Frequently Asked Questions

We are located on the east side of Seneca Lake about halfway between Geneva to the north and Watkins Glen to the South. Here is a link to Google Maps.

We accommodate parties of six or fewer on a first-come, first-serve basis. No reservations are required. We do not split groups that are larger than six people.

Depending upon the day and time of your visit, we may be able to accommodate parties of more than six people, provided they contact us a minimum of one week in advance by emailing reservations@boundarybreaks.com 

We are open Monday-Sunday from 11 AM to 5 PM. We are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. On the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, we close at 3 PM.

We serve our last tasting at 4:45.

We do not host large private events, such as weddings. Operating a venue for weddings or larger corporate events is a separate type of business. The hours that events like these require conflict with our normal vineyard and tasting room operations. 

We accommodate pets in both our inside and outside space, provided they are well-behaved and on a lease. We also have a very large fenced-in dog parked where pets can be off-leash.

Visitors are welcome to bring children, as long as parents supervise their childrens' behavior in a way that does not disrupt the experience of other guests.

People are free to use cell phones, provided the phones are not on "speaker" mode. 

During the colder months from November through early May, we hold our tastings indoors in our main tasting room. We offer both standing tastings at our tasting bar or seated tastings with table service. This space is small and can acccomodate up to 40 guests at one time. There are times when we are unable to accommodate everyone.

If you choose to be seated, you also have a choice of snacks to accompany your flight of wines. These include bread, cheese, salami, crackers and chips.

During the warmer weather, we offer tastings outdoors. You can taste our wines standing at tasting bars with our servers; we also offer seated tastings with table service under our covered pavillion; or you may purchase wine by the glass or bottle and sit out on our lawn in Adirondack chairs.

Snacks are also available if you choose to sit in our pavillion or out on our lawn in the Adirondack chairs.

When we are serving guests outdoors, we can accommate up to 125 guests at one time.

We are located off-the-beaten path. The three aspects of visiting us that guests often comment on are: the quality of the wines; the expansive views of the lake; and the quality of our knowledgeable wine guides who provide service to our guests.

We do not accept larger groups, so the atmosphere is relaxed and respectful. 

There is no charge to join the Wine Club. Members receive free tastings for the member and a guest. Members receive a 20 percent discount on all wines purchased on-site, online or in their Wine Club shipment. 

Members choose their own Wine Club wines and can pick them up or have them shipped. Wine Club selections are a minimum of six wines and pick-ups or shipments occur twice per year, once in April and once in September.

You learn more about our Wine Club here.

Wine Club members receive free tastings and 20 percent off on all purchases. In exchange for these benefits, we expect a Member to receive at keast two shipments of a minimum of six bottles. There is a small cancellation fee if the Member signs up, receive discounts and other benefits, but does not accept a minimum of two shipments.

We make our wines from grapes that are well-suited to the cooler climate in the Finger Lakes. These grapes include Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay.

We make many styles of Riesling and Gewürztraminer, from very dry to sweeter dessert wines. From our red grapes, we make only dry wines, including Rosé, Cabernet Franc and red blends that include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which we grow in small quantities.

We have received scores above 90 points for all of our wines in many industry publications. We ar best known for our dry Rieslings, and in recent years, our Cabernet Franc red wines have received accolades.

Find out more about our wines here.

We make about 90 percent of our wines from grapes we grow on our property. Our farm covers a total of 193 acres. Of that area, 55 acres are planted to vines. The largest plantings are Riesling and Cabernet Franc. 

We purchase about ten percent of the grapes we use from vineyards to our south on the east side of Seneca Lake.

Our wines are distributed widely in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They are also distributed is smaller amounts in Ohio, Virginia and Washington, DC, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine. Selected stores in Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin also carry our wines.

You can find wines in stores near you here. Call the store first to confirm availability.

We make sweet dessert wines from both Riesling and Gewürztraminer. We also make both dry and medium-dry Riesling and Gewürztraminer. We do not think of these as "sweet wines," but simply as a style of wine that balances acidity and residual sugar. These styles of off-dry wines pair extremely well with spicy foods found in Asian cuisines.

We are a small organization, and we have a lot going on all the time. Our people work in Vineyard Management, Sales and Marketing, Hospitality and Administration. We work with Winemakers at three different winemaking facilities in the Finger Lakes Region. 

We have seven full-time employees (including the owners) and between 15 and 20 part-time employees who work in the vineyard and in our hospitality service.

Everyone wears many hats!

We have three full-time members of our Vineyard team. They begin pruning in the winter. In the spring and summer they work with our seasonal H2A Visa guest workers. Our H2A workers are responsible for the work that can only be done by hand, while our employees are engaged with mechanized equipment.

By fall, our team is managing the harvest schedule. When the harvest is over, they begin preping the vineyard to remain healthy during the late fall and winter. 

Good wine is made in the vineyard, and it is year-round work.

Every year, we see more than 20,000 visitors to Boundary Breaks. This is during cold weather, rain, hot weather and often high winds coming off the lake.

