J.R. Dill Winery

About J.R. Dill Winery

J.R. Dill Winery sits on the east shore of Seneca Lake in Burdett, six miles up Route 414 from Watkins Glen, where the deep water buys the lakeside slopes a longer, safer ripening season than the hills behind them get. The name belongs to Jeff (J.R.) Dill, a Watkins Glen native who started fermenting in his parents' basement, founded the winery in 2009 and opened the tasting room in 2011; his great-grandfather H.J. Dill worked vineyards on this same shore more than a century earlier.

This is a working winery rather than an estate: the fruit comes from Seneca Lake growers within about seven miles and is made in small batches, with the house leaning toward dry reds. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon both spend eighteen months in French oak, as do a Merlot and a 50/50 Cabernet blend, for a firmer, darker style than the lake usually offers. The whites are more varied than most Seneca lists: dry and semi-dry Rieslings, a citrusy Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Gris, a whole-cluster-pressed Sauvignon Blanc and a dry Vidal Blanc. Two force-carbonated sparklers (Cayuga Rise, from Cayuga White, and Deep Lake Bubble, a Riesling–Chardonnay blend) show off hybrid and vinifera fruit honestly, and the sweeter wines are labeled separately as Jabber Waulkie, so nobody has to guess.

The tasting room is the reason to linger. The bar is a century-old fixture salvaged from the Shoemaker building in downtown Watkins Glen, its top set with beach glass gathered from Seneca Lake over decades, under early-twentieth-century photographs of the town. Tastings are flights of five wines of your choosing, first-come, first-served with no reservations taken, and they can go out to the covered front deck with its lake view. There is a short small-bites menu (pretzels, boards, dips), local beer and cocktails, a giant corkscrew for photos and a genuine welcome for dogs.