69传媒

Instead, the mile-long McMullen Pond glistens in the back of the Route 104A facility. The winery's owner, William Davis, feels it's fitting.

鈥淭he thing about Sterling, it鈥檚 all open fields and rolling hills," he told 69传媒 during a recent visit to the winery. "There are a lot of farms out here. It feels like you鈥檙e out west. It鈥檚 cool.鈥�

The pond shouldn't go unnoticed by visitors to the winery's new tasting room, the next step for Davis after beginning to bottle wine in 2019. Set to open after a few more aesthetic touches and a Cayuga 69传媒 inspection, the tasting room will feature indoor and outdoor patio seating and snacks like meat and cheese plates. Dogs will be welcome at the request of Davis' wife, Shannon.聽

Davis and his family were planting vines on the 100-acre property during his interview with 69传媒. They purchased it in 2011. Previously a farm for more than a century, it lies down the road from Lake Ontario. Today it has hundreds of rows of riesling, chardonnay, cabernet, saperavi and other grape varieties. Growing them is an art form, Davis said, particularly in this climate.聽

From January to April, the family must adjust fast-growing vine shoots almost daily, protect trunk grafts by piling sulfurous soil around them, spray for grubs and prune consistently.

"We prune for survival here," Davis said. "In California, they prune for ripeness.鈥�

Challenging as they are, however, the region's harsh winters make its grapes hearty.聽, for instance, can ripen fully despite the cold, lending itself to California-style reds in the Finger Lakes.聽

Davis said he has been growing grapes for 25 years, and making wine slightly longer. Inspired by friends, he attended a Cornell Cooperative Extension meeting in Oswego in the late '90s.

"(At the meeting) they were looking for someone to grow grapes," he said. "I had the property and the backing. I was going to try this."

Sterling Valley started by selling grape juice to other wineries. Its production facility was once an onion storage building, holding up to 20,000 of them dating back to the 1970s. It now looks like a pole barn with modern siding. The production area can be glimpsed from the bar of the new tasting room, whose wood comes from another barn on the property that was torn down.

Aside from allowing visitors to taste his wines, Davis said, the tasting room is opening in order to bring more attention to businesses in the Lake Ontario region. There's a camaraderie between them, he said, particularly its craft beverage producers. He credited Chris Colloca of Colloca Estate Winery in Fair Haven for promoting them through the Lake Ontario Wine Trail.

Davis is also invested in the local economy through his main business, Davis Brothers, an Oswego-based wholesale food distributor his father started 65 years ago. Sterling Valley has an additional retail location at 4521 Route 4 in the city. In Sterling, wine can be picked up at the winery from Thursdays through Sundays before the tasting room opens.