Silver Springs Winery

As others have mentioned, this is certainly not the most attractive winery in the area but I don’t judge by appearances so we ventured inside. There were 4 of us who decided to do a tasting and were being taken care of by the owner. We were on our first wines when a group of 3 women came in and it was clear the owner was distracted by them. I have no clue if he knew them or what, but he was distracted enough that he poured my sister and I the same wine twice. I went to tell him, but he was too busy instructing his cousin to take over our tasting so he could go serve the new group that walked in. No explanation, no apology-​nothing. It was terribly rude. His cousin was very nice and tried her best to jump in where he had left off, but we were left to tell her what we liked and didn’t (after having already gone over all of this with the owner who just ditched us). I really enjoyed a few of the wines I tried but I didn’t purchase any solely based on how the owner treated us. There are plenty of other wineries in the area with wines that are just as good if not better where they will treat you well. Skip this one.

Great little winery. Not fancy, but nice wines and friendly proprietors. Very cute resident dog.

My wife and I recently visited this winery after booking a bus tour. This was the first winery we stopped at. There were a total of six of us on the bus. We all found the wine very good and the owner very passionate about his wine and blends. The only downfall to our entire trip to this winery was the belittling of his employee. The owner seems to have to be the center of attention. I am not the only person on this tour who felt this way and we felt very bad for the young lady.
I received a reply from the owner and his response only shows his arrogance and inability to use something called spell check. Stick to making wine brother.

Yes, it’s not the most beautiful winery on the lake and it looks like they’re brewing from their personal kitchen (I think they are), but it is definitely worth a stop. It doesn’t have high ceilings and beautiful restorations, but good people and good wine.
I am a fruity wine drinker myself, I don’t particularly like the dry wines but even if you do, this place is still great for you. I think we lucked out with the girl behind the counter — AMAZINGLY friendly and extremely knowledgeable on all of the wines. This is something most places don’t have, knowledge and friendly. I know a lot of people are new at their roles but I like to understand the wine and she was so helpful. The taste of most of these wines was spectacular. I loved the apple and the blueberry wine — I bought the apple wine for home and can’t wait to open it. The flavors were so full and each time you took a sip, it was a little different.
The guys really enjoyed the dryer wines and appreciated all of the flavors. A friend of mine bought a bottle and didn’t realize the price difference (reading the menu wrong) and they were so kind to give it to him for the price he thought because he loved the wine so much. Molly, the pup, SO SO cute!
They don’t distribute anywhere so this is a must stop and try. Lots of parking, it can get cramped when a lot of people show up but it is worth the wait. If you want it shipped, email the owner and they will work out the price and ship it — pretty awesome. I can’t wait to go back and to open my bottle!

The owner and the girl working the tasting were very nice! The girl made great cooking recommendations for the fruit wines. The fruit wines were very good. There was no artificial fruit flavor like I taste in most fruit flavored wines. I walked in thinking I was going to just do a tasting and walked out with a case of wine.

For the longest time I thought the Finger Lakes produced great white wines, especially Rieslings, until I stopped in to Silver Springs. Now this is my annual pilgrimage (5 years and counting) and have never been disappointed. I always buy a few bottles of the Tridition, some people may think expensive but not for this quality.
I like blends so it doesn’t get much better. The Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon are both of excellent quality. I was surprised this trip to find their Chardonnay Vintners BDX (?) was well balanced… so much so that I left the winery and went back to my B&B and drank a bottle. So it looks like I might have to make a fall trip.
The tasting room is simple because he obviously spends the time making wine and not worrying about stocking tacky t-​shirts and signs.
Make this a Must-​Visit site and bring your money. You Must Visit and Must Buy.
SFWINO

If you are a dry wine drinker, this is the BEST STOP EVER on the east side of Seneca Lake. The winemaker and owner not only poured our tasting, he lead us on a magical sweet nectar of life adventure that would make Dionysus a proud papa. Srsly, John Z can be suspected of demigod-​hood.
We visited the tasting room this past Black Friday, because lettuce be serious, a day on the trail is better than going HAM at crazy moms. Supports small business «Saturday» too :-) After immediately being greeted and welcomed, the owner asked what we normally drink, and we responded with «dry». It was history after that.
My phone was being a crabby granny and I ended up losing most of my pictures so I will list the wines I remember tasting:
~White Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Dry Italian Rose, 0.5% RS — $ 18.95
This one was a total surprise. I generally do not drink rosies unless it’s bubbly. I have to admit that it is very light, clean with a sweet twist considering the low residual sugar. All I was thinking was sinking my teeth into a juicy burger right off the grill on a summer day.
~Pinot Grigio Vintner’s Select 2011, Don Giovanni, 1% RS — $ 18.95
Citrusy and crisp appley! Two things I love in a chilled white. Smooth mid-​palate with fruit and caramel flavors finish unlike other funky pinto grigios.
~Riesling 2012 Vintner’s Select, Don Giovanni, 1% RS — $ 32.00
More citrus and crisp snappy twangs. I simply loved it and will be back for a bottle or 2.
~Cabernet Sauvignon Red Fruit NV, Don Giovanni, 0.3% RS — $ 32.00
Spicy and fruity with a silky red finish.
~Cabernet Sauvignon Black Fruit NV, Don Giovanni, 0.3% RS — $ 32.00
My favorite combination. The black fruit was was more impressive than the red. That may be a biased shameless statement. I DON’T CARE. It was amazing. Rich blackberry, currant, CASSIS, plum, star of anise, black licorice (eww, but at least the note is small), dark CHOCOLATE finish?!? Yes please.
~Tri-​Dition 2007, Don Giovanni, 0.3% RS — $ 55.00
Orgasmic…everyone go home. This red is smoother than a gel pen. I cannot put into words to describe the fireworks in my mouth. «Intense nose of dark berry jam intergrated w/​the vanilla bean, almond, dark ripe plum, rich complex spices, cinnamon and a flutter of lavender.» Ages well, up to 30 years. But who has time for that? Naturally I took it home with me. There is the Tri-​Dition NV available for $ 118.00, but oddly enough the 2007 for $ 55.00 won more awards.
Ok to end this I’d like to point out that it is not about the aesthetics of the tasting room. Don’t be a snob and stay for a majestic ride to rival that of any frolicking unicorn.

