Lime Berry Winery Featured in Star Gazette

Hundreds of wine lovers were at First Arena in downtown Elmira on Friday for the 10th annual Wine On Ice tasting event.
But for one winery, the event was a first.
Lime Berry Wine Estate began sales last year, but it does not have a tasting room. In fact, Lime Berry began as, and still is, an art gallery in Hammondsport.
While visiting the Finger Lakes a few years ago to help out at a friend’s family farm, Lime Berry co-owner Joe Carroll stumbled across Hammondsport. Weeks later, he and his wife, Melissa Carroll, were poking around the village, scouting for a site to relocate their Durango, Colo. art gallery.
Now located at 64 Shethar St. in Hammondsport, Lime Berry art gallery — named after a villa the couple rented in the British Virgin Islands in 2001 — carries works from the Carrolls’ cadre of artist friends living in Colorado, New Mexico and the Finger Lakes.
Pleased with the gallery’s success, the Carrolls launched Lime Berry Wine Estate last year.
The wholesale wine business, which does not operate a tasting room, has released two Rieslings, a late-harvest Vignoles, a Chardonnay, a Cayuga White and an apple wine, all made from fruit purchased from Finger Lakes growers.
Since the Carrolls are not licensed to sell wine at the gallery, they rely on partnerships with area liquor stores.
Park View Wine & Spirits on Pulteney Street in Hammondsport carries the winery’s lineup, as do stores in nearby Bath, Corning and Painted Post. The couple hopes to expand to the Rochester market by this summer or fall.
To secure their future in the Finger Lakes, the Carrolls are developing a 10-acre farm roughly 7 miles north of Hammondsport, on the west side of Keuka Lake.
In 2009, they planted Riesling and Chardonnay vines on the property, as well as 300 apple and peach trees, which are not yet producing fruit.
With plans to produce 1,500 cases this year, the Carrolls expect to stick with their wholesale business model.
Friday night and Saturday, the winery is pouring its wares for appreciative tasters at Wine On Ice.
“It’s a wonderful event close by to us,” Melissa Carroll said. “So many of the wine festivals in New York tend to be away from the Finger Lakes, so this is … perfect.”
Carroll said she hoped to meet people that they’d never met.
“So far, it’s been awesome,” she said.