For decades, Napa was the promised land for ambitious vintners eager to make a mark in the wine industry. But in recent years, a number of factors are sending winemakers to one of the most quietly beloved but stubbornly under-the-radar regions in the country: the Finger Lakes. Establishing a winery in Napa is now really only possible for the rich. Prime vineyard land alone runs between $300,000 and $400,000+ per acre in the Napa Valley, according to a cost assessment study conducted by UC Davis – and that’s just the land, without considering the costs of labor, the building out of a winery, or the purchase of any of the tools needed to farm, ferment, age and produce a single bottle of wine. In contrast, planting a vineyard and bringing it to production in the Finger Lakes, requires about $43,443, all in per acre, a study by Cornell University found. This simple maths pushed wife and husband duo Ria D’Aversa and Michael Penn to put down a stake in the Finger Lakes with Ria’s Wines in 2022. Prior to discovering Finger Lakes, Penn was the head winemaker at Green and Red Vineyard in Napa, while D’Aversa managed Constellation Brands’ Napa vineyard, and the duo had also launched their own passion project, Pennrose. On paper, everything was rosy. “We both had really exciting jobs and were moving upwards in our career,” D’Aversa said. But doing business there, where “the market was full of incredible growers and winemakers, it was hard to stand
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Wine
