Finger Lakes history · industry
Seneca Lake's place on the wine map
Beverly Stamp of Lakewood Vineyards petitioned for the Seneca Lake appellation. It became official in 2003, as federal wine regulation moved from ATF to TTB.
The request came from Beverly Stamp of Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen. Her petition asked federal regulators to recognize a Seneca Lake viticultural area within the broader Finger Lakes appellation.
Published in October 2002, the proposal covered approximately 204,600 acres in parts of Schuyler, Yates, Ontario, and Seneca Counties. It surrounded the lake, consisted primarily of rural agricultural and forest land, and lay entirely within the existing Finger Lakes area.
The rulemaking recorded 3,756 acres planted to grapes and thirty-three wineries on or near Seneca Lake. Those numbers describe the 2002–03 record the agency considered. They are not current visitor information.
Cayuga Lake already had its own viticultural area to the east. Seneca's designation would work in the same way: a more specific named area inside the Finger Lakes, rather than a replacement for the regional appellation.
While the petition was under review, the responsible federal agency changed. Alcohol regulation and taxation functions moved from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau on January 24, 2003. The final rule uses both ATF and TTB references because the proceeding crossed that transition.
TTB published the final rule on July 3, 2003, with an effective date of September 2. The designation identified a geographic origin for wine labeling. The rule explicitly stated that it did not endorse the wine made there.
The petition left Seneca Lake with a defined place on the federal wine map. Its paperwork also preserves the agency change that happened while the local request was making its way through Washington.
Source note
The petition, counties, land area, period vineyard and winery figures, and nested Finger Lakes geography appear in ATF Notice No. 957, Proposal To Establish the Seneca Lake Viticultural Area, 67 FR 64575-64578 (October 21, 2002), especially printed pages 64575-64576. The agency transition, final action, effective date, and non-endorsement statement appear in TTB T.D.-3, Seneca Lake Viticultural Area, 68 FR 39833-39836 (July 3, 2003), especially printed pages 39833-39834. This story paraphrases and cites the records; it does not reproduce their scans, maps, typography, or extended text.