Ravines Wine Cellars

Ravines was recommended to us numerous times, we finally made it and were thoroughly satisfied! $ 3 tasting, all wines under $ 25. Certainly our favorite of the finger lakes wine trail. We are dry wineos and they had some of the best. We ended up purchasing the Meritage and their 2014 dry Riesling but enjoyed nearly every wine we tried. We tasted with Keo. He was one of the best pourers we encountered throughout our visit and we appreciated his experience with the wine. We definitely recommend making Ravines a stop on your wine tour and don’t worry about the unpaved road… if anything it keeps out crowds and makes the property even more authentic. The barn was warm and inviting and the vineyard is picturesque. Finally, their tasty baked lavash crackers were the icing on the cake for cleaning your palate between tastings. Our only negative was that they didn’t compliment your tasting fee if you bought wine which we would have appreciated. Still, do yourself a favor and visit Ravines.

We have been to Ravine’s many times and have never been disappointed. The staff is consistently excellent, the food is marvelous and the wine: what can I say? Really appreciated Sunday’s wine/​cheese/​chocolate tastings and the benefits of the Ravinous Club discount and free tastings. Really don’t want to see the road paved, but maybe rolled a time or two? Keep up the great work.

We had a great time with our host. She was very personable and as a result we learned a lot. It was by far the groups favorite reds of the day. Kueka Village Red 2014 was terrific!

*Wine Lovers be aware, that if you take your GPS here, you need to enter from the Pre-​Emption Rd side, because the White Spring Rd entance is a private drive.
Also, if you are driving a hot rod around, be aware of the rocky gavel road.
The tasting room is BEAUTIFUL, with the woodwork and wine barrels.
The sommelier/​pourer was very friendly. My other half and I each got to taste 5 wines, and had a cheese and chocolate plate for $ 12. Most of the cheese is featured from Yancey’s. The wines were delicious, and dry.
This would be a great place to hold an event, or to bring a group of people for something special. They didn’t explicitly sell wines by the glass, but I am sure they would be happy to accommodate your wine lover needs.

Ravine was great, their selection of wine great and Andy was extremely knowledgeable! Ravine definitely knows how to treat tourists and those that just love a glass of wine and a humorous conversation. Thanks Andy for a memorable time at Ontario on the Lakes!

Good dry wines! Never disappointed ! Small tasting area which makes it cozy! Tasting room on keuka is great too ! Yum

Of the 4 wineries we visited in the finger lakes, I loved Ravine’s wine the most. They make an awesome balanced dry Riesling, really refreshing Provençal style rose, and an orange Muscat that was not too sweet. Brendan was the dude pouring the tastings and he was great. If you visit this area I highly recommend stopping here.

Charming winery and the food was delicious and creative. However, we were with a group and the $ 10.00 charge to taste 4 wines seemed a bit steep compared to the $ 2 or $ 3 that other wineries charged. Staff was nice overall, but a couple staff members were less than welcoming. Maybe it was because we were a group? Not sure. Worth the stop anyway…

Ok I would have given 5 stars but my four star review is because of three things.
1) I understand your off the beaten path but if your gonna finish off your «kitchen» it’s time to pave the road. If you don’t have a truck or SUV you must take it easy, seriously only 10 miles an hour.
2) I understand an open concept but when its over 80 degrees out. The barn needs to be closed and the A/​C must be on, sorry not interested in sweating while having my wine.
3) They should have a dedicated cashier, it felt like I was in a grocery shopping line. The person who was doing our tasting just left us mid tasting had to take care of customers. Sure I understand you had a private tasting so one person was in the larger room, but it’s a holiday weekend and having about 15 – 20 people in a tasting room and only two people pouring it’s not cool.
I will say the wines were amazing, we picked up the Riesling 2013 which is outstanding.
Got the 2006 Sparkling
2013 Keuka Village Red
2014 Pinot Rose
Normally I buy ONE BOTTLE, if anything I bought four! I’ve let my friend Mike at Cheap Wine
know about this place. So I’m not joking around.
All the above were lovely and this is true be honest a more sophisticated tasting room. They use Riedel glasses for gods sake. I’ve been to professional tastings, been to Napa, Sonoma, Southern Illinois, Michigan and French Vineyards. I get the drift…
The people who were pouring were very knowledgeable but our tasting had to be finished by another. Granted when I purchased the wines our original pourer profoundly apologized. We got Wine & Cheese. Don’t know if there was a fee but we did not pay for it.
I joined the wine club, it was worth it 20% off um yes!
If your into tootie fruity wines this is NOT YOUR PLACE.
I’ll be back…
Go you will be glad you did. Go

Didn’t care for the wine but that’s not why it was given 2 stars. Unfortunately the owner was there when we showed up today. Our first encounter with him was him complaining that we didn’t bring in our own glasses (we were on the wine & chocolate tour and out of the entire weekend I saw about 8 people using their glasses from check in) he then asked us what our preferences were… dry or sweet… when we said our tastes were on the sweeter side he told us to go down the street to the next winery. He was arrogant, his breath was bad and first impressions mean everything… and so do Unilocal reviews.

