Finger Lakes Cayuga Lake, New York
Cayuga Lake wine trail map
Cayuga is the longest of the Finger Lakes and the one that organised itself first: five of its wineries formed what is by its own account the country's first wine trail in 1983, and in 1988 it became the first sub-appellation inside the Finger Lakes AVA. Twenty-one wineries line its two shores, from the estate that says it planted the region's first Cabernet Franc to a Pinot Noir specialist on east-shore limestone, an amphora cellar above Ovid and a meadery at the top of the lake. This guide covers what Cayuga's wines taste like and why, who makes them, and how to shape a day or a weekend on either shore.
The long lake and the first trail
Cayuga is the longest of the eleven Finger Lakes, and its wines begin with that water. The lake is 38 miles long and 435 feet deep, which puts its floor some 50 feet below sea level, and that mass of slow-cooling water is why vines ripen on its shores at all. It also gives the lake two characters: for about six miles below the outlet the water is shallow and weedy, mudflat and marsh running north into the Montezuma refuge, and the two wineries at that end grew out of an apiary and an orchard rather than a vineyard. From Romulus and Union Springs south the shore steepens, the water deepens and the vineyards begin.
Cayuga's wine identity is broader than Riesling, though Riesling is here in every register. This is the lake where, by Knapp Winery's account, Cabernet Franc was first planted and made in the Finger Lakes; where the east side's Burgundian leanings give Chardonnay at Treleaven Wines and Pinot Noir at Heart & Hands; and where the region's hybrid heritage is worn without apology, from Cayuga White, the Cornell grape named for the lake, to a carbonic Chambourcin at Frontenac Point. The lake also got organised before its neighbours: five small wineries formed the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail in 1983, and the Cayuga Lake AVA of 1988 was the first sub-appellation inside the Finger Lakes AVA.
No road crosses the water, so each shore is its own day. Route 89 follows the west shore from Seneca Falls to Ithaca past 14 of the 21 wineries here, four of them within a mile of each other at Ovid; Route 90 follows the quieter east shore through Union Springs and Aurora to King Ferry. Ithaca, with Cornell, the farmers market and Taughannock Falls close at hand, is the natural base, and Aurora the calmer alternative.
Cayuga Lake wineries 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 lists 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 Cayuga Lake wineries, stretch by stretch
The wineries fall into three stretches. Fourteen stand on the west shore along Route 89 and the farm roads above it, from the meadery at the Seneca Falls end to a two-person estate above Taughannock Falls, with the lake's founding names between them and its tightest cluster, four wineries within a mile at Ovid. Five are on the east shore along Route 90 between the village of Cayuga and King Ferry, with longer gaps and a leaning towards Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Two sit within about eight miles of Ithaca. Nine of the 21 belong to the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, a membership organisation with ten members; membership is a marketing choice, not a mark of quality. Pouring on the lake but not yet listed here: Lucas Vineyards at Interlaken; Long Point Winery below Aurora; Quarry Ridge Winery near Union Springs; Bellwether Cider and Wine near Trumansburg; and Ports of New York in Ithaca.
Each list runs north to south, the order you would drive it. Each name opens the winery's own page, with hours, wines and places to stay close by.
West shore 14 wineries
Route 89 leaves Routes 5 and 20 east of Seneca Falls and follows the shore south to Ithaca; Romulus, Ovid, Interlaken and Trumansburg sit a few miles inland on Route 96, so most addresses here are farm roads. This is the founding shore, where Hosmer Winery, Swedish Hill Winery + Cider Co., Knapp Winery, Americana Vineyards and Frontenac Point Vineyard & Estate Winery all date from the 1980s, and the busiest, with the bistros, cabins and boat docks. It also holds the lake's newest ideas, from the amphorae at Six Eighty Cellars to the spontaneous ferments at Usonia Wine.
