Try 10 winemaker favorites on the Niagara Wine Trail

By Scott Scanlon
(Image above: Spring is the time of year to spend meaningful face time with winemakers and staff in regional tasting rooms. “We can talk to that consumer and really dive in deep,” says Michael Schweitzer, owner of Bella Rose Vineyard and Winery in the town of Lewiston. Photo courtesy of Niagara Wine Trail)

Branches in the vineyards aren’t the only things springing to life these days on the Niagara Wine Trail.

Winery tasting rooms along the trail – and across Western New York, New York State and Southern Ontario – are picking up steam on the way toward the busy summer and early fall travel seasons.

Those who grow grapes and make wine look forward to late spring as the ideal time to tout vintages newly available to visitors.

“It’s an intimate experience,”said Michael Schweitzer, president of the Niagara Wine Trail and owner of Bella Rose Vineyard and Winery in the town of Lewiston.

“Whether you’re somebody that’s been around wine for a long time, or somebody trying to get into wine for the first time, there’s much more accessibility,” Schweitzer said, “not only to the production of it, but because management and staff can explain the region, and the history around the different wines.”

Climate change has muddied growing seasons for most of this decade with May frosts that followed spring hot spells and endangered vines, according to the New York Wine and Grape Foundation.

The last two fall harvests were welcome exceptions.

That means winemakers generally worked with better and more abundant grapes harvested in 2024 to make barrel-aged wines, as well as crops picked last fall for the almost all the latest white and fruit wines.

“You’re seeing some of the sweeter varietals first because they tend to get produced quicker,” Schweitzer said. “It’s just the nature of the beast for fermentation time. By June, you’ll see your drive toward semi-dry whites. Anything that’s aged in oak you’re getting your second-year vintage, even your Chardonnays. Anything drier or sweeter white or blush would be ’25 vintages.”

Schweitzer opened Bella Rose 11 years ago after buying a historic 6-acre farm along Ridge Road. It is one of hundreds of wineries perched on the Niagara Escarpment, a 650-mile cliff that stretches west across the U.S.-Canadian border in arc-like fashion from upstate New York and into southern Ontario before it curls down the eastern side of Wisconsin along Lake Michigan.

This shelf, topped by a rigid layer of limestone, helps create a microclimate with historically cool spring weather and summer warmth that lingers into fall, thanks to temperate breezes off the Great Lakes.  

Spring allows those working in tasting rooms in such conditions to spend more time teaching patrons about a region with parallel conditions to French Bourdeaux and parts of Germany.

It’s also a chance to spend more time encouraging guests to drink beyond their comfort zones, Schweitzer said.

Cabernet and Pino grapes tend to thrive here, as do Reisling and Sauvignon, he said. Catawba grapes – which last century brought national acclaim to upstate New York in the jam and jelly business – are among varieties that make upstate wine regions unique.   

When pouring his Bella Rose Reisling, a semi-dry varietal, Schweitzer, sometimes tells tasting room visitors about licking a rock as a boy.

“It was that mineral, salty, salinity kind of taste I’m getting off of the Riesling,” he said. “Because we have limestone in our region, it feels like that’s an actual thing. You can use fancy words like minerality or say it tastes like wet stone.”

Ten wines to try

Growing season has started and meteorologists are calling for warm, wet summer.

Schweitzer and other winemakers will work in months to come to keep rot, bugs and other critters away from the fruits of their labor. They’ll continue to monitor and bottle their latest wines as they bolster their winery bottom lines.

Harvest time gets heaviest in September and October.

For now, let wine lovers and explorers drink in the season.

Here are 10 wines to consider on the Niagara Wine trail in the weeks to come.

Five from the trail

Pechette, from Victorianbourg Wine Estate in Wilson

Infused with natural peach essence and enhanced with a touch of effervescence that features a balanced sweet and tartness, with a hint of oak. Four-time winner of the best white wine at the Taste of Buffalo.

Five Sisters by Long Cliff Vineyard & Winery near Sanborn

This semi‑sweet white is new to the 15-year-old winery this spring and dedicated to Grandma Mary Ann of the third-generation DeMaison Family Farm’s winery owners. “This wine is blended from Niagara, Riesling, and Pinot Gris grapes to make it as bright and joyful as the women who inspired it,” the owners recently posted on social media.

Three Westie White by A Gust of Sun Winery outside Ransomville

This blend of Riesling, Traminette and Cayuga White grapes features a smooth, crisp taste with hints of apple and pear, as well as a mineral finish. Inspired by three rescued West Highland White Terriers the Gustafson family had when the winery opened 15 years ago.

Curiosity Cuvee from Black Willow Winery in Burt

Owner Cynthia West-Chamberlain made this wine to celebrate the winery’s 15-year anniversary. The label features artwork from a woman who visited the taproom a dozen years ago and created a chalk drawing of a hairless cat, after the two expressed their mutual admiration for them. “I’ve been waiting this long to find the right wine,” West-Chamberlain said of the dry red blend of Chancellor and Pinot Noir grapes aged in French and Hungarian oak.

Treasure Beyond Measure by Winery at Marjim Manor in Appleton

This sweet plum wine has hints of spice that make it work as an aperitif or with a spicy dish. Owner Margo Sue Bittner made this signature gold-medal wine in 2006 as a fundraiser for Roswell Park Cancer Institute to commemorate her fifth anniversary as a breast cancer survivor.

Five to try from Bella Rose

Schweitzer named his winery after his first child, Isabella Rose, now 12. He and his wife, Colleen Clarke, also have two other children, Charlotte Lily, 10, and Adain, 8.

Their oldest loves the winery name and “embellishes it probably a little too much,” Schweitzer said with a smile. “The running joke is always, what am I going to do for the other two?”

Here are his five tasting recommendations for those who visit his winery, all simply named.

Pinot Noir

This highly rated wine sports an intense cherry aroma with a juicy balance, “long complex finish … and dash of liquor-soaked richness to it,” according to Wine Enthusiast.

Ridge Red

Chancellor, Chambourcin and Marechal Foch grapes in balance make for a fruity nose and flavor profile of blackberry, blueberry, cedar and plum, with hints of chocolate.

Bourbon Barrel Aged Chardonay

This popular white grape sits for five months in nine-year-old Knob Creek oak barrels, yielding rich smells and tastes of vanilla bean, buttered toast and caramel.

Sparkling Reisling

Crisp, aromatic and produced with delicate bubbles. Notes of orange blossoms and hints of candied pear and green apple.

Bubbles

Niagara and Seyval grapes blend with a touch of Fredonia grapes to produce this semi- dry sparkling gem, with a hardy grape backbone and overtones of apricot and peach.

Upcoming pairing

Niagara Wine Trail wineries host an ultimate wine and charcuterie weekend June 6 and 7. Sample three wines at participating wineries with paired cheeses, meats, dips, and other board‑worthy essentials, and learn a few tricks of the trade you can use to elevate your own charcuterie creations at home. Tickets cost $35 before 9 p.m. June 4 at niagarawinetrail.org/wine-cheese. “Thanks to our sponsor (Finger Lakes Artisan Foods),  we’ll actually have 12 different cheeses,” said Bittner, who helps with wine trail marketing.

WNY craft focuses on beer, wine, spirits and other craft beverages across the Buffalo-Niagara region. Have a tip or idea for a column? Email Scott@WNYcraft.com