Wine //
served open til close
Welcome to Terra Cotta, Alfred’s wine bar!
We want to take the snoot factor out of wine and get to the enjoyment and appreciation of the wonders of a truly natural product.
Our wine selection is intended to have a style to suit every taste. Although we have wines from several parts of the world, our true focus and passion is local, leaning into the great (and under-appreciated) wines of New York. We favor family-owned wineries using sustainable farming practices and minimal chemical additions and to that end, we’ll tell you a bit of the backstory for our featured wineries. Our list will always be unconventional and in a constant state of flux and expansion, so keep your eyes open.
Sometimes you want wine with your food, sometimes you just want something to sip- we include suggest food pairings (though the best pairing is always the food you love and the wine you love, regardless) and note the wines which are just great to drink on their own.
But these are just our starting suggestions, the important thing is what YOU like. Of course, these wines all dance beautifully with our cheese and charcuterie boards as well as small dishes and tapas that we’ll be featuring from time to time.
Every wine has a story to tell and we’d love to have you discover what they have to say.
Bully Hill
If you know, you know. If you don’t, we’ll tell you! Bully Hill is a family-owned winery on Keuka Lake, producing a huge variety of wine types and styles. Founded by Walter Taylor, their story is fascinating, almost soap-opera drama, legal struggles, persecution… resistance and eventual triumph.
Ria’s
I can’t say enough good things about them! A new (2 years old) woman-owned family winery on the east side of Seneca Lake, run by Ria d’Aversa, who teaches vineyard management at Cornell, and her husband Mike Penn, who is a brilliant winemaker with experience in California and France. They strictly adhere to sustainable vineyard practices, use wild yeast for their ferments and make wines that will catch the breath of even the most jaded wine snob. Their production is limited, so we were very lucky to be able to get some of their best for our café. Before long, they’ll have a cult following, so you can be the cool kid and say that you’re been drinking this stuff for years.
Forge Cellars
This American-French joint venture is another star of the new wave of premium Finger Lakes wineries. Forge specializes in bone-dry Rieslings done in small batches of wine from grapes sourced from the best vineyards on the east shore of Seneca Lake. Unusually, the wines are barrel fermented, which brings out a smoothness, lovely acidity, and crazy-intense aromas. Sustainable agriculture, wild yeast ferments. Their winemaker, Leana Goddard, was imported from France and has done wonders in the cellars.
Terres Dorees
The Beaujolais region of France (tucked between Burgundy and Lyon) is most famous for its red wines, but the secret of the quality of their white wines is out! Jean-Paul Brun is a quirky, shrewd, and obsessed farmer and winemaker, who is adamant about organic farming, natural ferments, and no use of enzymes or other artificial aids. His wines are focused on the fruit rather than the winemaking, and are snappy, agile, and so, so enjoyable to drink. Brun’s wines have a long-standing cult following among wine geeks.
Francois Villard
This is a family-owned winery with estate vineyards scattered around the steep rocky hills of the northern Rhône, just south of Lyon. Villard farms organically, uses wild yeast for his fermentations, and minimal amounts of new oak. This allows the quality of the grapes to shine through, giving wines of real distinction and sense of “place.” You’ll see more and more of his wines on our list as time goes on.
Whites by the Glass
Bully Hill Cayuga White:
This is an off-dry (very slightly sweet) wine, with floral and fruity aromas and flavors. It’s a perfect sipper if you just want to enjoy a glass of wine on a sunny day. But it’s also my first choice to pair with an Indian curry or even a quesadilla. I have no idea how they make this so good and so affordable.
$6 glass / $24 bottle
Bully Hill Ravat 51:
The name is a throwback and bless the Bully Hill crew for keeping the old name alive; most producers call the variety Vignoles. And there’s still some mystery about its origin, though it’s clearly All-American and a staple of New York winemaking.
Bully Hill’s version is frankly sweet with a strong scent of ripe pineapple and enough acidity to keep it agile, not flabby or cloying. Another great wine for just sipping with friends if you want to walk on the sweeter side. But also a great choice to drink with our Thai curries.
$6 glass / $24 bottle
Terres Dorées
If you want to know what Chardonnay actually tastes like (nope, it doesn’t taste like oak and butter!), this is the one. There’s an abundance of tree fruit aromas, a bit of tropical breeze, and a vibrant flavor that is absolutely perfect with quesadillas, chicken wraps, omelets, or just a big heap of French fries.
$8 glass / $32 bottle
Reds by the Glass
Bully Hill Meat Market Red:
Look, until we win the lottery, we’re not drinking Chateau Lafite-Rothschild with dinner on a nightly basis. But if I were going to design the perfect every night hamburger or pizza wine, this would be it. Lively, unpretentious, packed with fruit spiced with just a hint of oak, and, well, it just goes down easy. Wines of this quality suitable for daily enjoyment with meals are pretty rare. Shhh, just drink it and don’t tell anyone!
$6 glass / $24 bottle
2024 Ria’s Cabernet Franc:
Cab Franc, if I may be informal, is the red grape dominant in the St-Emilion region of Bordeaux and in the Loire Valley. And interestingly, it does superbly well in the Finger Lakes. This one is our top-of-the-line red wine, grown sustainably at Ria’s own vineyard on the east side of Seneca Lake and made using Mike’s basic philosophy of wild ferments, no chemistry sets, and sensitive handling through the process.
