A family winery on the St. Lawrence
Thousand Islands Winery is a family business run by Steve and Erika Conaway. In December 2002 the Conaways bought the farm on Route 12 between Clayton and Alexandria Bay, and the winery opened its doors in 2003.
Steve is a retired Army Major.
Growing with the North Country
In 2013 we added a second farm on Wellesley Island. Today we make more than 50,000 gallons of wine a year from over 23 varieties, grown on more than 19 acres in the Thousand Islands region. Our cold-hardy grapes handle long North Country winters, and every season looks a little different out in the rows.
Award-winning wines
Between 2007 and 2019 our wines earned more than 168 medals in competition, from our dry reds to our sweet whites and fruit wines.
The Three Captains
The winery farm was once owned and operated by Captain Massey and his wife, Ida. A well-known riverboat captain during the 1930s, Captain Massey owned and operated a large Great Lakes vessel that was later sold to the Department of Defense during World War II.
During the 1970s, the farm was owned by Jerry and Debbie Schaeffer, who raised Arabian horses and harvested hay on the property. Jerry Schaeffer also served as a Captain in the United States Army Reserve.
The original farmhouse was built in 1881, and the barn was built in 1923 from a Sears and Roebuck kit.
When Steve Conaway bought the property, he too held the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army. The Thousand Islands region reminded him of his time along Germany's Rhine River, where his passion for wine and winemaking first began.
Our grapes
Our wines are made from classic New York grapes and cold-hardy varieties bred to thrive in the North Country. Here are the grapes behind our wines.
Catawba: A versatile American variety often used for jelly and juice. Purple-red in color, Catawba has a pronounced musky flavor and is well suited for sweet wines, used in whites, reds and rosés.
Cayuga: A French-American hybrid found mostly in the New York Finger Lakes. First bred in New York in 1945 from Schuyler and Seyval Blanc, it was not released commercially until 1972. Cayuga has a light citrus flavor and is used in dry to sweet wines.
Chambourcin: A French-American hybrid available only since 1963. It makes a deep-colored, aromatic wine in a dry style or with a moderate amount of residual sugar.
Concord: The grape most used for grape juice, jelly, pies and grape soda. Its dark blue to purple skin often carries a light, dusty bloom. Concord is highly aromatic and slightly tart, with a strong musky flavor.
Delaware: Known as one of the best American table grapes, Delaware is an early-ripening red grape with small berries and a mild flavor. It makes dry, sweet and ice wines and is famous for spicy sparkling wines.
Diamond: A white hybrid of Concord and Iona from New York State, used for dry to sweet and sparkling wines. It looks much like Concord but is less able to handle harsh climates. It stands alone or works in blends.
Frontenac: A French-American hybrid released by the University of Minnesota in 1996 and bred for red wine. High sugar and acid at harvest give a red wine with cherry and plum flavors. The vines have handled vineyard temperatures as low as -30°F and are reliable, heavy producers.
Isabella: A dark, purple-skinned American grape now widely planted in Portugal, Japan, Bali and Brazil. Its best-known wine is fragolino, Italian for “strawberry,” a sweet and refreshing sparkling red.
Maréchal Foch: A French red grape named for Marshal Ferdinand Foch, who helped negotiate the armistice that ended World War I. It makes everything from light reds to deep, inky purple wines.
Marquette: A cold-hardy grape released in 2006, a cousin of Frontenac and a grandchild of Pinot Noir. It resists common grape diseases and grows in an orderly way that makes the vines easy to manage.
Muscat: Known as Moscato in Italy and Moscatel in Spain and Portugal, Muscat is one of the oldest grape families known, used in winemaking since ancient Greece. It came to the United States in the 1850s. Its many varieties range from white to nearly black and share a distinctive grapey aroma.
Niagara: A native American grape of the Vitis labrusca family that New York is famous for. It makes refreshing, aromatic wine and is the leading grape for white grape juice. Fresh from the vine, it is sweet and delicious.
Pinot Gris: A mutation of Pinot Noir that makes a light, crisp white wine. The fruit is usually grayish-blue, which gives it its name, though it can range from pinkish brown to nearly black or white.
Riesling: An aromatic white grape from the Rhine region of Germany, with fruity, floral aromas and bright acidity. It makes dry, sweet and sparkling wines. Ours is sweet, varietally pure and fermented in stainless steel.
Vincent: A French-American hybrid bred to survive cold winters in places like the Finger Lakes. The dark blue grape is usually used in blends and gives earthy wines low in tannin despite its deep color.
Come see us
We are open every day on Route 12 between Clayton and Alexandria Bay. Stop in for a tasting, take a tour or bring the whole group. Plan your visit.