Out of the woods, a new winery

Hickory Hollow Wine Cellars is off to a great start.

  Opening late last month, it joins more than 40 other wineries that have found the Seneca Lake region to be an ideal place to produce wine. The new venture is the result of teamwork: Bruce and Suzanne Kendall; Peter and Cindy Oughterson; and Ed Woodland and Theresa Cholewa-Woodland are the owners and operators.

  They purchased 23 acres of land that extends from Route 14 down to the waters of Seneca Lake. Almost all of the land is wooded. Some trees were left standing when the land was cleared to make way for construction of the tasting room. The full-grown trees that were spared are an attractive part of the grounds around the building.

  Long-range plans call for more than the appealing tasting room, along Route 14 about 10 miles north of Watkins Glen. The partners plan to build cabins in the woods and hope that Hickory Hollow will become a home base for visitors vacationing in the Finger Lakes.

  Ah, but back to the tasting room. Bruce, a former contractor, built the structure in less than a year ‹ he began the project in October. The high ceiling makes the tasting room feel very spacious during a visit to sample their wines.

  Winemaker Peter Oughterson makes all of the wine at his winery, next to his house a few miles from the tasting room. In addition to the Hickory Hollow line of wines, he also produces his own brand, Highland Cellars.

  How did Peter come to be the winemaker at Hickory Hollow? He grew up on the farm next to Hermann J. Wiemer's vineyard. The Oughterson family grew labrusca and hybrid grapes when Peter was young. He went on to become a vineyard manager on Long Island in 1987. Later, he worked for a produce company, but that job required lots of travel and got old after a couple of years.

  Peter then went to work for Hermann J. Wiemer, first in the vineyards and nursery; then in 1993 he began making wine at Hermann's winery until he left after the 2001 harvest.

  When I asked Suzanne which of their 11 wines she would recommend, she responded, "All the wines are good. He had a good teacher." She was referring to Peter's years spent with Hermann learning the wine business.

  The Hickory Hollow 2002 Chardonnay is a very smooth wine with some buttery and creamy tastes and some mineral and pear tones.

  The Highland Cellars 2002 Cuvee Blanc is lighter and fruitier with tastes of melon, citrus and pear.

  There are also two Riesling wines to try at Hickory Hollow: The 2002 Highland Cellars Riesling has lots of citrus, ripe pineapple and melon tastes with a crisp, clean finish. The 2002 Hickory Hollow Semi-Dry Riesling also has citrus, but this wine has mineral, apricot and honey tastes as well. Even though it has almost twice as much residual sugar as the Highland Riesling, it delivers a crisp, clean finish.

  As for red wine, the 2002 Pinot Noir has a very fruity nose with tastes of dark cherry, spice and tea. Two more red wines, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, will be released this winter.

  With 4,500 cases produced the first year, Hickory Hollow plans to be open year-round for you to come and taste their wines.

Jeff Richards' wine column appears each Thursday on the Twin Tiers Life Food Page. For comments or questions, he can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: thewineguy