| Winery | Town | Dogs | Kids | Food | Book online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montezuma Winery Finger Lakes | Seneca Falls | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Swedish Hill Winery + Cider Co. | Romulus | Yes | Yes | ||
| Knapp Winery | Romulus | Yes | |||
| Goose Watch Winery | Romulus | ||||
| Buttonwood Grove Winery | Romulus | Yes | Yes | ||
| Six Eighty Cellars | Ovid | ||||
| Thirsty Owl Wine Company | Ovid | Yes | Yes | ||
| Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery | Ovid | Yes | Yes | ||
| Usonia Wine | Ovid | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Hosmer Winery | Ovid | Yes | Yes | ||
| Sheldrake Point Winery | Ovid | Yes | |||
| Airy Acres Vineyard | Interlaken | ||||
| Americana Vineyards | Interlaken | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Frontenac Point Vineyard & Estate Winery | Trumansburg | Yes |
East shore 5 wineries
Route 90 follows the east shore from the village of Cayuga through Union Springs and Aurora to King Ferry, with more road between stops and the afternoon sun on the slopes. It begins with an orchard winery, the Apple Station Winery, passes the limestone Pinot Noir vineyard of Heart & Hands Wine Company and the village tasting room of Constantia Wine Company in Aurora, and ends at King Ferry with Bright Leaf Vineyard and Treleaven Wines, the oldest winery on this side of the lake. Long Point Winery and Quarry Ridge Winery are on this road too but not yet listed here.
| Winery | Town | Dogs | Kids | Food | Book online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Apple Station Winery | Cayuga | ||||
| Heart & Hands Wine Company | Union Springs | Yes | |||
| Constantia Wine Company | Aurora | ||||
| Bright Leaf Vineyard | King Ferry | Yes | |||
| Treleaven Wines | King Ferry | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ithaca and the south end 2 wineries
Ithaca sits at the foot of the lake where Route 89 begins, and two wineries lie within about eight miles of it: Six Mile Creek Vineyard & Distillery, the city's first winery and distillery, in a restored barn on the hill to the east, and Bet the Farm Winery on Krums Corners Road midway to Trumansburg. Ports of New York, an urban winery a few minutes from the Commons, is not yet listed here.
| Winery | Town | Dogs | Kids | Food | Book online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bet the Farm Winery | Trumansburg | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Six Mile Creek Vineyard & Distillery | Ithaca | Yes | Yes |
What to drink on Cayuga Lake
Riesling first, and the useful habit is to taste it at two sweetness levels from the same house. Treleaven Wines makes the point most completely, with a range from a bone-dry bottling it calls Ml+ through semi-dry and semi-sweet to a sparkling Sekt, and Hosmer Winery pours a dry and a semi-dry side by side. Young Cayuga Riesling runs to lime, green apple and wet stone over a firm line of acidity, and that acidity is what lets the off-dry version taste balanced rather than sweet. The same grape makes the lake's ice wines, at Sheldrake Point and Bright Leaf.
Cabernet Franc is the lake's red. Knapp Winery, established in 1983, says it was the first winery in the Finger Lakes to plant and vinify the grape, and it is now on nearly every list around the lake in the region's cool register: red fruit, a leafy, peppery edge, moderate alcohol and tannins built for the table. The 2016 Cabernet Franc from Six Mile Creek won the Governor's Cup as New York's best wine in 2019; Cayuga Ridge pours an oaked and an unoaked version, Usonia Wine a structured bottling from its own New Suns vines, and Sheldrake Point has made its dry rosé, a third of everything it produces, from the grape alone since 2009.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir do better here than the region's reputation suggests, particularly across the water, where Treleaven Wines has led with Chardonnay since 1984 and Heart & Hands built a 2,000-case winery around Pinot Noir on limestone. Blaufränkisch, often labelled Lemberger, rewards ordering wherever it appears, and the lake has a taste for the unexpected: Saperavi and Siegerrebe at Knapp Winery, Saperavi and Rkatsiteli at Airy Acres, Gamay and Dornfelder at Bet the Farm, and whites and reds raised in terracotta and concrete at Six Eighty Cellars. Sparkling wine runs from the semi-dry Blanc de Blanc at Swedish Hill to the Brut Rosé at Goose Watch and a crackling sparkling red at Usonia Wine. And the hybrids are no embarrassment here: Cayuga White carries the lake's name, and a flight that ends with it, or with a sweet Niagara at Americana Vineyards, tastes the region's past beside its present.