*Pasta & Wine Weekend 2015 Review*
It pains me to be negative but this needs to be said. I am a fan of Ravines wines and the Seneca Wine Trail tasting room. The barn is so cute and charming… and an open door in the middle of winter ruins this experience. We were told that this «door» had to remain open through the trail event for the «lighting» effect on the tasting room. This was NOT the case for Deck the Halls or any other time I’ve visited on a cold day.
The poor workers were freezing! And even worse? It completely RUINED our tasting experience. Only the food was delectable during this experience since it was a hot red wine type of stew, that ending up cooling almost immediately. I am not able to tell you the name since I lost my recipe sheet. Probably slipped through my numb fingers.
This experience would have been apropos for, let’s say, mulled wine and/​or cider. All of the reds we opted to try were too cold to enjoy, and we were too cold to enjoy their refrigerated wines. This is a wine trail NO-​NO. We walked out empty handed.
Hopefully the business takes this into consideration and has a better solution for «the lighting effect» on the next event they participate in.

Ravine Wine Cellars has a rustic charm as the tasting room is built into an old barn in the midst of the vineyard. We were greeted warmly on a weekday afternoon and we began a tasting. I found the wines hit and miss, with my favorite being the 2012 Chardonnay. The server was nice, but when a customer came in and acted a bit wine snobby then the staff of two catered to him and left me a little high and dry. Nonetheless, I ignored the customer service faux pas and purchased the Chardonnay. I was charged for the bottle and the tasting, and again, perhaps waving the tasting fee with the purchase would have made a nice impression.
So closing thoughts.
Rustic ambiance.
Sampled some good wines and some I did not like.
Customer service needs a touch up.

A five star experience all around. They specialize in old world European-​style winery… dry wines! This girl’s dream come true. This was our first stop and was the shining star — the space is beautiful — quaint, cozy, and rustic. The girl who poured our wines was bubbly, engaging, and shared awesome tips about what to pair with the wine, tossing in some things she’s into these days. That I love. It just rounds out the tasting so you don’t feel like you’re sipping and dashing. I could spend the day here. So pretty.
The purpose of this wine trip was to sample the dry reds in FLX. Yes, they exist and there are some great ones! (Thanks Em for coordinating!) Even though we were focusing on reds, I had to try their award winning dry Riesling. It’s my top pick! So good I had to buy a bottle. And will continue to buy bottles forever.
Other highlights from the tasting:
— Meritage is smokey and rustic. We got a special taste of the 2005 and it’s like a barnyard in a good way /​/​scents of the woods.
— Cab franc is my kinda date night wine. Bold and rich berry flavor.
— Pinot noir is light and balanced. A great everyday wine.
Delicious dry wines! I so loved it here and will go back again soon.
If you’re on the prowl for a wedding venue, this is a worthy candidate. They had a cute open barn next to the tasting room. And the view is lovely, of course.

This is not the winery for you if you like kool-​aid wines. I call those the «tour bus wineries».
Ravines has much better wines. On my most recent visit, I was particularly impressed with their Chardonnay. Their Dry Reisling has been acclaimed by Wine Spectator (#33 on the best of 2013 list).
The staff is FANTASTIC. Chatty, generous, you really feel you are dropping in with some wine-​making friends just eager to share their latest project. To contrast, «Tour bus wineries» just try to race you through to the «gift shop».
Actually have a taste for good wine? Then Ravines is worth the detour off Rt. 14 for a visit.

This was the first stop on our visit. It can be tricking to find. The GPS sends you in on a private road that is blocked. The correct entrance is off of Pre Emption Rd.
The shop is smallish with a lovely outdoor covered seating area.
Fortunately for us the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. They took the time to describe not only their wines but also the uniqueness of wines from the whole area. They focus on drier wines, all of which we’re top notch.

Very cabin-​type feel here but the view is beautiful! Not much of a lake view but the winery is nice on the hill. Our pourer was very knowledgable, but not my fave wines on Seneca lake!
It’s much more casual than the other places we have been, which is not so much what we were looking for on this tour but that’s okay. Little slower but they give a thorough explanation of the wine which is nice!
5 wines when you pay for a tasting! Probably they best explanation and education I’ve bad at a winery :)

My favorite winery in the Finger Lakes so far. I still have much to explore so this may change but will definitely be on my top list.
We came early on a Monday morning and it was nice and quiet to have an enjoyable experience. I opted for the $ 6 wine/​cheese tasting. Please splurge and do this. All the cheeses were locally made and just brought the wine tasting to another level. The lady running the tasting was so warm, welcoming and knowledgeable.
My favorites from here were the dry riesling, gewurztraminer and the cabernet franc.
Ravines does the more Old World style of wine. So expect the wines to be more dry than sweet. Which is such a breath of fresh air for the area!

Where do I begin? Ravines was our final stop on our Memorial Day wine tour around Seneca Lake and we arrived just 15 minutes before closing time. It was an incredible ending to our day of tasting wine. Each wine we tried was better than the next, and I highly recommend a visit.
The story of our visit: Since we had gotten to the wine tasting barn so close to 5:00 on a holiday, the two employees pouring the wine were loosened up and having a lot of fun. Our pourer chatted freely with us, clearly enjoying the weather and mixing together stories of his own travels to Europe with wine stories and everything in between as he poured us a sample of every wine on the list. He had my girlfriend and I laughing so hard that several times the party to our left looked over with some jealousy at the fun we were so clearly having. In the gorgeous rustic setting we sampled fantastic Finger Lakes wine, with the rose being one of our favorites.

This weekend was the second time to this winery and it was just as good or even better than the first. This winery is off the main road but worth the trip to if you like wines that are on the dry side. They have both whites and reds to try. If my husband wasn’t there to hold me back I would have bought a case. Will always go back to when I head to Seneca Lake.

Warm and friendly stall serving some of the best Finger Lakes wine I’ve tasted. The cheese pairing was extraordinary. Great experience.