As much as we want everyone to fall in love with our wines, that is only part of the experience. Our guests may not remember how each of our wines tastes, but they will remember how we made them feel while they were here. 

We ask our Hospitality team to treat our guests as they themselve would like to be treated at a winery.

We always try to remember who are guests are. We cannot be all things to all people. We cannot make so many different styles of wine that we have a wine for every person at every price point.

We sell our wine at our facility, and we hope we have a Hospitality staff that makes everyone feel welcome and appreciated.

We also sell wine Distributors who sell our wine to wine shops and and restaurants outside the Finger Lakes. Our goal is the make sure that the quality of wine is high and the price is affordable. The Quality/Price ratio has to be very high for us to be successful. 

Like the Administration team in most companies, ours is reponsible for paying bills and collecting payments from customers. There is also payroll to manage and book-keeping and accounting to keep track of how we are doing.

Because we are in a heavily-regulated alcohol manufacturing and distribution business, we have very demanding compliance requirements that fall on our Administrative team.

Because we are also in the manufacturing business, we have to source materials like bottles, labels, corks, screw-caps, boxes, etc. Then, we need to store and ship all the bottles, cases and pallets of wine. Like the other parts of our business, Administration is a year-round responsibility.

The Finger Lakes region was formed by multiple eras of glaciers advancing and receding. The ice melted as the glaciers receded, and the run-off created gorges and ravines along the sides of the lakes. These gorges are "breaks" in the landscape.

We have one such 'break" at our northern boundary of our property and one at the southern boundary. These are the "boundary breaks." 

Bruce Murray and Diana Lyttle founded Boundary Breaks in 2008, when they purchased 118 acres of bare farmland. There were no vines or buildings on the property. 

They began planting vines in 2009. The tasting room opened in 2016. Bruce and Diana expanded their farm in 2023 by adding another 73 adjacent acres.

Before starting Boundary Breaks, Bruce Murray had also started a small company in the information management field. He found that he enjoyed the freedom of being a founder and the responsibilities that go with that. 

After selling that company, Bruce was in his early 50's and wanted to start another company. He believed that starting a vineyard and operating a winery would be something he could do for as long as he remained healthy.

He also thought he would enjoy making a product that he was proud of in an industry where that might be possible. He felt the wines of the Finger Lakes were under-appreciated, and he wanted to see if he could help change that. 

Both Bruce Murray and Diana Lyttle were raised in Syracuse, NY, and were in the same high school class. 

Bruce worked in print publishing and electronic publishing in New York City prior to starting Boundary Breaks. Diana taught high school biology and earth science for 32 years in Connecticut before she came to Boundary Breaks.

We are located on the east side of Seneca Lake about halfway between Geneva to the north and Watkins Glen to the South. Here is a link to Google Maps.

We accommodate parties of six or fewer on a first-come, first-serve basis. No reservations are required. We do not split groups that are larger than six people.

Depending upon the day and time of your visit, we may be able to accommodate parties of more than six people, provided they contact us a minimum of one week in advance by emailing reservations@boundarybreaks.com 

We are open Monday-Sunday from 11 AM to 5 PM. We are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. On the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, we close at 3 PM.

We serve our last tasting at 4:45.

We do not host large private events, such as weddings. Operating a venue for weddings or larger corporate events is a separate type of business. The hours that events like these require conflict with our normal vineyard and tasting room operations. 

We accommodate pets in both our inside and outside space, provided they are well-behaved and on a lease. We also have a very large fenced-in dog parked where pets can be off-leash.

Visitors are welcome to bring children, as long as parents supervise their childrens' behavior in a way that does not disrupt the experience of other guests.

People are free to use cell phones, provided the phones are not on "speaker" mode. 

During the colder months from November through early May, we hold our tastings indoors in our main tasting room. We offer both standing tastings at our tasting bar or seated tastings with table service. This space is small and can acccomodate up to 40 guests at one time. There are times when we are unable to accommodate everyone.

If you choose to be seated, you also have a choice of snacks to accompany your flight of wines. These include bread, cheese, salami, crackers and chips.

During the warmer weather, we offer tastings outdoors. You can taste our wines standing at tasting bars with our servers; we also offer seated tastings with table service under our covered pavillion; or you may purchase wine by the glass or bottle and sit out on our lawn in Adirondack chairs.

Snacks are also available if you choose to sit in our pavillion or out on our lawn in the Adirondack chairs.

When we are serving guests outdoors, we can accommate up to 125 guests at one time.

We are located off-the-beaten path. The three aspects of visiting us that guests often comment on are: the quality of the wines; the expansive views of the lake; and the quality of our knowledgeable wine guides who provide service to our guests.

We do not accept larger groups, so the atmosphere is relaxed and respectful. 

There is no charge to join the Wine Club. Members receive free tastings for the member and a guest. Members receive a 20 percent discount on all wines purchased on-site, online or in their Wine Club shipment. 

Members choose their own Wine Club wines and can pick them up or have them shipped. Wine Club selections are a minimum of six wines and pick-ups or shipments occur twice per year, once in April and once in September.

You learn more about our Wine Club here.