How the lake shapes the wine
Water warms and cools far more slowly than land, and Cayuga has a great deal of water: 38 miles of it, 435 feet deep, and by the records kept at Wells College it has frozen right across only eight times since 1875, the last in 2015. Through spring the cold lake holds the vines back until the worst frosts have passed; through autumn it gives back the summer's heat and pushes the first killing frost later than the farmland a mile inland gets it. Those extra weeks let Riesling and Cabernet Franc, both late to ripen, reach full flavour while keeping the acidity that defines them.
The effect is not even along the shore. For about six miles below the outlet the lake is shallow and weedy, mudflat and marsh running into the Montezuma refuge, and thin water stores little heat; it is no accident that the wineries at this end, Montezuma Winery and the Apple Station Winery, made their names with honey, cranberries and apples. Off Ovid, by contrast, the water is close to its greatest width and depth, the stretch Hosmer Winery farms on easterly slopes of silt loam over shale; Six Eighty Cellars, up the hill, is named for the 680 feet of rise from the lake bed to the top of its vines; and Sheldrake Point sits on an east-facing slope between two gorges, on gravelly loam and clay over shale, limestone and slate.
The east shore adds limestone. The vineyard at Heart & Hands, 650 feet from the water at Carr's Cove, sits on the limestone and dolostone of the Onondaga formation, ground of the kind Pinot Noir growers look for; at Bright Leaf a quarry of Tully limestone runs through the farm and divides the well-drained loam of the upper block, given to Riesling and Chardonnay, from the heavier silt below, given to the reds. Aspect completes the pattern: the west shore's vines face east into the morning sun, the east shore's face west and south-west into the afternoon, and it is on the afternoon side that the lake's Burgundian ambitions have taken root.
A short history: farm wineries, the first trail and the first sub-appellation
Before 1976 New York had 19 wineries; the Farm Winery Act of that year let growers make and sell wine from their own grapes, and by 1985 there were 63. On Cayuga the vines were already in the ground: the Petersons of Swedish Hill had planted in 1969 to sell grapes to Taylor, and Cameron and Maren Hosmer put in the first rows of Hosmer Winery in 1972. Jim Doolittle, who had worked on the farm winery bill at the state agriculture department, bought land at Frontenac Point in 1978 and took farm winery licence number 44 in 1982; his family still runs Frontenac Point. Lucas Vineyards, not yet listed here, calls itself the lake's first winery; Americana Vineyards opened in 1981; and at Ovid Bob and Mary Plane were making wine at what is now Cayuga Ridge.
It was Mary Plane who proposed, in 1981, that the lake's wineries promote themselves together, and in 1983 five of them, the Planes, Lucas, Americana, Frontenac Point and Lakeshore, published a brochure as the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, by its own account the first organised wine trail in the United States. Knapp Winery joined the next year, Hosmer and Swedish Hill in 1986 and Six Mile Creek, Ithaca's first winery, in 1987. Across the water Pete and Tacie Saltonstall had planted Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Gewürztraminer at King Ferry in 1984 with a small Burgundian domaine in mind; Treleaven Wines, which sold its first wines in 1988 from a card table, is the oldest winery on the east shore. The appellation came from the same circle: Douglas and Susanna Knapp and Robert Plane petitioned for it, and on 24 March 1988 the Cayuga Lake AVA was approved, the hundredth in the country and the first inside the Finger Lakes AVA.
Cornell's contribution was a grape. Cayuga White, a cross of Schuyler and Seyval Blanc bred at the Geneva experiment station and released in 1972 as the first of its wine grapes, took the lake's name and is still poured from the oldest vines at Cayuga Ridge and as a dry, textured wine at Usonia Wine.
