HAMMONDSPORT, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – In our final Destination New York segment of the year, we travel west to Hammondsport to visit the oldest continuously operated winery in the Finger Lakes.
Pleasant Valley Wine Company has been a staple in American history since 1860.
The historic stone and stucco buildings from the 1800’s are nestled into the hillside just south of Hammondsport. Pleasant Valley produces 8 million gallons of wine each year from 500 acres of nearby vineyards. As the oldest winery in the region, it’s easy to get lost in the history. But tour guide Jonah Wilkinson says the company never loses sight of the original mission.
“The wine is what makes it still awesome today. The fact that we have so many options, dry, many sweets as well, for many different people. Really, we’ve got something for everybody here,” said Wilkinson.
Pleasant Valley has grown through acquisition to produce some of the best known brands of Finger Lakes wine including Great Western champagne, Widmer, Autumn Frost, Gold Seal, Millennium and Brickstone Cellars. Great Western has been popular through the decades, a favorite of Jackie Kennedy. Ronald Reagan stocked it on Air Force One. And it’s been used to celebrate World Series victories and to christen aircraft carriers.
“This winery, you have to remember, has been here since before the Civil War. That’s a lot of time to cause such an impact, not just in the local area, but everything around us. And still to this day, it’s internationally renowned. A lot of people love our champagnes,” said Wilkinson.
The winery boasts a sprawling welcome center that doubles as a wine tasting facility and a museum on viniculture in New York State. You can watch a video inside a giant fermenting barrel and see a timeline of the industry’s expansion. That journey hit a major roadblock during the years of Prohibition.
“13 years of not being able to produce what you’re known for, it’s quite a feat to accomplish as a business,” said Wilkinson.
Pleasant Valley was allowed to continue producing some communion wines. And it sold bottles of grape juice where, if you peeled back the label, you found step-by-step instructions on how “not” to turn it into wine. Plus the coopers who were employed to make the wine barrels were converted to producing furniture. You can see many of the pieces as you tour the old world-style buildings.
“We still use the formal champenoise method today, it’s just a lot more streamlined than it used to be,” said Wilkinson.
The winery was dug out of the hillside with some dynamite, but mostly by hand, creating a mile worth of caverns. While the technology has advanced over the years, the focus has remained on consistency.
“We focus very hard on the fact that you can buy a bottle right now, then buy it 5 to 10 years from now and it’s the same thing you remembered. That’s not easy work,” said Wilkinson.
Pleasant Valley has been operated by the Doyle family since 1995. In addition to producing their own wines, the winery makes private label wine for Sam’s Club, presses grapes for Welch’s grape juice and stores wine for other Finger Lakes wineries. And it’s experimenting with other products while still celebrating the iconic offerings that put it on the map.
“Everybody here really feels like a close-knit family. And we all aspire for the same goal, we all appreciate this place, and we all appreciate the history, and we all appreciate our wine,” said Wilkinson.
All with a goal of producing fine wines for another 164 years.
The Visitors Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through December.
Wine tastings are $10.
To reserve a tour or order some wine, go to PleasantValleyWine.com
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