Dog-Friendly Wineries in the Finger Lakes

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If you are looking for a dog-friendly vacation then you have to check out the Finger Lakes in New York! With dozens of wineries to choose from you might be wondering which ones are dog-friendly so you can bring your pooch along for the adventure.

While we don’t have a full list of all the wineries in the area we did spend 4 days wine tasting and exploring the Finger Lakes over Memorial weekend.

Upon our arrival, we learned that New York had just lifted their travel restrictions & wineries were allowed to let dogs back into tasting rooms. Here we will provide you with what to expect for the dog-friendly wineries we visited in the Finger Lakes so you are prepared for your next trip.

The Finger Lakes

The Finger Lakes is a region of Northern New York that has 11 long narrow lakes that go from North to South. The area of the lakes is known for being inhabited by Iroquois. If you want to learn more about Iroquois we recommend checking out this website > https://www.onondaganation.org/. The largest and deepest lakes are Cayuga & Seneca.

The lakes within the Finger Lakes region are:

1. Canadaigua
2. Canadice
3. Cayuga
4. Conesus
5. Hemlock
6. Honeoye
7. Keuka
8. Otisco
9. Owasco
10. Seneca
11. Skaneateles

Many towns around the Finger Lakes have a lot of historical value to the moments you aren’t sipping on wine. For instance, we stayed in Seneca Falls, where the first Convention on Women’s Rights in 1848 and a short drive away was Waterloo, the town that held the first Memorial Day in 1966.

So if you want a break from wine tasting, these small towns add to the diversity of activities available.

Why travel to the Finger Lakes?

There are many reasons to visit the Finger Lakes. From historical reverence to wine tasting and outdoor activities you can find something for almost everyone in your party.

For us, the main goal upon booking the trip was really to get out of the house. Melissa had just recovered from knee surgery and got the all-clear to travel from her doctors. After a tough 6 months, we just knew this trip was well needed.

The downside to our planning was we didn’t have anyone to watch Maggie (our beagle mix) due to Covid-19. With a little faith and Google, we opted to try our luck with all the search results stating how dog-friendly the Finger Lakes are.

Thankfully we made a great decision because this has been one of the best trips with Maggie in a long while. But if you are worried about how dog-friendly the wineries can be, we have you covered.

Dog-Friendly Wineries

The list here is based on traveling during COVID-19 restrictions.

Americana Vineyards

4367 E Covert Rd, Interlaken, NY 14847

Located on the West side of Cayuga Lake.

We found Americana Vineyards after exploring Ithica & the Robert H. Treman State Park. We were greeted by the owner & his two pups who roamed around the store and tasting room.

The Vineyard offers guests many amazing views, either taking a seat on their front porch or heading out back to the gazebo and rolling fields.

Maggie enjoyed the view as we watched a hawk fly throughout the trees in the distance and the owner’s dogs and other guests dogs romped around the yard to play.

Barrington Cellars

2690 Gray Rd, Penn Yan, NY 14527

Located on the East side of Keuka Lake.

Barrington Cellars is slightly off the main route when on the Keuka Lake wine trail. At the time of visiting there was enough room for 3 parties of guests, but Maggie did great by sitting under our table & munching on the snacks we were provided to cleanse the pallet.

Buttonwood Grove Winery

5986 NY-89, Romulus, NY 14541

Located on the West side of Cayuga Lake.

Buttonwood Grove Winery offers great views of the vineyards and Cayuga Lake. Inside their tasting room and deck, there were many different table options that could accommodate different party sizes. They also offer you to grab a drink at the bar & sit out in the front yard.

This winery also offers rental units that make for a great adventure. There was no rule about dogs in Buttonwood’s tasting room, but we did get a sense that they would have preferred Maggie to wait outside.

Sadly, when we were there, we found other wine tasters had left their dogs in their car, so we aren’t sure if Buttonwood is truly dog-friendly in the tasting area.

Goose Watch

5480 NY-89, Romulus, NY 14541

Located on the West side of Cayuga Lake.

Goose Watch was one of two locations we actually didn’t purchase a bottle of wine from, but Maggie sat with us as we enjoyed our flights of wine in the loft portion of the barn. The gentleman (wish I remember his name) offered Maggie her own treat which she promptly ate while we paid for our wine.

Knapp Winery

2770 Ernsberger Rd, Romulus, NY 14541

Located on the West side of Cayuga Lake.

Knapp Winery has a bar area with food and a tasting room. When we brought Maggie in the hostess was hesitant at first to allow her, but again this was literally the weekend restrictions started opening up. They asked that Maggie not wander even on a leash, which I’m not exactly sure what that meant but I shortened her leash & had her sit under our table while we tasted the many different wines.

We found that Knapp had one of the best fruit wines, specifically Loganberry (if you are from the Buffalo area or upstate NY you likely know about this) and Peach. If we didn’t restrict our wine purchases to a case we likely would have come home with a case of both of these alone. However, the car didn’t have enough room so we settled on two bottles of each.

However, the wine was not the show stopper that day. Maggie was still trying to understand the in and out of the day & wanted to desperately sit next to me. The barstools made for that to be impossible so we asked the owner if we could let her up on a chair (trust me this is 100% a Maggie thing!).

Without a doubt, Maggie stole the show for the next 20 minutes as she sat waiting for us to enjoy our wine.

Dog-Friendly Cider Tasting Rooms

1911 Cider / Beak & Skiff

4473 Cherry Valley Turnpike, Lafayette, NY 13084

Located on the East side of Otisco Lake (Near the intersection of route 20 & route 80)

I will say that 1911 Cider is Peter’s favorite cider, so there was no doubt that we would be making a trip to the tasting room. Now I’m not 100% sure if they are dog-friendly, but the employees said it was ok with hesitation. If you visit definitely ask to make sure nothing has changed.

Warthog Cider / Earle Estates Meadery

2770 NY-14, Penn Yan, NY 14527

Located on the West side of Seneca Lake.

We visited Earle Estates Meadery and not the cider location. The owner is extremely dog friendly at Earle Estates however because Warthog Cider is owned by a different owner (according to an employee) we don’t know if they are just as dog friendly.

This location was a great stop on our way back to the hotel, however despite the great view of the lake be prepared, they are located across the street from a cow farm.

Our Final Thoughts

The Finger Lakes offer so much to do. This location is one that we can’t wait to visit again especially with Maggie and any other future pups we might have in our lives. While this isn’t a complete list of dog-friendly wineries, they are just the few we found. If you have any others you would like to add to this list definitely drop us a comment for others to know as well.