Red Tail Ridge Winery

This winery had a small tasting room but good wine and a friendly staff. It’s worth a visit during your tour.

One of the more enjoyable wineries I’ve been to a tasting at. Driving to the tasting room you get a nice look at the vineyard and how well its kept. The staff were friendly, knowledgeable, and not pushy. They have a very wide selection for tastings and have some specialty wines available for individual paid tastes. The normal fare of 5 $ for 5 wines is also available from the «normal» menu.
Everything I tried was good — even the reds are better than most wineries in the area (though not as good as the whites).
The tasting room is nice but not particularly fancy.

Crappy service! They were so mean to our group. I would think they would want our business, but we were greeted at the door by a lady with poor social skills who obviously had no training in customer service. I will recommend that family & friends (and others) avoid this place until they change their mean-​spirited policies and start respecting their customers. A public apology to our group would go a long way.

So disappointed in Red Tail. If I could leave a «0» star review I would. As our 2^nd stop on a wine tour, we were so disappointed to be turned away because we were in a limo. Rudely turned away and told that if we had been the same number of people in a van, they would accommodate us but because we were in a limo we would have to leave. The staff actually stood at the door waiting for us to tell us we could not come in. We left the limo parked at the bottom of the drive and walked up so I have yet to figure out how they even realized we were in a limo. As mentioned, it was our 2^nd stop. We were not rowdy or drunk, we are a group of professionals who decided to do the responsible thing and have a designated driver for our wine tour. We are all happy to support local, small family wineries and the displeasure at the way we were treated at Red Tail was a severe disappointment. The other wineries along Seneca that we visited yesterday were friendly and inviting, regardless of our mode of transportation. Our group was happy to give them our business. Not sure how Red Tail can survive the competition when they are so eager to turn paying customers away. There are many other wineries in New York that I will gladly give my business to and I will be sure to tell any friends or colleagues who are planning wine tours to stay clear of Red Tail.

The lady who worked the tasting room was so arrogant. They had such odd descriptions for wine. Petroleum and mineralized limestone don’t sound appetizing to me. The lady was so concerned about getting the $ 3 before she’d even show you the wine bottle. It wasn’t an enjoyable experience. We will skip this next time.

A solid location on the winery-​heavy shores of Seneca Lake. LEED certified (first on the East Coast to have this designation). Another winery with a winning dry Riesling. I thought their reds were outstanding, particularly their Blaufränkisch (similar to a Lemberger, bold and spicy), and pinot noir. The tasting room is basic design and the pourer was informative and not stuffy.

Good whites. Decent reds. The german grapes were the better reds. They are actually drinkable which is saying something for the area. Not enough hang time for the red grapes to make them full.
Tasting room was nice. Servers were nice and knowledgable. Prices were also reasonable and fair for the wines. One of my favorites on my trip to the area.
Big open grass area so kids can run around if you have them.
I recommend the stop if you are on that side of the lake.

Visited last fall… small winery with modest tasting room.
The make some nice red wines with lesser-​known grapes. Both the Blaufrankisch (a.k.a. Lemberger) and Teroladego wines are very well done.
Will be returning later this summer to pick up some more of these wines.

Pet friendly winery. I liked their 2010 Semi-​Dry Riesling.

While none of the wines here were my favorite after my trip to the Finger Lakes, I must say that this winery impressed me. I enjoyed the wines and liked the simplicity of their operation. The customer service was excellent.

This was one of my favorite wineries during my recent trip, for several reasons: the wines were very good, the variety of wines was very good, the service was very good, they are unpretentious, they grow their own grapes, and they are environmentally friendly.
Red Tail Ridge is famous as the first Leed-​Certified green winery in New York.
I usually think of terms such as «environmentally friendly» as being more of a gimmick than anything else. Without adhering to set standards, many places pride themselves on being «green» when they are anything but. Not at Red Tail though. They have gone through quite a bit of work to earn a Leed silver certification (you can find out more on their website), and they have rejected the standard «Finger Lakes Winery» look and attitude to accomplish it.
Despite their environmental commitment, the crew at Red Tail were completely unpretentious. They have a poster of the Post Standard magazine article about them – and that’s about it. If you want to talk to them about eco-​conciousness, they love to talk, but they won’t preach to you. Mostly, they just love to talk about the wines.
And speaking of the wines, we really enjoyed them all. Red Tail excelled at several things most Finger Lakes wineries don’t: excellent reds, and excellent dry and semi-​dry wines, in addition to the excellent sweet and semi-​sweet whites which are more prevalent throughout the region. They really did a good job of nailing the latest «trend» wine for the region: the dry Riesling. It’s still not my favorite wine (I prefer the sweet ones), but this was the best one I sampled. All their wines are limited inventory, and you could tell that the focus was quality over quantity.
By far out favorite was the Dry Rose. I have heard about the growing trend towards dry blushes and roses for several years now, but had yet to be impressed by one. This one impressed me. The flavors were very complex, with fruit notes up front, and a nice crispness at the end. It also paired well with the pork we had over the grill back at our campsite the next night. Be careful not to over-​chill it (temperature is hard to regulate while camping), as over-​chilling removes some of the complexity of the flavor.
Lastly, I liked that they grew their own grapes. While this used to be a given for wineries, the trend now in the Finger Lakes region is to order custom blends of wine from the few places that do grow their own. This isn’t bad, in and of itself, but when you find a place that grows its own, the quality difference really shows.