The west shore: Route 89 from Seneca Falls to Taughannock
Start at the top, where Routes 5 and 20 cross the outlet east of Seneca Falls and Montezuma Winery Finger Lakes stands at the junction with its mead, its distillery and its kitchen. Down Route 89, Swedish Hill Winery + Cider Co., inland at Romulus, has 80 acres of vines, three Governor's Cups and two miniature donkeys, Doobie and Sven, who lend their names to the sweeter bottlings. Knapp Winery, on Ernsberger Road, is the Cabernet Franc pioneer, with Field & Vine, the lake's first winery restaurant, opened in 1992. On the lake road, Goose Watch Winery pours in a century-old barn above its own dock, with Viognier and Traminette on a list that ends in a white port and a cream sherry; Buttonwood Grove Winery lets three log cabins from April to November and won the 2017 Governor's Cup with a Riesling; and its owners' second cellar, Six Eighty Cellars on Swick Road, opened in 2021 to age Chenin Blanc, Rkatsiteli and Nebbiolo in clay and concrete.
At Ovid four wineries sit within a mile of Route 89. Thirsty Owl Wine Company farms 41 acres of the 150 the Planes once owned, with a 14-slip dock and a bistro; Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery is the Planes' original estate, a barn lit by Gothic church lamps where any four wines cost eight dollars; Usonia Wine is a working farm where the owners host hour-long tastings at a communal table, by appointment; and Hosmer Winery has 70 acres of estate fruit, a 200-year-old barn and a guest house a few steps away. A few minutes down County Road 153, Sheldrake Point Winery is the shore's most complete lakeside estate: 55 acres of ten vinifera varieties, a bistro, eight boat slips and a 400-foot beach.
South of Interlaken the wineries turn personal. Airy Acres Vineyard has been a family farm since 1918, once the county's largest chicken farm and still home to a grass airstrip, with 21 acres planted since 2015 that include Saperavi and Rkatsiteli. Americana Vineyards, a founding trail member from 1981, keeps Niagara and Diamond beside its Cabernet Franc. Three miles north of Taughannock Falls, Frontenac Point Vineyard & Estate Winery is a two-person estate open at weekends from May to mid-November, where five pours arrive in a single glass with bread between them and the Pinot Noir spends three and a half years in neutral oak.
The east shore and the south end
Route 90 leaves Routes 5 and 20 at the village of Cayuga and follows the east shore south with long stretches of farmland between the stops. The Apple Station Winery comes first, on Cross Road outside Union Springs: an orchard planted in 1986 that added a winery in 2010 and pours apple wines, hard cider and two Rieslings in a tasting room fitted out like an old filling station. Just south of Union Springs, Heart & Hands Wine Company is the lake's Pinot Noir specialist: Tom and Susan Higgins make about 2,000 cases a year of still and sparkling wine from vines planted on limestone in 2010 and 2019 within 650 feet of the water.
Aurora is the east shore's village, and Constantia Wine Company opened a tasting room and bottle shop on its Main Street in summer 2025, next to the Inns of Aurora and reachable by boat from the inns' dock, pouring Grüner Veltliner, Syrah and a barrel-aged sparkling cider. King Ferry holds the shore's two estates. Bright Leaf Vineyard on Clearview Road planted 14 acres from 2014 on a south-west slope split by a limestone quarry, whites above and reds below, and pours seated tastings that run from sparkling Chardonnay and Riesling to a Riesling ice wine. Treleaven Wines on Lake Road is the oldest winery on this shore, 27 acres and about 6,000 cases built on Chardonnay and Riesling since 1984, with a bistro called Farm in the Willows and free music at its open-air Hangtime from late May to October.
Ithaca is 20 minutes further south. Six Mile Creek Vineyard & Distillery, on the hill east of the city, opened in 1987 as Ithaca's first winery and now runs a copper pot still beside the vats, making vodka, gin and Italian-style liqueurs from its own wine in a restored 19th-century Dutch Colonial barn. Bet the Farm Winery began as a 500-square-foot shop in Aurora in 2006 and moved to Krums Corners Road, midway to Trumansburg, where Nancy Tisch and Kit Kalfs planted the Jacob Thomas Vineyard in 2018; the tasting room she calls quiet by design pours Gamay, Saperavi, Dornfelder and Traminette.
