The Cape Winery Claimed

The Cape Winery is one of the newest wineries on the Thousand Islands Seaway Wine Trail which winds along the St. Lawrence River in the picturesque Thousand Islands Region of upstate New York. The Cape Winery and Deerlick Farm Vineyards are located on historic Deerlick Farm which was purchased by the Fralick family in 1996 for use as a custom furniture business. The family’s interest in wine making and the availability of cold hardy grapes created an interest in growing grapes for our own wines. Besides having French roots in its history, the terroir (land) at Deerlick Farm is the French definition of a perfect vineyard site with south sloping vineyards, limestone soil, and Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to temper the northern climate.

This unique site imparts a flavor in the grapes that creates a complex wine, something we like to call the ‘taste of the Cape’. The vineyards were started in 2007 and after a successful growing season, were expanded beyond the needs of personal wine production. The family perfected their wine making skills for 3 years with these new grapes and sold the excess grapes to other wineries. In 2013 The Cape Winery opened its doors and has been accepted as one of the premier wineries in the area. A testament to the quality of our wines is the Gold Medal received from the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition for one of our estate grown wines.

In keeping with our commitment to buy local and be environmentally conscientious, the goal of the winery is to grow or purchase locally grown grapes to produce at least 60% of the wines that we sell. We have met or exceeded these goals and we continue to add to our vineyards and support local growers in production of high quality grapes for our wines. In addition to these grape growing practices, the winery has taken steps to reduce our carbon footprint by using eco-friendly bottles where possible, cold stabilizing wines in the winter using mother nature, made use of historic barns for production and tasting room facilities, and insulated these facilities to reduce heat and air conditioning requirements.