McGregor Winery offers a unique approach to wine

Video of McGregor Winery

Next year will mark 25 years for McGregor Winery. During that quarter-century, Bob and Margie McGregor have done things a little bit differently at their place, on the hill above the east side of Keuka Lake.

JEFF RICHARDS/Star-Gazette Bob and Margie McGregor in McGregor Winery's tasting room, in front of a window overlooking the vineyard grounds.

The McGregors planted viniferas while others still relied on hybrids and labrusca grapes. More than half of their production today is red wine in a region known for whites.

All their grapes are handpicked. And they produce wine varieties -- notably the Black Russian -- that no one else in the Finger Lakes does.

"I have a pretty good sense of accomplishment," Bob says. "I pulled off something it wasn't really clear I could do."

Bob was a Kodak employee in the 1960s. In the face of periodic company layoffs, he became concerned about his future. At about the same time, Bob says, Walter Taylor sparked his interest in the winery business.

Bob attended a dinner hosted by Walter and listened to Walter's vision of the Finger Lakes dotted with small wineries. Bob started thinking about buying land, growing grapes and becoming more than a home winemaker.

He enlisted financial support from Dr. David Stewart of Rochester to get the vineyard started in the late 1960s. After five years, David sold his interest back to Bob, and the business has been family-owned and run ever since.

"We convinced ourselves that we could grow certain types of grapes," Bob says. "It's been a combination of trying to make the best wine in a cool-weather climate. Root stock, everything, was an argument. We just didn't know then."

For Bob and Margie's son, John, his earliest memories are of the vineyard. The family grew up in Victor (a Rochester suburb), and Bob and Margie bought the land above Keuka Lake in 1971. They had a pond dug, set up a tent and stayed there every weekend, working in the vineyards.

JEFF RICHARDS/Star-Gazette McGregor Winery vineyard manager Ray Hughes talks to John McGregor about replanting some of the vines lost over the winter at the Dundee winery.

"My Dad had a lot of foresight -- producing a vineyard before opening a winery," John says.

All of the McGregor children -- Laura, Anne, Sandy and John -- "helped plant, tie, pick and crush," John says. He even remembers putting capsules on bottles of wine when he was 9 years old and graduating to corking bottles by the time he was 10. His sister Anne did a brochure and designed labels for a senior project in high school. As a graphic artist, she still provides that expertise for the family business.

"When we were kids, we didn't have much of a choice," John says, adding that "as we got older, we weren't pushed into the wine business; it just seemed to make sense."

Margie says the Finger Lakes was a great place to raise a family with a strong work ethic, even though the kids complained about being in the "bucket brigade," planting and watering vines.

John's degree from Buffalo State is in anthropology and philosophy. "I always had an eclectic interest in 'field school,' " he says.

He enjoys digging at historical sites, getting to be outside all day, getting dirty and analyzing data with his scientific background, John says.

He recalls a particular site in West Seneca, N.Y., which reminded him of working in the vineyard area because of the old farmers' tools that they found.

While earning a master's degree in anthropology, with a concentration in archaeology, at Binghamton University, John still returned home on weekends to work at the winery. Today, John manages the day-to-day operation of the winery and the vineyard. Bob calls himself the "pain-in-the-butt guy asking questions."

For years, Margie created all the foods for the tasting room, but now John's wife, Stacey, does so, preparing food for the tasting room as well as for special wine trail and McGregor Clan Club events.

"Customers keep coming back for dishes she made," John says. "Since Stacey took over, the compliments have not slowed down."

Bob and Margie's daughter Anne Sheehan, who is married with two children and lives in Farmington, N.Y., helps out by designing and making labels.

"Each person has aptitude," Bob says.

Even the grandchildren -- Sky and Sierra Rain -- are getting into the business. Sky is "our customer-service man," John says, always ready to help visitors to the winery.

The head winemaker, Jeff Dencenburg, has been with the McGregors since the early 1990s. He started as a cellar assistant, then vineyard manager, before becoming winemaker. More than half of the McGregor wine production is in red wines, including Black Russian, made from Sereksiya Charni and Saperavi grapes. These grapes were brought into America from Russia by Dr. Konstantin Frank. The premium blend of red wines is unique to the Finger Lakes. Another one of McGregor's premium red wines is Rob Roy, a Meritage-style blend. McGregor's also produces cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir.

Bob's faith in the future of Finger Lakes red wines is so strong that the McGregors have torn out chardonnay grapes the last two years and replaced them with 1,000 vines of cabernet sauvignon. In the late 1970s, Bob also planted Rkatsiteli grapes, and today the winery is one of the few in the Finger Lakes that produces that variety of wine. Other white wines include chardonnay, Riesling and gewrztraminer.

A lot of the effort at McGregor's is labor-intensive. Until last year, all the bottles were labeled by hand. In the vineyard, all the grapes on the McGregor 30 acres (plus 10 leased acres) are picked by hand.

"It makes a huge difference, being able to sort out stems and leaves," John says. "It's more work and more time, but it makes a difference in the quality of the wine."

Future plans include building a new tasting room at the top of the McGregor property with a view toward Hammondsport. Even if they build a new structure, John says they want to maintain the cozy atmosphere that visitors enjoy in the current tasting room.

McGregor's is one of the few wineries in the Finger Lakes in which visitors sit down for tastings.

"Our setting is unique," John says of sitting at tables and getting snacks while tasting. "You sit down and relax and get waited on. This has been the case and will always be the case."

Wine Guy picks from McGregor Winery

- 2003 Riesling: cool peach and mineral nose, soft and smooth peach and nectarine taste.

- 2001 Black Russian: almost black in color. Full fruit flavor of berries and plums, with a rich velvety taste, followed by some tannin on the finish. Will get even better!

McGregor wine picks

- 2001 Reserve Chardonnay: John McGregor's pick because it's tropical, rich, oak-aged and full of fruit.

- 2001 Reserve Pinot Noir: another choice from John, for its very dark, rich, concentrated fruit flavors of raspberry, plum and cherry, leading to a long, lingering finish.

If you go ...

Phone: 607/292-3999; 800/272-0192.

Web site, e-mail: www.mcgregorwinery.com; info@mcgregorwinery.com.

Winery hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily (open until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday during July and August). Winter hours (December through March): 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

For comments or questions, Jeff Richards can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: jrichards@stargazette.com.