The petition that put Cayuga Lake on wine labels

Douglas and Susanna Knapp of Knapp Farms and Robert Plane of Plane's Cayuga Vineyard petitioned for a wine-growing area around Cayuga Lake. Their names appear in the federal proposal published on September 16, 1987.

The proposed area surrounded and adjoined the lake in parts of Cayuga, Seneca, and Tompkins Counties. It lay entirely within the Finger Lakes viticultural area, which had already received federal recognition.

The proposal gives a snapshot of the industry at the time: eight bonded wineries, eighteen vineyards, and about 460 acres of grapes. Those were the figures recorded in 1987, not a count of businesses or vineyards visitors will find today.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms opened the proposal for public comment. The final rule reported twenty-three comments, all in support.

Published on March 25, 1988 and effective April 25, the rule established Cayuga Lake as a more specific appellation of origin within the larger Finger Lakes region.

For wine labels, the designation supplied a defined geographic name that producers could use when they met the labeling rules. The agency expressly said that recognition was not a quality endorsement.

The two names could now describe different levels of origin: Finger Lakes for the broader region and Cayuga Lake for the federally defined area around the lake.

Source note

The petition, period counts, counties, and relationship to the broader Finger Lakes area appear in ATF Notice No. 641, Cayuga Lake Viticultural Area, 52 FR 34927-34929 (September 16, 1987), especially printed page 34927. The comment count, final action, effective date, and quality caveat appear in T.D. ATF-269, Cayuga Lake Viticultural Area, NY, 53 FR 9768-9769 (March 25, 1988), especially printed page 9768. This story paraphrases and cites the records; it does not reproduce their scans, map, typography, or extended text.