The region
How Wine Came to the Finger Lakes
We arrived here from Champagne, which makes us very recent additions. The vines on these slopes predate us by a century and a half, and the reason they are here at all comes down to a piece of geography rather than anyone's ambition.
Why did wine start on Keuka Lake?
Because the lake made it possible. Deep water stores summer heat and releases it slowly into the autumn, delaying the first frost on the slopes and extending the ripening season. At this latitude, without that effect, wine grapes would struggle.
Commercial grape growing in the region began on these slopes in the nineteenth century and spread from there to the other lakes. Keuka was first because the combination of steep south and east facing land above deep water is unusually concentrated here.
How did the region arrive at Riesling?
By finding out what suits the climate. Cool nights and a long slow autumn are what Riesling wants, and the same conditions that let the fruit hang late here are the ones that produce its acidity. It became the regional signature because the region kept proving it right.
The Finger Lakes Wine Alliance sets out the growing conditions in detail. We wrote about the grape itself, from a French point of view, in what is Riesling.
The short version
- Glaciers cut deep troughs and left steep slopes above deep water.
- That water delays frost in autumn and softens the winter near the shore.
- Commercial growing began on Keuka and spread to the other lakes.
- Riesling became the signature because the climate suits it.
Where do we come into it?
Late, and from elsewhere. Céline and Sébastien LeSeurre are French winemakers. Sébastien is the sixth generation of a winemaking family from Champagne; Céline grew up around her family's vineyard near the Pyrénées. Our first harvest on Keuka was in 2012.
Before planting, Sébastien tasted grapes from more than two hundred vineyard sites across the region. That was the whole method: find out what the land here does, rather than decide in advance what it should do.
French roots, Finger Lakes soul. Our sparkling follows the méthode champenoise his family has used for six generations, with over ten years on the lees and each bottle handled by hand at least sixty-eight times. We explain it in our guide to the method.
We came to find out what this place makes, using what six generations taught us. That is a different exercise from repeating it.
On the slopes where it started, on the east shore of Keuka Lake.
Where did Finger Lakes wine begin?
On the slopes of Keuka Lake, where commercial grape growing in the region started in the nineteenth century before spreading to the other lakes.
Why is Riesling the signature grape?
Because the climate suits it. Cool nights and a long autumn produce the acidity the grape is known for, and the lakes make that autumn possible.
How long have you been here?
Our first harvest was in 2012. Sébastien is the sixth generation of a winemaking family from Champagne, so the family history is much longer than our history on this lake.
Written by
The Domaine LeSeurre Team
Céline & Sébastien LeSeurre and the team at Domaine LeSeurre — a family winery on Keuka Lake, in Hammondsport, New York. French roots, Finger Lakes soul.
