With more and more wine lovers eager to think and drink pink, Fulkerson Winery has had a lot to celebrate since first launching its line of Syrah Rosé. That the wine was even released, never mind won ‘Best Pink Wine’ is a coup in and of itself, its sixth-generation owner and operator admits.

“I was very reluctant to use Syrah for rosé because it’s such a rare grape in the Finger Lakes, and it felt risky because our red is so popular,” Sayre Fulkerson explains. “But we decided to try it. I could never have predicted that it would be as successful as it has become in the past six or so years, and winning this award felt like winning the lottery. Just so unexpected.”

Fulkerson’s award, as well as the Governor’s Cup, Winery of the Year, and other major category wins, were announced by Wanda Mann in a live event hosted and organized by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF). The New York Wine Classic is an annual event that celebrates the best-in-class wines from producers across the Empire State. 

To evaluate the 715 entries from 92 wineries across the state, the NYWGF partnered with the Beverage Tasting Institute to judge the competition. In total, 2 Platinum, 190 Gold, 397 Silver, and 116 Bronze medals were awarded.

Fulkerson Winery won ‘Best Pink Wine’ for its 2023 Estate Rosé, a fruit-forward, lighter style of rosé produced via direct press. Some grapes are destemmed, depending on what went on weather-wise that year.

“We have been making this rosé for several years now, so we treat it slightly differently depending on what the vintage brings,” Fulkerson explains. “We ferment and age it in stainless steel and bottle it young. Because of our cool nights, you really get the fruit character here.”

Just 400 cases of the Syrah rosé are produced, and Fulkerson has no intention of expanding because their red—also made from Syrah grapes—is distinct and also very popular.

Many Hands Contributed to the Win

Fulkerson is quick to credit the many generations and people who helped lead to the winery’s success and ultimately, this accolade.

“Our vineyard manager Eric Lebeck has been with us since he was 22, and he knows the grape vines better than anyone,” Fulkerson says. “We wouldn’t have the same consistent quality year-in, year-out without him. And our winemaker Dan Gobush does an incredible job. The three of us work as a team to figure out how we are going to utilize that year’s crop, and how we’re going to finish it.”

But Fulkerson’s gratitude runs back centuries.

The family farm was founded in 1805 by Caleb Fulkerson, he says. To put that in context, 1805 was the same year Lewis & Clark set out to explore the West. The early 1800s were an era of exploration and agricultural entrepreneurialism across the country.

“Caleb staked a piece of land on the western edge of Seneca Lake,” Fulkerson says. “He settled and cleared the land. Caleb was a Revolutionary War veteran, and apparently a very hard worker.”

When he marked his claim, he put a black willow branch which doubled as his walking stick into a spring that ran through the land. That branch took root and grew into a tree that eventually was harvested to make coffins for him and his wife.

The farm flourished down through proceeding generations, with Caleb’s son Samuel, and his sons going on to work the land. Grapes weren’t grown on the farm until the 1840s and the first grapes planted were table and juice grapes. Roger Fulkerson, the 5th generation vintner and Sayre’s father expanded grape production when an industry-wide blight decimated the raspberries grown on the land.

The first real wine grapes were planted in the 1960s, and Taylor Wine purchased many of them. Taylor’s demise in the 1980s led Sayre and his wife Nancy to expand and create a winery themselves.

“We have 105 acres under vine, and we grow about 35 varieties,” Fulkerson explains. “Our largest planting is Riesling.”

Fulkerson still sells a lot of its grapes to other growers but saves enough to make around 15,000 cases annually.

While there aren’t a lot of bottles of the Estate Syrah Rosé hanging around, there are a few. And looking ahead, Fulkerson is eager for harvest.

“The weather so far this year has been great, and we are looking forward to a high-quality crop,” Fulkerson says. “Plus after two straight years of smaller harvests, this one looks like it will be healthy.”

We look forward to toasting the bounty with 2024’s Estate Syrah Rosé.

Images were provided by Fulkerson Winery.