Important News from Hunt Country Vineyards

We want to let you know that 2025 will be the final year for Hunt Country Vineyards as a wine producer and tasting room. Art and Joyce are officially retiring this year. Suzanne Hunt and her husband Matt Kelly, who have been intimately involved with the business for ten years, are taking responsibility of the farm.

We've made this decision after much thought and planning. The wine market is changing dramatically and we need to change with it. Hunt Country Vineyards was first established in response to the collapse of the grape market in the late 1970s. Art and Joyce were left with many acres of grapes and no buyers -- so they learned how to make a little wine. Look how far we’ve come since then!

Now it's time for the farm to change again. In addition to their full-time jobs, Suzanne and Matt will continue to develop new opportunities for the farm. They will expand the workshops and special events that have become an important part of Hunt Country. They will continue to grow select grape varieties and hay for sale. They will continue to provide services and partner with other organizations in our community.

Below is a letter from Art and Joyce, celebrating their retirement and providing more information about the changes coming to Hunt Country.

We want thank you all for your support over the past 44 years.

Come join us this year to celebrate the success that you helped make possible. The tasting room will still be open and there will still be wine to enjoy.

And stay tuned for more information about the next chapter in the Hunt Country story!

Dear friends and customers,

After 44 years in the wine business, we have decided that it is time to retire. It has been an interesting, challenging, and exciting adventure. Our daughter Suzanne Hunt and her husband Matt Kelly will now take the reins of the family farm.

We have so many good memories to look back on. Foremost is getting to know so many wonderful people as employees, partners and customers over the years. We could not have done this without all of you! Our cherished memories also include Harvest Festivals with Chef Paul, a wine dinner at the United Nations, a wine event in Maui, and receiving the New York Wine & Grape Foundation’s Unity award in 1999.

We’re also proud of the many “firsts” we have accomplished along the way:

• Being one of the founding wineries of the modern Finger Lakes wine region.
• Carrying out the first successful field grafting in cold climate vineyards with Dr. Tom Zabadal.
• Being the first winery in the US to make commercial quantities of genuine ice wine.
• Helping to establish the Keuka Lake Wine Trail.
• Being the first winery to receive the New York Wine & Grape Foundation’s sustainability award in 2020.
• Planting a seed with Dean Susan Henry of the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to create an enology and viticulture program at Cornell.

But our proudest accomplishment is having raised three wonderful children at the same time as growing the winery and helping to establish the modern Finger Lakes wine region.

The Hunt family farm has been in continual operation for over 200 years. It has evolved as times and circumstances have changed. Starting the winery was our response to the collapse of the grape market in the late 1970s. We were left with many acres of grapes, so we learned how to make a little wine. Look how far we’ve all come since then!

Now it’s time for the farm to evolve again. As we retire, the farm is facing new challenges. The wine market is changing dramatically, the larger economy is becoming more and more unpredictable, and climate change is making it riskier to farm. It is time to bring our traditional wine business to a close. 2025 will be the final year for our standard tasting room operations and wine production.

However, Suzanne and Matt are developing new opportunities for the farm that will build on the workshops and special events that have become an important part of Hunt Country. They will continue to grow select grape varieties and hay for sale. They will continue to provide services and to partner with other organizations in our community. Suzanne and Matt have been intimately involved with the farm and business for ten years, successfully navigating Hunt Country through many challenges (including the pandemic shut down) and making improvements to its operations. We are able to comfortably retire because we know the farm will continue to be in excellent hands.

We want to thank you all for your friendship and support over all these many years. Come join us this final year to celebrate the four decades of success that you helped make possible at Hunt Country Vineyards!  

Very best,
Art & Joyce