The Seneca Lake Wine Trail is the easiest way to taste the Finger Lakes in one loop: 28 member wineries on the two shores of the deepest lake in the region, linked by Route 14 on the west side and Route 414 on the east. These eight are the cellars we would plan a day around, from Geneva at the north end to the slopes above Watkins Glen, with what each tasting costs and how to book it.
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In this article
How we chose these Seneca Lake Wine Trail wineries
The Seneca Lake Wine Trail lists 28 members, and they range from serious Riesling estates to party stops with live music and a brewery out back. Visiting all of them is not a plan. We kept wineries that grow or source Finger Lakes fruit, pour at a published fee or say clearly how to book, and give you a reason to stop that the next tasting room does not.
We also spread the list across both shores, so the eight work as one loop or as two half days, and we left out the cellars already covered in our guide to the best Finger Lakes wineries, such as Fox Run, Ravines and Lamoreaux Landing. Hermann J. Wiemer is in that guide too: its tasting room sits on the west shore near Dundee, but it is not a member of the trail. Prices come from each winery’s own site, and no winery paid to be here. How we test and rank is set out in our editorial methodology.
West shore: Route 14 from Geneva to Watkins Glen
The west shore is the busier side, with the larger estates and most of the hotels within a short drive of Geneva. Route 14 runs the length of it, so these four follow the road from north to south.
1. Belhurst Estate Winery: A Castle Stop at the North End
Belhurst is the most theatrical start to the trail: a red stone mansion on the lake south of Geneva, with hotels, restaurants and a spa around the tasting room. The wine is not the reason serious collectors come to Seneca, but it is a relaxed first pour, and the cheese and chocolate flights make it an easy stop for a mixed group.
It also stays open later than almost anyone else on the lake, which makes it a sensible last stop if you are sleeping in Geneva. The limit is the crowd: on summer weekends it is busy, and small groups cannot book ahead. If the trip is about Riesling, keep this short and spend the time farther south.
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2. Anthony Road Wine Company: A Seated Flight Over the Vines
Anthony Road is a family winery that has farmed this slope above Penn Yan since the late 1980s, and it is the place on the west shore where a tasting feels unhurried. Flights are seated, indoors or on a veranda over the vineyard and the lake, and there is a garden to walk through with a glass afterwards.
The owner-guided tour is the one to book if you want to understand the trail rather than just taste along it: it walks the vines and ends with five wines and charcuterie. The limit is size. Parties over six are not split across tables, so a larger group needs to call first.
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3. Glenora Wine Cellars: Tasting, Lunch and a Room in Dundee
Glenora is the one-stop answer on the west shore: a tasting room, a restaurant with a covered terrace and an inn with lake views, all on the same hillside. That makes it the natural midday stop, and the obvious base if you want to taste in the morning and walk to dinner.
The cellar tour, three times a day, adds the production side for very little. Glenora is large and well organized rather than intimate, but it is open almost every day of the year, which matters in winter, when smaller cellars cut their hours.
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4. Lakewood Vineyards: A Vineyard Walk Above Watkins Glen
Lakewood farms about 100 acres and 14 grape varieties a few miles north of Watkins Glen, and it earns its place for the things it does besides pour. A short guided tour on weekends and a vineyard hike three mornings a week turn a tasting into an hour outdoors, which is the right pace at the south end of the lake.
The flights are split by style, dry and semi-dry or semi-sweet and sweet, so a couple with different tastes can each choose. Dogs are welcome and local cheese and meats are sold on site. It is a good last stop before the gorge trails at Watkins Glen State Park.
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Book it
Rather not drive between tastings?
A small-group day on Seneca Lake with the driving handled, listed from $263 and rated 4.7/5 across 222 Viator reviews.
East shore: Route 414 from Hector to Lodi
The east shore faces the afternoon sun and feels more rural, with smaller tasting rooms spread along Route 414. These four run from the south end near Hector up to Lodi.
5. Red Newt Cellars: Riesling and a Bistro in Hector
Red Newt is a Riesling stop on the east shore, pouring Riesling alongside Cabernet Franc, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir. It is a straightforward standing tasting at the bar, which suits people who want to taste a lot of wine and talk about it.
The bistro next door makes it the lunch stop on this side of the lake. The limit is the calendar: from late October the tasting room opens Friday to Monday only, and midweek visits need an appointment. The winery does not publish its tasting fee online, so ask at the bar.
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6. Silver Thread Winegarden: Sustainable Riesling, Six at a Time
Silver Thread is the smallest feel on this list: cool-climate dry and off-dry wines from sustainably grown grapes, poured to groups of six or fewer. The winegarden on Route 414 is the everyday stop, and in summer a separate estate tasting room on Caywood Road opens on Fridays and Saturdays for older and limited wines.
Come with a small party and you will get the attention that the bigger rooms cannot give. Come with eight and you will be turned into two visits or asked to book a pairing a week ahead. Winter hours are short, Friday to Sunday afternoons only.
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7. Boundary Breaks: Riesling Specialists in Lodi
Boundary Breaks is the winery on this list most focused on two grapes, Riesling and Cabernet Franc, and it is the one to choose if you want to taste several Rieslings side by side and see how sweetness changes them. The tasting room looks over the lake, and on Saturdays the owner walks visitors through the vines.
It is also strict about who comes in: first come, first served, groups of six or fewer, and no buses or limousines. That rules it out of most guided tours, so it is a stop for those driving themselves. Dogs are welcome, with a fenced dog park.
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8. Wagner Vineyards: Wine, Beer and a Deck in Lodi
Wagner has been making wine on the east shore since 1979 and is the trail’s big, cheerful all-rounder: a guided tasting, a brewery with its own flights, a café and a deck over the vineyards. In a group where not everyone drinks wine, this is the stop that keeps everyone happy.
For something more serious, the library tasting pours four aged wines, a rare chance on the trail to see how Finger Lakes wine develops in bottle. The winter schedule is the limit: from November to mid-March it closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the café closes from early December.
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Planning the drive on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail
Seneca Lake is close to 40 miles long, and the trail has no bridge across it: you reach the other shore by driving around the north end at Geneva or the south end at Watkins Glen. The simplest plan is one shore per day. Four tastings in a day is plenty, and most rooms close at 5pm, so start by late morning.
Do not plan to drive yourself through a full day of tastings. A designated driver, or a tour, is the realistic answer. Viator lists a small-group tour of the south end of the lake, rated 4.8/5 across 74 reviews and listed from $265, and a private tour you plan with the operator on Seneca and Keuka. Check before you book that your chosen wineries accept tour groups: Boundary Breaks, for one, does not.
For a base, Geneva puts you at the top of both shores; our pick of hotels in Geneva, NY starts there, and our wider guide to Finger Lakes hotels covers Watkins Glen and the other lakes. Opening days shrink from November to April, so check each winery’s hours before a winter trip.
Prices are indicative and set by our booking partners and the wineries.
Where this fits in a Finger Lakes trip
Two days on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail cover the lake well. Add a third and you can drive west to Keuka for the cellars that started the region’s vinifera story, or east to Cayuga, both in our Finger Lakes wineries guide. For the bigger picture of the four lakes, seasons and getting around, start with our Finger Lakes wine country guide.
Most of these wineries ship within New York and to some other states, but the rules depend on where you live; our guide to shipping wine home explains what to ask at the counter.
Book it
Staying around Seneca Lake for more than a day? A rental car makes both shores easy.
Rent a car from Rochester, then save the tastings for the days someone else is driving.
