Seneca Lake AVA

Seneca Lake is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) surrounding Seneca Lake, the largest of the eleven Finger Lakes in upstate New York, approximately 35 miles (56 km) south of Lake Ontario within portions of Seneca, Ontario, Schuyler and Yates counties.

Effective January 24, 2003, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 divided the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) into two new agencies, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau {TTB) in Treasury and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in the Department of Justice. The regulation and taxation of alcohol beverages remained a function of the Treasury and the responsibility of TTB. References to the former ATF and the new TTB reflects the time frame, before or after January 24, 2003.

Seneca Lake AVA was established on July 2, 2003 by the TTB after reviewing the petition submitted by Ms. Beverly Stamp of Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen, New York, on behalf of herself and local vintners proposing the viticultural area named "Seneca Lake." The AVA is the second sub-appellation established within the Finger Lakes viticultural area.
Seneca Lake is a glacial lake about 35 miles (56 km) long and up to 600 feet (180 m) deep. The lake does not freeze in winter, and acts as a giant heat storage unit for the vineyards surrounding the lake, extending the growing season. The most commercially important grape variety in the region is Riesling, although a wide variety of vitis vinifera and French hybrid grapes are grown. In 1977, Glenora Wine Cellars was the first winery established in the Seneca Lake region. Other wineries soon followed, including Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard and Wagner Vineyards Estate Winery, established by Stanley Wagner in 1979. At the outset, Seneca Lakes viticultural area covered approximately 204,600 acres (319.7 sq mi) of primarily rural agricultural and forestland with about 3,756 acres (1,520 ha) cultivating grapes with 33 wineries adjacent to Seneca Lake.