By Michael Welch, Publisher, Editor in Chief
I love living in a wine region and the reasons are more plentiful than I can count. For starters, the growth of the wineries in the Finger Lakes has also resulted in a surge of good places to eat and drink.
When I talk to the veteran winemakers around here, they all mention how when they started their wineries 30 or more years ago, there were no places to eat on the wine trails. Several of them like Glenora, Wagner and Bully Hill started their own restaurants in order to give tourists and locals the full food and wine experience (Finger Lakes wines being as food-friendly as they are).
And now, as the stories in this edition prove, that food and wine experience and has only gotten better. Chef Brud Holland has been pairing local food with local wines for decades and has perfected his craft over on Seneca Lake. Laura Winter Falk has written the ultimate story on how the pandemic affected wineries and how they pivoted to offer even better tasting experiences of higher quality for their visitors, a welcome shift that is here for the long term. Speaking of the long-term, I’m excited to share the story of McGregor Vineyards celebrating their 50 years over on Keuka Lake. And just to keep the beer drinkers happy, we have a great piece about the growth of Prison City Brewing in Auburn. The winemakers here all have a saying that it takes a lot of good beer to make good wine. So in a way, they are all depending on each other to get the job done.
And we’re depending on you to help us continue telling all these stories of the good things happening in the Finger Lakes. Please subscribe to the magazine and get copies delivered right to your mailbox. We are grateful for your support.
I like to think of all our stories, whether in print or online, as a call to action. Read them, absorb them, and then get out there and check these places out. You’ll learn to love living in a wine region as much as I do.
