Sense of Place: Why the Finger Lakes?

This is the first post in our Sense of Place series, an exploration of the terroir, geology, climate, and character of the Finger Lakes—and why this region produces wines that stop us in our tracks.

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There's something particularly humbling about realizing you've been driving past something extraordinary for years without fully seeing it.

The Finger Lakes were always there, an hour and a half south of Rochester, hiding in plain sight. We'd rented lake houses, hiked the gorges, eaten our way through farmers’ markets, and visited wineries on long weekends. We knew it was special. We just hadn't stopped long enough to understand why.

That understanding came over time.

The importance of terroir

The French word for "sense of place" is the idea that the location where the grapes grow leaves a fingerprint on the wines they become. The soil, the slope, the climate, and the way light falls across the vines in September all contribute to what’s in your glass. It's why a Finger Lakes Riesling tastes like nowhere else on earth: bright, electric, and with an acidity that makes you reach for another sip. We didn't have that vocabulary early on. We just knew something about these wines hit different.

The reason comes down to geology and water. The Finger Lakes were carved by glaciers over millions of years, leaving behind eleven deep, narrow lakes surrounded by steep hillsides of shale and slate, all sitting just north of the 42nd parallel. That latitude is no accident; it's the same line that runs through Burgundy and the Rhône. It’s cool enough to ripen grapes slowly and preserve their natural acidity, and warm enough—just barely—to bring them to full ripeness before frost.

And the lakes themselves? They're not just a backdrop. They're a climate machine, absorbing warmth all summer and releasing it through fall, extending the growing season in ways that make viticulture possible this far north. We'll go more into that concept in future posts.

Finding our place

But the reason we're writing this series isn't purely scientific. It's personal. In the fall of 2020, we bought a house on the west shore of Cayuga Lake. The decision was unexpected, unplanned, and immediately right. The Finger Lakes stopped being a place we visited and became a place we call home—and a place where we’re building something new. Our winery name literally encodes our coordinates: Forty Two: the 42nd parallel (and possibly the answer to life, the universe, and everything).

It’s a place that rewards attention. The more you learn about the geology, the climate, the microclimates, lake by lake and hillside by hillside, the more you learn about the secrets found in every glass of Finger Lakes wine.

If you like this post, you can learn about what makes the Finger Lakes wine region so special here.

If you’re following along, thanks for being part of the ride—more stories (and wines) to come. If you want to stay updated on the latest posts, make sure to subscribe to our blog. And don’t forget to check out our Facebook group, Finger Lakes Food and Wine Adventure.

Cheers from the lake,
—Niki & Scott