Navinnus Forty Two Cellars

06/01/2026

The Finger Lakes were carved by glaciers. Long narrow lakes, steep slopes, soils that drain fast and hold heat.

It’s not an obvious place to grow wine grapes until you understand the science behind it: the lakes moderate temperature swings and extend the growing season allowing Riesling and other cool-climate varieties to thrive here.

We’re lucky enough to look at this view every evening.

05/30/2026

Last week, while visiting DC, we made a trip to Virginia wine country.

We stopped by 4 wineries in the Middleburg area: 50 West Vineyards, Cana Vineyards and Winery of Middleburg, Boxwood Estate Winery, and Greenhill Winery & Vineyards. We really enjoyed exploring wines from another region and discovered a few favorites, including an unexpected Albariño!

Check out our latest blog post to learn more about this up-and-coming wine region.

We’re all about visiting different wine regions, so when we found ourselves in DC last week celebrating our daughters' graduations (one from undergrad and one from grad school), a rainy Thursday turned out to be perfect tasting room weather. We took the opportunity to make the drive out to Virgini...

05/19/2026

sits on the east side of Seneca Lake in Lodi, and their Rieslings are some of the best in the Finger Lakes.

We recently posted about a 2021 visit and the wine we opened: their 2018 Red Oak Vineyard Riesling. It had petrol, white peach, and golden apple on the nose, with a minerality on the finish.

We also shared some of our favorite places to eat nearby.

Full post - see the link in bio.

05/12/2026

The Finger Lakes just earned one of the biggest recognitions in American wine. named it American Wine Region of the Year, and on May 4th, the and Kitchen hosted a celebration at the Wine Spectator Theater in Canandaigua to mark the moment.

The Wine Star Awards are Wine Enthusiast’s annual recognition of people, places, and wineries that have made an impact on the wine world. American Wine Region of the Year goes to the region that has demonstrated exceptional quality, growth, and significance.

The Finger Lakes has been building toward this kind of recognition for a long time. 🥂

Scott and I were there as —our first event as a winery!

For more, check out the full story at the link in bio.

05/07/2026

Still in the tank. Still becoming.

We pulled a taste of our 2025 Dry Riesling a week ago, and it’s a little cloudy and still working through the last of fermentation, not yet filtered.

This is the raw version.

Even so, the nose is aromatic and expressive. On the palate: stone fruit, minerality, and tropical notes we weren’t entirely expecting.

Round and full. 2025 ran warm, and you can taste it.

We can’t wait to share the finished version with you.

Cheers from the lake!🥂

05/03/2026

Do you know the story behind our winery’s name?

When founders Niki and Scott bought their Cayuga Lake house in 2020, a vintage sailboat came with it. It had been converted into a bar, and installed in the lower level of the house.

We later learned that it had been there since the 1970s. Neighbors used to gather around it for happy hour, and it’s a gathering place for us, too.

We loved that lore so much that we decided to name our winery after it. Navis means ship. Vin comes from vinum, wine. Innus is a nod to gathering — an inn, a bar, a table where people meet up to enjoy great food, wine and company.

And Forty Two marks the 42nd parallel, the coordinate for the Finger Lakes. And if you’re like us, you know that wine is the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

Navinnus Forty Two is about place. It’s about the Finger Lakes and everything that makes this region so special. 🥂

Link in bio for the full story behind our name.

04/28/2026

Our Rosé is waking up!

A few weeks ago, we were tasted our wines straight from the tank, and the potential was already there. The Dry Riesling was beautiful and the Rosé was also delicious, but had a bit of residual sugar.

But now that the weather has finally warmed up, something exciting is happening: our Rosé started fermenting again!

In the cellar, we’re often at the mercy of the temperature, and seeing this secondary push of energy is exactly what we were hoping for. We are leaning in and can’t wait to see the complexity and character this Rosé develops as it finds its finish.

Stay tuned—our first vintage is going to be special!

04/24/2026

We talk a lot about terroir — but nothing teaches it like actually being there.

This past harvest, Scott worked the 2025 vintage at , and helped harvest the Riesling grapes that will become our first release.

It was a wet spring, hot summer — the kind of combination that keeps yields a little lower but results in fruit with great concentration and density.

It was a great vintage and we couldn’t be more excited about our 2025 Riesling and rosé wines which are currently fermenting.
We’re excited. 🥂

04/22/2026

04/20/2026

Ever wonder what wines taste like before they’re finished?

We tasted both of ours on camera over the weekend. They were mid-fermentation- and delicious!

It’s one of the best ways to understand how a wine is developing and what it will become.

We also talked through our first Finger Lakes harvest and the origin of our name (there’s a story there).

Full recording on the blog. Link in bio. 🥂