Heron Hill Tasting Room on Canandaigua Lake

About Heron Hill Tasting Room on Canandaigua Lake

Heron Hill Tasting Room on Canandaigua Lake is the winery's satellite outpost on the west shore of Canandaigua Lake, on Seneca Point Road in South Bristol about ten miles south of downtown Canandaigua. It occupies a restored century-old barn, formerly the South Bristol Cultural Center, that opened as a tasting room in 2010 with its high ceilings and hand-hewn beams intact, and the windows look over the Ingle family's rows of Riesling and Cabernet Franc toward the lake. The parent winery dates to 1977, when John and Jo Ingle built it on Keuka Lake, and the family still farms by hand under the VineBalance sustainability program.

Riesling is the core of the range: seven cool-climate versions, from the Classic dry, semi-dry and semi-sweet bottlings up to single-vineyard Ingle Vineyard and Reserve wines. Chardonnay comes both unoaked and barrel-aged, and the reds run to Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and a Blaufränkisch grown at Ingle Vineyard, alongside Bordeaux-style blends under the Eclipse and Chosen Spot labels. There is a Lady of the Lakes sparkling line and, to close a flight, a Late Harvest Vidal Blanc that is whole-cluster pressed and cool-fermented in stainless steel so its honey and pineapple stay fresh against the sugar.

Tastings are a set of five pours spanning dry to sweet; reservations are recommended and required for groups of six or more; walk-ins are seated as space allows. On Saturdays from late May through October there is live music, with wood-fired pizza in high summer, so a visit can stretch from a quick flight into an afternoon under the tent outside. The winery has stated that children under twelve are not permitted.