Beyond the tasting room: gorges, marsh and the market
Ithaca earns its place as a base with more than beds. Taughannock Falls, north of the city off Route 89, drops 215 feet into a gorge with a trail to its foot, and the state park around it has a beach, cabins and a marina; Trumansburg, the village just above the park on Route 96, hosts the GrassRoots festival each July. On Saturday mornings from April to December the Ithaca Farmers Market fills its wooden pavilion at Steamboat Landing with more than 130 members who must grow or make what they sell within 30 miles; it is the best place on the lake to buy lunch for a winery deck. Cornell sits on the hill above the town, and Allan H. Treman State Marine Park has 370 slips for anyone arriving by boat, a real option here: Goose Watch, Thirsty Owl and Sheldrake Point have docks, and Constantia can be reached from the Inns of Aurora dock.
The north end is marsh country. The Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1938 across some 10,000 acres of wetland, is a stopover for migrating birds two minutes from Montezuma Winery, and Seneca Falls holds the Women's Rights National Historical Park, where the Wesleyan Chapel of the 1848 convention and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's house stand a few streets apart. On the east shore, Union Springs looks out on Frontenac Island, one of only two islands in the Finger Lakes; Aurora, with the Inns of Aurora around the 1833 Aurora Inn, makes the quieter base; and Long Point State Park just south of it has a beach, a boat launch and four and a half miles of trail.
Eating on the lake is easier than on most of its neighbours: bistros at Sheldrake Point and Thirsty Owl, Field & Vine at Knapp Winery, Farm in the Willows at Treleaven Wines, a kitchen at Montezuma Winery, charcuterie trays at Americana Vineyards and brunch tastings at Six Eighty Cellars. For beds among the vines there are the three cabins at Buttonwood Grove and the Crooked Farmhouse at Hosmer Winery; each winery's own page lists other places to stay close by, and the trip-planning guide compares Ithaca with the other bases.
Making the most of a visit to Cayuga Lake
Give each shore its own day, base yourself in Ithaca or Aurora, and wherever Cabernet Franc is poured taste it after a dry and a semi-dry Riesling from the same house; that pair of habits teaches more about Cayuga than any number of stops.
- Choose a base and a shore. Ithaca puts the two south-end wineries close, Frontenac Point about 22 minutes up Route 89 and the Ovid cluster about 35; Aurora sits midway down the east shore; Seneca Falls lies between the tops of both. No bridge crosses the lake, so switching shores mid-afternoon means driving round the north end or through Ithaca, and a day that tries both spends its best hour on the road.
- Taste comparatively. Ask for the dry and the semi-dry Riesling together at Hosmer Winery or Treleaven Wines, then set Cabernet Franc against Blaufränkisch, or the oaked against the unoaked Cabernet Franc at Cayuga Ridge. On the east shore put a Pinot Noir from Heart & Hands beside one from Constantia. Finish with a Cayuga White, the lake's own grape, dry at Usonia Wine or off-dry almost anywhere else.
- Book the small rooms, walk into the big ones. Usonia Wine tastes by appointment only, for eight people at most; Heart & Hands suggests a reservation; Six Eighty Cellars asks for bookings and requires them for its cellar tour; and groups of more than six should ring ahead at Sheldrake Point and Cayuga Ridge. The larger estates, Swedish Hill and Thirsty Owl among them, take walk-ins daily. Each winery's own page here carries its current hours.
- Plan lunch on the lake. The west shore has the kitchens: the bistro at Sheldrake Point serves lunch six days a week and dinner from Friday to Sunday, Thirsty Owl has a bistro of its own, Knapp Winery has Field & Vine, and Montezuma Winery a kitchen at the top of the lake. On the east shore, Farm in the Willows at Treleaven Wines is the one full restaurant and Aurora's inns fill the gap.
- Pick your season. September and October bring the harvest, the fullest tasting rooms and the trail's ticketed weekends, so book anything seated. June to August is deck weather, with music at The Hangtime at Treleaven Wines from late May to October and on the deck at Buttonwood Grove all summer. Winter thins the map: Frontenac Point closes from mid-November to May and Heart & Hands from January to mid-February, while the larger houses pour all year.
