Re-Hello from Newfield, NY

I used to be a part of this community, but it's been so long, that I probably need to reintroduce myself.

Anyway, when I was here before my family and I still lived in CA. We moved here to the Newfield in the Finger Lakes region of NY, to pursue our dream of owning our own winery one day last year around July. We love it out here, but I've been thinking about brewing again, just for fun, to get my mind off the grapes every now and then.

If you need anything just holler, because god knows I'll be asking tons of questions LOL

Cool, a winery. Tell us more about that!

I had to Google it to see where it was in relation to Rochester. Welcome!

Welcome (back) from a fellow Finger Lakes resident!

ya about 2 hours from rochester. not that far at all, and what part of upstate are you from tiger?

anyway, we plan to open our winery in about 4-5 years. We wanted to do it the right way, so until then I found a winery to apprentice under pretty much doing everything that has to do with wine, from vine to winemaking. And I knew the winery owners here are a close knit bunch, and wouldnt take kindly to a CA boy coming out here to open a winery, without anybody knowing me. That would be a recipe for failure, as people here like i said, are close knit, and tend to not do business (sell grapes to, etc.) people they dont know.

So i figured i'd spend 5 years paying my dues in the industry, getting to know the people in the area where we'd be opening the winery, getting to know the people in the industry, and just having everyone get to know me. My boss and I have become close friends, and we have a great working/personal relationship, and our families get along very well together too.

i worked for him full time for harvest right after we got here last year, from late aug to late november, and after that i took a job at Cornell as my M-F 9-5 job, and i continue to work for him on weekends and after work as my schedule allows.

we love the area here, and love all the season, especially the snow. We are backwards people..we love the cold and snow, as i love to snowboard, and do a lot of things that are done outside regardless of weather (hunt, fish, etc). I think that was the biggest shock to the people in burdett, who met me after learning that my boss took in a filipino from CA as an apprentice...that i wasnt the city boy they were expecting, but a huntin, fishing, gun lovin', small town, brown redneck at heart LOL

I'm currently living (mostly) outside of Ithaca. I bounce back and forth between the east and west coasts for work.

My sister-in-law is an asst. winemaker out west - it's a tough industry to break into. Kudos and best wishes to you! Which winery are you working for?

Hey! Welcome back!! We live in one of the Syracuse suburbs. SWMBO is a BIG NY wine fan ~ right now she is drinking Wagner Reserve Red... Sounds like you are going about things the right way there. Good luck and maybe we'll run into ya on a wine tour sometime...

well in CA sure, its a lot tougher to break into, just on cost alone, its almost impossible w/ the cost of land there, that's the main reason we moved allt he way over here. Prime grapegrowing land is very reasonable here. I can get 30 acres for under 200k, whereas in Ca that would be in the millions.

I work for Catharine Valley Winery. Weekends and whenever i can right now, and I work for Cornell for my M-F 9-5 job.

sorry i thought this thread was already abandoned, didnt know there were a couple new replies.