OUR STORY
Deer Run Winery is a family owned farm winery whose humble beginnings grew from one man's love of making wine. Wine making has long been a passion of owner, George Kuyon, who built Deer Run Winery in 2003 on a 20 acre parcel of farmland after his retirement from Kodak.
Upon hearing the news that his father was planning to open a winery, George's son, Scott, who was working as a marine mechanic in Florida at the time, decided to move back home & help his Father fulfill his dream.
Over a fifteen years later, Deer Run has established itself as an award-winning winery at the north end of Conesus Lake that is here to stay.
Upon hearing the news that his father was planning to open a winery, George's son, Scott, who was working as a marine mechanic in Florida at the time, decided to move back home & help his Father fulfill his dream.
Over a fifteen years later, Deer Run has established itself as an award-winning winery at the north end of Conesus Lake that is here to stay.
WHAT WE DO
Deer Run Winery grows approximately 20 percent of the grapes used to make our wines, the remainder of the grapes needed are purchased from other Finger Lakes vineyards. Within our five acre vineyard we grow Vidal, Valvin Muscat, Noiret, Corot Noir, Traminette, Marechal Foch & Frontenac varieties. In the winter months, while the vines are dormant, each of the vines are hand pruned by Scott (and anyone else he can coax into helping him) and tied in early Spring before the vines begin to bud. Throughout the growing season, the vines are thinned so the energy from the vine goes into growing the grapes, not into growing the leaves. Shoot thinning also helps to allow the sunlight to penetrate the canopy which will help keep the grapes dry and free from mildew. When Fall arrives we test the sugar and acid levels of the grapes and wait for optimum sugar percentages before we harvest. Row after row, we snip the grape bunches from the vines and we abide by two simple rules: don't cut your own fingers & don't cut your neighbor's fingers!
Once a variety is picked, we bring the filled pick bins to the "press pad". This is where we record the weight of the grapes before they meet their fate at the crusher de-stemmer!
Once a variety is picked, we bring the filled pick bins to the "press pad". This is where we record the weight of the grapes before they meet their fate at the crusher de-stemmer!
Filled pick bins ready to be weighed
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The grape crusher & de-stemmer
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Pressing the grapes
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Once we have the grape must, we need to separate the juices from the skins and depending on whether the must is red or white grapes, we press the varieties within a week of being picked. White wines will be pressed the same day they are picked while red wine grapes are left to ferment on the skins for one to two weeks to add depth of color and body to the wine.
After pressing, the rough wine heads into a tank for cold stabilization & finishing! 
Wines being bottled at Deer Run Winery
Many folks say that great wine is made in the vineyard, meaning that the care and treatment of the grapes while they grow is the best way to guarantee a delicious wine, and we have to say that we agree to an extent. Sometimes the summers aren't exactly ideal for growing a pristine grape crop, but we have learned that care for our wines in the tank room can turn a good product into a fantastic finished wine. Scott has experimented with different techniques over the years and enjoys the challenges that come annually at harvest time. Since we opened in 2003, a greater knowledge of commercial wine production has been gained by both father and son and that can only mean one thing: better wines. Our commitment is unwavering: to bring the community quality, approachable hand crafted Finger Lakes wines. Cheers!
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The bladder press
French oak & American oak barrels
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The original tank room in the main building
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Watch this short video clip taken by Wine Forecaster, David Valvo, as he samples our 2015 Riesling and talks a little bit with Scott about the wine.
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Deer Run Winery Expansion
Since 2016 the Kuyon family has worked toward expanding their business with an addition of a permanent structure to replace the need of renting tents for weddings and events, and adding a larger wine production area allowing us to expand our production to meet the needs of our consumers. After approximately three years of planning with bankers, architects, engineers, contractors and the town planning board, Deer Run was able to break ground on the planned expansion beginning in January 2020.
The expansion did not initially go as smoothly as planned with the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, all work on our project was halted in March 2020. The new production building was up and under cover, but utilities were not yet in place and much of the interior finish work was unfinished. The shutdown affected our business greatly and with much uncertainty surrounding the future, bottling was held off in Spring of 2020. Bottling is a great expense that wineries face with the purchasing of thousands of wine bottles, corks, capsules and labels. At the time, it was an expense that we could not incur. Booked 2020 weddings were postponing, showers and other parties booked in our event room canceled and our Thursday Night Summer Concert Series did not go on. Wine sales were consistent and our customers ordered online for curbside pick up. Folks picking up wines chatted with us from a distance in the parking lot and everyone cautiously looked forward to things opening back up. And they did. Construction of our pavilion, which had been a framed shell in our front lawn for five months, was completed in August 2020 and we held two small weddings underneath the new four thousand square foot structure. Affording the guests plenty of space for open air social distancing!
In the Spring 2021, things began to turn around and projects were quickly getting ticked off the list. Bottling took place of the 2019 and 2020 vintages combined. Emptying out the wine tanks in the original tank room allowed us to move the tanks into their new building which had sat largely unused for over a year. Finishing work inside the production building took place. Painting, flooring in the office space, plumbing, and utilities were complete and the building was beginning to be used for its intended purposes. Though it is still a work in progress, we are nearly there and the production building is about 90% complete! The pavilion received a beautiful stone sided bar and our kegerator received a permanent home, relieving Scott from having to move it with the tractor on a weekly basis to a temporary space under a tent. Our next mission was to convert the old tank room into a café space for our guests. We are in the midst of this renovation currently and ask that you pardon our dust and noise throughout this transformation. Our goal is to provide comfortable seating and delicious food that compliments our incredible wines.
We look forward to the future, whatever it may hold, for at this point we feel as though we can make it through anything.
The expansion did not initially go as smoothly as planned with the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, all work on our project was halted in March 2020. The new production building was up and under cover, but utilities were not yet in place and much of the interior finish work was unfinished. The shutdown affected our business greatly and with much uncertainty surrounding the future, bottling was held off in Spring of 2020. Bottling is a great expense that wineries face with the purchasing of thousands of wine bottles, corks, capsules and labels. At the time, it was an expense that we could not incur. Booked 2020 weddings were postponing, showers and other parties booked in our event room canceled and our Thursday Night Summer Concert Series did not go on. Wine sales were consistent and our customers ordered online for curbside pick up. Folks picking up wines chatted with us from a distance in the parking lot and everyone cautiously looked forward to things opening back up. And they did. Construction of our pavilion, which had been a framed shell in our front lawn for five months, was completed in August 2020 and we held two small weddings underneath the new four thousand square foot structure. Affording the guests plenty of space for open air social distancing!
In the Spring 2021, things began to turn around and projects were quickly getting ticked off the list. Bottling took place of the 2019 and 2020 vintages combined. Emptying out the wine tanks in the original tank room allowed us to move the tanks into their new building which had sat largely unused for over a year. Finishing work inside the production building took place. Painting, flooring in the office space, plumbing, and utilities were complete and the building was beginning to be used for its intended purposes. Though it is still a work in progress, we are nearly there and the production building is about 90% complete! The pavilion received a beautiful stone sided bar and our kegerator received a permanent home, relieving Scott from having to move it with the tractor on a weekly basis to a temporary space under a tent. Our next mission was to convert the old tank room into a café space for our guests. We are in the midst of this renovation currently and ask that you pardon our dust and noise throughout this transformation. Our goal is to provide comfortable seating and delicious food that compliments our incredible wines.
We look forward to the future, whatever it may hold, for at this point we feel as though we can make it through anything.
