.7-mile trail climbs through the abandoned Widmer vineyards from May to October. Ten minutes north on Route 64, Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery makes Traminette its signature among native and hybrid grapes, sells grape pies and wine sauces, and pours guided tastings Thursday to Sunday, by reservation, in Brew and Brats, the restaurant in its carriage barn.
Between Naples and the city, three smaller stops keep shorter weeks. Barrel Necessities at Randall-Standish Vineyards on Route 21 is a juice-pressing farm that added a barn tasting room in 2023, open Saturday afternoons and daily during the September and October harvest. Raymor Estate Cellars, near Bloomfield off Routes 5 and 20, pours Seyval, Vidal, Vignoles and Noiret beside its own hard ciders on Saturdays or by appointment. Acquilano Wine Cellars, a small farm winery on South Main Street in the city of Canandaigua, takes online reservations.
West to Conesus, north to Mendon, and Keuka for a longer day
West, Deer Run Winery sits 25 minutes away on the north-west shore of Conesus Lake, the westernmost winery in the Finger Lakes. A Kodak retiree, George Kuyon, planted it in 2001 and opened in 2003; he and his son make a list that runs from dry Riesling and an oak-aged Saperavi to the sweet Max Black. The Tankroom Cafe, opened in 2022 in the original tank room, makes it the lunch stop on this side, and a Thursday-evening concert series fills the grounds in summer. North, 20 Deep Winery at Mendon, 40 minutes towards Rochester, is a young estate on sandy soil that has made Gamay Noir its flagship, in rosé, sparkling and barrel-aged forms; it takes walk-ins until 9 in the evening from Wednesday to Saturday, with music and food trucks on Fridays.
Keuka's west side, an hour or more away, deserves a day of its own: Stever Hill Vineyards above Branchport, two dozen wines from dry Riesling to sweet Concord in an 1850s barn; Azure Hill Winery, one of the smallest cellars on the lake, where the owners pour stainless-steel Rieslings, Saperavi and a traditional-method Riesling Brut on a deck above the vines; and Point of the Bluff Vineyards, with Riesling, Cabernet Franc, sparkling wine and an inn.
For a bed, the lake has nothing and the forest forbids camping: Honeoye, 15 minutes north-east, has the nearest groceries and a lifeguarded beach on a lake warm enough to swim in, Naples is the tasting base, and Canandaigua and Rochester have the hotels. The trip-planning guide compares the bases, and each winery's own page here lists places to stay close by.
Making the most of a day at Canadice Lake
Nothing on the Canadice shore sells so much as a bottle of water, and the nearest tasting room is 25 minutes away: give the lake the morning and the wineries the afternoon.
- Walk first. Park at the Purcell Hill Road lot at the north end and walk the old road south, 4 miles to the canoe launch or back whenever you like. Dogs stay on a lead and swimming is banned. Overlook Road at Harriet Hollister Spencer is open from May to late October.
- Then pick a direction. East gives the most: four tasting rooms within ten minutes of one another in Naples, with Barrel Necessities at Randall-Standish Vineyards and Raymor Estate Cellars on the roads north. West is Deer Run Winery and lunch. Keuka is its own day.
- Check the day before the hour. Two of the nearest open only on Saturdays outside harvest, Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars and Deer Run Winery close on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Hometown Wine Company opens Wednesday to Sunday. Each winery's own page here carries its current hours.
- Plan lunch. Only two of the 12 have kitchens, the Tankroom Cafe at Deer Run Winery and Brew and Brats at Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery. Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars sells snack baskets and Hometown Wine Company cheese and charcuterie; otherwise eat in Honeoye or Naples, and carry water for the trail.
- Pick the season, and settle the driving. Late September brings the Naples Grape Festival and daily harvest hours at Barrel Necessities at Randall-Standish Vineyards; October colours the trail; from November several small producers drop to weekends. Every tasting room is 25 minutes to an hour away on two-lane roads, so nominate a driver who is not tasting.
Common questions
How many wineries are on Canadice Lake?
None, and there cannot be one: the whole shoreline is Hemlock-Canadice State Forest, held to protect Rochester's drinking water, and nothing may be built on it. The 12 nearest, all mapped here, are Deer Run Winery on Conesus Lake, seven around Canandaigua Lake from Naples up to the city, 20 Deep Winery at Mendon and three on the west side of Keuka Lake.
What are the wineries near Canadice Lake known for?
Range rather than one grape. Naples is old native-grape country: Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery for Traminette, Catawba and grape pies, Hazlitt Red Cat Cellars for the sweet Red Cat blends beside dry Riesling, Grüner Veltliner and a Solera Sherry. Hometown Wine Company is the counterweight, dry wines and traditional-method sparkling, and Inspire Moore Winery & Vineyard leads with estate Riesling. West, Deer Run Winery runs from dry Riesling and Saperavi to sweet blends; north, 20 Deep Winery has staked itself on Gamay Noir.
When is the best time to visit Canadice Lake?
Late September and October: the trail colours, the harvest is in, and the Naples Grape Festival, on 26 and 27 September in 2026, fills the village with grape pies. May and June are quieter, with Overlook Road open from 1 May. Summer adds Thursday concerts at Deer Run Winery and Friday music at 20 Deep Winery. In winter Harriet Hollister Spencer becomes a ski area after mid-December and several of the smaller wineries keep weekend hours.
Is there an official Canadice Lake wine trail?
No, and there is nothing for one to cover. The nearest is the Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail, a membership organisation whose website lists eight wineries and tasting rooms between Victor and Naples; six of them are among the 12 here, the four in Naples, Barrel Necessities at Randall-Standish Vineyards and Acquilano Wine Cellars. Membership is a marketing choice, not a mark of quality.
Do I need a reservation to taste near Canadice Lake?
Sometimes. Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery pours guided tastings Thursday to Sunday by reservation only, Acquilano Wine Cellars takes online reservations, and Raymor Estate Cellars tastes by appointment outside its Saturday hours. Hometown Wine Company is the opposite: walk-in only, groups of up to eight, over 21s. The rest take walk-ins. Check the day rather than the booking: two of the nearest open only on Saturdays outside harvest.
Where should I stay for a Canadice Lake visit?
Not on the lake: the shore is protected watershed and the state forest allows no camping. Honeoye, 15 minutes north-east on Route 20A, is the nearest hamlet with groceries, restaurants and a beach; Naples, 35 minutes east, is the tasting base, with inns and a hotel in the village; Canandaigua, 40 minutes, and Rochester, 30 miles north, have the hotels.
More Finger Lakes wine guides
-
Every Finger Lakes winery
The whole region in one directory, lake by lake, with a note on how each listing is checked.
-
Planning a Finger Lakes trip
When to go, where to base yourself, how to pace a tasting day, and sample itineraries shore by shore.
-
The interactive map
All eleven lakes on one map, with favourites, sharing and suggested nearby stops for building a route.