Wine Club members receive free tastings and 20 percent off on all purchases. In exchange for these benefits, we expect a Member to receive at keast two shipments of a minimum of six bottles. There is a small cancellation fee if the Member signs up, receive discounts and other benefits, but does not accept a minimum of two shipments.

We make our wines from grapes that are well-suited to the cooler climate in the Finger Lakes. These grapes include Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay.

We make many styles of Riesling and Gewürztraminer, from very dry to sweeter dessert wines. From our red grapes, we make only dry wines, including Rosé, Cabernet Franc and red blends that include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which we grow in small quantities.

We have received scores above 90 points for all of our wines in many industry publications. We ar best known for our dry Rieslings, and in recent years, our Cabernet Franc red wines have received accolades.

Find out more about our wines here.

We make about 90 percent of our wines from grapes we grow on our property. Our farm covers a total of 193 acres. Of that area, 55 acres are planted to vines. The largest plantings are Riesling and Cabernet Franc. 

We purchase about ten percent of the grapes we use from vineyards to our south on the east side of Seneca Lake.

Our wines are distributed widely in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They are also distributed is smaller amounts in Ohio, Virginia and Washington, DC, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine. Selected stores in Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin also carry our wines.

You can find wines in stores near you here. Call the store first to confirm availability.

We make sweet dessert wines from both Riesling and Gewürztraminer. We also make both dry and medium-dry Riesling and Gewürztraminer. We do not think of these as "sweet wines," but simply as a style of wine that balances acidity and residual sugar. These styles of off-dry wines pair extremely well with spicy foods found in Asian cuisines.

We are a small organization, and we have a lot going on all the time. Our people work in Vineyard Management, Sales and Marketing, Hospitality and Administration. We work with Winemakers at three different winemaking facilities in the Finger Lakes Region. 

We have seven full-time employees (including the owners) and between 15 and 20 part-time employees who work in the vineyard and in our hospitality service.

Everyone wears many hats!

We have three full-time members of our Vineyard team. They begin pruning in the winter. In the spring and summer they work with our seasonal H2A Visa guest workers. Our H2A workers are responsible for the work that can only be done by hand, while our employees are engaged with mechanized equipment.

By fall, our team is managing the harvest schedule. When the harvest is over, they begin preping the vineyard to remain healthy during the late fall and winter. 

Good wine is made in the vineyard, and it is year-round work.

Every year, we see more than 20,000 visitors to Boundary Breaks. This is during cold weather, rain, hot weather and often high winds coming off the lake.

As much as we want everyone to fall in love with our wines, that is only part of the experience. Our guests may not remember how each of our wines tastes, but they will remember how we made them feel while they were here. 

We ask our Hospitality team to treat our guests as they themselve would like to be treated at a winery.

We always try to remember who are guests are. We cannot be all things to all people. We cannot make so many different styles of wine that we have a wine for every person at every price point.

We sell our wine at our facility, and we hope we have a Hospitality staff that makes everyone feel welcome and appreciated.

We also sell wine Distributors who sell our wine to wine shops and and restaurants outside the Finger Lakes. Our goal is the make sure that the quality of wine is high and the price is affordable. The Quality/Price ratio has to be very high for us to be successful. 

Like the Administration team in most companies, ours is reponsible for paying bills and collecting payments from customers. There is also payroll to manage and book-keeping and accounting to keep track of how we are doing.

Because we are in a heavily-regulated alcohol manufacturing and distribution business, we have very demanding compliance requirements that fall on our Administrative team.

Because we are also in the manufacturing business, we have to source materials like bottles, labels, corks, screw-caps, boxes, etc. Then, we need to store and ship all the bottles, cases and pallets of wine. Like the other parts of our business, Administration is a year-round responsibility.

The Finger Lakes region was formed by multiple eras of glaciers advancing and receding. The ice melted as the glaciers receded, and the run-off created gorges and ravines along the sides of the lakes. These gorges are "breaks" in the landscape.

We have one such 'break" at our northern boundary of our property and one at the southern boundary. These are the "boundary breaks." 

Bruce Murray and Diana Lyttle founded Boundary Breaks in 2008, when they purchased 118 acres of bare farmland. There were no vines or buildings on the property. 

They began planting vines in 2009. The tasting room opened in 2016. Bruce and Diana expanded their farm in 2023 by adding another 73 adjacent acres.

Before starting Boundary Breaks, Bruce Murray had also started a small company in the information management field. He found that he enjoyed the freedom of being a founder and the responsibilities that go with that. 

After selling that company, Bruce was in his early 50's and wanted to start another company. He believed that starting a vineyard and operating a winery would be something he could do for as long as he remained healthy.

He also thought he would enjoy making a product that he was proud of in an industry where that might be possible. He felt the wines of the Finger Lakes were under-appreciated, and he wanted to see if he could help change that. 

Both Bruce Murray and Diana Lyttle were raised in Syracuse, NY, and were in the same high school class. 

Bruce worked in print publishing and electronic publishing in New York City prior to starting Boundary Breaks. Diana taught high school biology and earth science for 32 years in Connecticut before she came to Boundary Breaks.