Bully Hill

Bully Hill Farms was started by Greyton H. Taylor and Walter S. Taylor in 1958. Walter S. Taylor represents the fourth generation of his family to be involved in grape growing and winemaking. The family has been either growing grapes or producing wine since 1878.

In 1920, as the Taylor Wine Company rapidly expanded, the Taylor family bought grapes from numerous local vineyardists. The successful winery needed a consistent water and electrical power supply, which it could not get at its original site. In 1929, the Taylor family moved the winery to a new site, two miles outside the Village of Hammondsport. The original winery site atop Bully Hill was sold to Lloyd Sprague. In 1958, Greyton H. Taylor purchased the vineyards back from Lloyd Sprague. Greyton and Walter began to convert the vineyards from Native American grapes to French American hybrids, pioneering these varieties in New York State. Slowly they rebuilt a winery, and in 1970 Bully Hill Vineyards, Inc. was formally incorporated. Ever since, Bully Hill has been known as the home of innovation.

Bully Hill Vineyards was the first small estate winery in the Keuka Lake area since Prohibition, and became the cornerstone for the growth of many wineries. To date, 11 wineries grace the Keuka Lake region.

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