O-Neh-Da and Eagle Crest Vineyards

About O-Neh-Da and Eagle Crest Vineyards

O-Neh-Da and Eagle Crest Vineyards sits above the western shore of Hemlock Lake, the undeveloped lake that supplies Rochester's water and is ringed by more than six thousand acres of state forest holding New York's oldest bald eagle nests. Bishop Bernard McQuaid, Rochester's first Catholic bishop, planted vines here in 1872 to secure altar wine for his churches and took the name from the Seneca word for the lake. Production paused for Prohibition and resumed in 1934, a Dutch missionary order ran the place for decades, and after years under lease to a California winemaking family it is now privately owned, with Will Ouweleen as vintner.

Two labels share the cellar: O-Neh-Da, the sacramental line the estate calls the oldest authentic producer of premium sacramental wine in the New World, and Eagle Crest, the table wine. Both follow the same rule of wine that is only grape. Fermentations start spontaneously on wild vineyard yeast in a century-old building, fruit is hand-picked where ripeness and acidity balance, and balance, not alcohol, is the goal. Riesling comes dry, semi-dry and in a Mosel-style bottling at 8.5 percent, alongside an unoaked Chardonnay, a plummy Cabernet Franc and a run of playfully named sweet wines built on nineteenth-century native grapes such as Isabella and Iona.

The tasting room is casual, with tables, a vintage VW van indoors and seating outside, and the estate hosts live music and books private events on the grounds. Opening times appear only on the event calendar, so check it or call before driving out to the lake.