Wine was good. Owner is rude. There are so many great wineries on Seneca that you might as well pass up one where you’re treated poorly. The woman doing our tasting was nice. However, a bus showed up and the owner brought them in, literally slapped the area of the bar we were at, and announced «your tasting is up!» We were not even done tasting and had been planning on buying a couple bottles we liked. We clearly didn’t.

Great wine, owner is informative and nice but the only downside was the inside is not your traditional wooden countertop winery and it was kind of messy.

Fantastic wine! The owner is really great at suggesting different types that cater to your preferences. He’s a bit of a fast talker, so be ready! Still charges for the tastings after making purchases.

I enjoyed the staff at this winery, and the wine was pretty good. They had beer tastings and sold growlers. They are also open later than some of the other wineries I toured at.

Best wine of the trip! We stopped in three times during our stay in the Finger Lakes. A case of wine may have been purchased ;-) The winemaker was extremely nice and the little dog was cute. I am not a Merlot fan normally but… the Merlot is a MUST try. It is far from the normal Merlot characteristics that most American wines offer. The winery is all about the wine. We almost skipped it based on the outside. It doesn’t have the fancy building or views. Instead, you get great wine and to learn from the winemaker!

Rudest and most unprofessional wine tasting I have ever experienced. The owner/​winemaker asked me what style of wine I liked. I told him that I am open to all types of wine and would like to choose from the list. He repeated his question very aggressively whether I liked red or white or sweet or dry. I kindly told him that I work in a tasting room in another winery and that I am interested in trying some varietals of my choosing. He began a tirade of telling me about how many wines he had and that he needed to know my preferences so he could choose for me. He spoke very harshly to both me and my boyfriend and after tasting one wine, we paid for one tasting and walked out. I shouldn’t have paid at all, but I wanted to get out of there as easily as possible. I have been to hundreds of wineries and I work in the wine industry. This was the rudest, most pompous, ignorant and unpleasant experience I’ve had in a winery or for that matter any place of commerce. I felt harassed after this interaction. Horrible place.

OMG. The owner sold me a bad bottle of wine. When I contacted him. He apologized and offered to replace it. I sent him my mailing information and got no response. So I contacted him again and he told me he was very busy and he would replace my wine by the end of the year: here is what transpired:
ME:
I appreciate your consideration. However, I find that resolution unacceptable. I purchased the wine in June. To wait 6 months for you to resolve this matter seems extreme to me. It is not a huge undertaking to mail a bottle of wine. I wonder if you would give the same response to your customers who are purchasing wine via the internet.
HIM:
end of year is not 6 months… and now with your attitude… after getting a perfect bottle and not letting it breath and then blaming me… I find you are out of control… maybe when I sent the first email if you said simple words like ‘thank you’ when I want out of my way to say I would make good and replace the bottle the wine would have been shipped out asap… in your email you told me you just wanted me to know about the wine you never asked for a replacement … I went out of my way to say ok I will send you a new bottle… now you are acting like a child… you have no real gripe since you stated you just wanted me to know… well I know and I said I will take care of it… stomping your feet will not get you another bottle faster…
fact you bought a perfect bottle of wine from me …
fact you did not let the wine breath and thus as you say defective… well it’s your handling
fact you never thanked me for my original solution
fact if I get another email from you acting like a child you will never get a replacement bottle out of the goodness of my heart…
fact the bottles come with NO guarantee this is the nature of the wine business… you get a perfect bottle and ruin it and I being a gentleman said hey I will replace the bottle you ruined…
something is wrong here on many levels…
chill and wait for the bottle… if you bother me NO WINE FOR YOU !!!
have a great day…

I did a tasting of most of the white wines. After asking me about my wine preferences, the owner suggested different wines to taste. I liked most of the wines… some were quite unique (and fruity). However, I thought they were a bit on the expensive side. I purchased the Reisling and a tasting for ($ 23). Next, I went to the winery down the street and bought 2 bottles of tasty wine and a wine tasting (which included the glass) for the same price.

Most of the wineries we visited on Seneca Lake that were NOT part of the offical Seneca Lake Wine Trail were pretty terrible. Not so with Silver Springs.
I tried exclusively sweet and semi-​sweet wines, which are what the Finger Lakes region has been traditionally known for. These ran the standard gamut of flavors, except that they were all better than average. None of them had that cloying or sticky taste you often get with sweet wines, though a few weren’t quite as flavorful as I would have liked. My favorite was the Cayuga White, which is also the best seller.
The server is the owner, and he was anxious to let us know about the wines. He may have even come off as a tad aggressive. He also proclaimed the wines as organic, but offered no certifcation to that effect. I know that certifcations are expensive for small businesses, but still it annoyed me. At least explain further what you mean, or just talk about some positive contributions you are making to the environment.
Overall good sweet wines though!
Edit: the price for the tasting was higher than the region standard, $ 3 instead of $ 2. That didn’t bother me, however it would have been nice to have the tasting price refunded from the purchased bottles