- Settle the driving, then think about what to take home. The byway round the lake is 87 miles and every tasting room is a drive from the next, so nominate a driver who is not tasting or book a tour. For the cellar at home, Cayuga's dry Rieslings, its Cabernet Francs and the east shore's Pinot Noirs repay a few years in a cool cupboard, and the ice wines from Sheldrake Point and Bright Leaf will keep longer; most wineries ship to the states they are licensed for, so ask at the counter.
Common questions
How many wineries are on Cayuga Lake?
Twenty-one appear in this guide: 14 on the west shore along Route 89, five on the east shore along Route 90 and two within about eight miles of Ithaca, each confirmed against its own website in September 2026. Several more pour on the lake but are not yet listed here, among them Lucas Vineyards at Interlaken, Long Point and Quarry Ridge on the east shore, Bellwether near Trumansburg and Ports of New York in Ithaca. The Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, a membership organisation, has ten members, nine of them among the 21.
What wines is Cayuga Lake known for?
Riesling in dry, semi-dry and sweet styles, as everywhere in the Finger Lakes, and Cabernet Franc, which Knapp Winery says it was the first in the region to plant and which is now on most lists as a red, a dry rosé and even an ice wine. The east shore has built a reputation for Chardonnay at Treleaven Wines and Pinot Noir at Heart & Hands. Beyond those, look for Blaufränkisch, Saperavi and sparkling wine, for Cayuga White, the Cornell hybrid that carries the lake's name, and for the honey, cranberry and apple wines made at the shallow north end.
Which shore of Cayuga Lake should I start on?
The one nearer your bed. From Ithaca, Route 89 north reaches Frontenac Point in about 22 minutes and the Ovid cluster of four wineries in about 35. From Aurora or Auburn, Route 90 down the east shore to King Ferry is the direct run. From Seneca Falls both shores start equally close: Goose Watch is 21 minutes down Route 89 and Union Springs 24 down Route 90. The west shore has more wineries and the kitchens; the east has more space, Pinot Noir and, since its slopes face west, the sunsets.
When is the best time to visit Cayuga Lake wineries?
September and October, when the grapes come in and the hillsides turn; the price is full tasting rooms and trail events at weekends, so book anything seated. June to August is deck season, with music at Treleaven Wines and Buttonwood Grove and boats tying up at Sheldrake Point. May is quiet and green, and the smallest estates reopen then. In winter the larger houses pour on, but Heart & Hands closes from January to mid-February and several others drop to short weeks.
Do I need a reservation to taste on Cayuga Lake?
For Usonia Wine, yes: tastings are by appointment on the farm, hosted by the owners, for eight people at most. Heart & Hands suggests one, Six Eighty Cellars asks for bookings and requires them for its cellar tour, and any group of more than six should ring ahead at Sheldrake Point and Cayuga Ridge. Most other tasting rooms take walk-ins. The thing to check is the day rather than the booking, since several of the smallest producers keep three-day or weekend weeks, and each winery's page here shows its current hours.
Where should I stay for a Cayuga Lake wine tour?
Ithaca has the most beds and restaurants, puts the two south-end wineries and Taughannock Falls close and the Ovid cluster about 35 minutes away, and suits a first visit. Aurora, on the east shore, is the quiet alternative: the Inns of Aurora around the 1833 Aurora Inn, with Constantia next door and Heart & Hands, Bright Leaf and Treleaven Wines a short drive away. Among the vines, Buttonwood Grove lets three log cabins from April to November and Hosmer Winery has a three-bedroom guest house; each winery's own page lists places to stay nearby.
More Finger Lakes wine guides
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Every Finger Lakes winery
The whole region in one directory, lake by lake, with a note on how each listing is checked.
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Planning a Finger Lakes trip
When to go, where to base yourself, how to pace a tasting day, and sample itineraries shore by shore.
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The interactive map
All eleven lakes on one map, with favourites, sharing and suggested nearby stops for building a route.