Finger Lakes Wine Center opens

Built in the spirit of promoting and building awareness for the entire region

The Finger Lakes Wine Center is a not for profit organization which spent $900,000 in order to build the center and make it operational. $600,000 of this money came from the State of New York, Tompkins County Tourism and the City of Ithaca. The remaining funding came from a campaign, which still has $50,000 to raise before the final fundraising goal is met.

With Finger Lakes wine education at the forefront, the Finger Lakes Wine Center was built in the spirit of promoting and building awareness for the entire region. Therefore, there isn’t a membership pay-per-play element to the center. At any given time there are 25 to 30 different Finger Lakes wines being poured at the center which changes month-to-month in order to expand the wine offerings and continue to give individuals and groups a reason to return.

The Finger Lakes Wine Center is 3300 square feet.

The space is urban and contemporary and features wine tastings. By having so many different varieties available each day, they feel the intimidation factor is removed for visitors, who can explore their own individual palates and map out specific wine trail routes. They believe that the personalized approach translates into a richer and more rewarding wine region experience where visitors can learn the nuance of flavors from a variety of lakes, wineries and blending techniques.

The tale of the Finger Lakes wine country is an ongoing story about a wide variety of grapes, passionate winemaking artisans and the wines that they produce. With this story at the forefront, the Finger Lakes Wine Center educates visitors through a series of exhibitions, wine tastings and interactive displays. The center displays an 1845 reproduction map, 24 ft by 15 ft, which details the wine making processes in the cellar, highlights the grapes grown in the region, how the natural climate and micro climate mesh with the terroir of the region to produce a myriad of wines.

Wine tastings take place throughout the day and during the winter months, visitors are welcome to sample an array of wines from across the Finger Lakes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. However, at the height of the summer season, tastings will take place seven days a week.

The Finger Lakes Wine Center is extremely open to scheduling appointments and highly encourages calling ahead for large groups.