And it’s… incredible, packed with red plum and black cherry flavors and aromas, with sweet spices and just a hint of tarragon. A real connoisseur’s wine, ripe and complex, but priced for normal people. But don’t be intimidated, it’s great with a cheeseburger.
$10 glass / $40 bottle
Whites (bottle only)
Forge Cellars
2023 Dry Riesling “Cuvee Classique”
This limited-production wine is made from a blend of grapes from several vineyard sites on the east side of Seneca Lake, all within a few miles of one another. The keyword here is “balance,” with the fruit and acidity dancing a fandango.
Goat cheeses are a natural pairing, as are Greek wraps and bowls, hummus, and all of our small plates. Frankly, we also think it’s great with scrambled eggs if you want a little morning treat. Don’t worry, we won’t tell.
$32 bottle
2022 Dry Riesling “Caywood Vineyard”
There’s something of a mystique about wines made from old vines. And the Caywood vineyard on the east side of Seneca Lake had some of the oldest Riesling vines in the Finger Lakes; if you know the history of the area, they were Charles Fournier’s plantings.
In any case, among all the Forge bottlings, the Caywood Rieslings were the most complex and subtle among the various vineyard plots. They are also marked by a fantastic density and mouthfeel. Is it from the old vines? Or the magic of the site? We think both.
Either way, as of this year, the old vines are now gone, so there’s limited amounts of this stunning wine and there won’t be any more. Of course we grabbed what we could before it’s gone forever.
$40 bottle
Bully Hill
Seyval Blanc
Seyval Blanc is a French-American hybrid variety with a long history in New York. Completely dry (no or minimal sugar) with a racy acidity and green apple aromas. It wants to partner up with something fatty like a Greek wrap or bowl with lots of feta and Parmesan cheese, onion rings, fried ravioli…
$24 bottle
Francois Villard
2023 Viognier “Contours de Deponcins”
A short list of the greatest white varieties of the world would have to include Viognier. Then why is it so obscure? Quantity. Unlike Riesling or Chardonnay, although people plant it all over the world, it has really only been successfully making great wine in one little speck of earth in the Rhône Valley, the town of Condrieu.
So it’s rare (the entire Condrieu region is only a few hundred acres) and hence expensive ($100+ per bottle). Long story here, but Villard has found a little plot adjacent to Condrieu that gives a comparably great wine but at a lower price.
It’s hard to find, but we managed! Organic viticulture, hand harvesting, careful winemaking, and what you get is a fabulously aromatic wine with heft and great mouthfeel. If you don’t buy it, we’ll drink it all ourselves.
$56 bottle
Ria’s
2024 Grace Vineyard Riesling
Riesling has been the flag-bearer for quality wine in the Finger Lakes for many decades, and I don’t know anyone who’s doing it better. This is a dry Riesling, with the stone fruit aromas and minerality typical of the best Seneca Lake wines.
The wonderful contrast between the lack of sweetness but the intense fruitiness will perk up your taste buds. I love to drink it with hummus or dishes with goat cheese. And the Greek rice bowl would be a fine companion. But this is another lovely wine to just enjoy on its own.
If such things matter to you, it was rated one of the 50 best American wines by Wine Enthusiast magazine, who gave it a score of 94 points. That’s an A, folks.
$40 bottle
Reds (bottle only)
Terres Dorees
2024 Beaujolais L’Ancien Vieilles Vignes
2024 Terres Dorees Beaujolais L’Ancien Vieilles Vignes: That name is kind of a mouthful, and so is this wine. Like Jean-Paul’s Chardonnay, this Gamay is grown organically, wild ferments, and comes from vines older than a Professor Emeritus. Crazy intensity, crunchy fruit, startlingly fresh aromas and flavors, just an absolute delight. We drink a lot of this ourselves. Burgers, quesadillas, chicken mole, even breakfast burritos will feel kinship, but this is also a taste bud-friendly sipper.
$35 bottle
Forge Cellars
2024 Pinot Noir “Cuvee Classique”
2024 Forge Cellars Pinot Noir “Cuvee Classique”: Like their Riesling, this wine is a blend from several different neighboring vineyards on the east side of Seneca Lake. The 2024 vintage was an outstanding one for red wines, and this will make you understand why the guys in Sideways were so obsessed with finding the magic Pinot.
If your exposure to Pinot Noir has been mostly industrial California versions, this will rock your world. A totally different beast, lighter and more agile but with great intensity, and amazingly food-friendly. $40 bottle
$40 bottle
Sparkling Wines (bottle only)
Don’t call them Champagne or the wine police alarm will go off! The world offers more than just Champagne to fizz in your glass. And that’s a good thing, diversity is our strength.
2025 TreCase Prosecco Extra Dry (Treviso)
From a collaboration between two family wineries in the Treviso region of Italy, this isn’t your Mom’s Prosecco, it’s a serious but delightful bubbly, slightly off dry, but wonderfully refreshing. Shocking quality at this price level. Great for sipping on its own or in Mimosas, Bellinis, and Champagne Cocktails.
$24 bottle
Renardat-Fache Cerdon de Bugey
Alain and Elie Renardat have made something of a cult wine from Bugey (between Lyon and Geneva). It’s pink, it’s fizzy, it’s slightly sweet but with tons of minerality and interest. The Cerdon is one of those, “Wait, the bottle is empty already?” wines, alarmingly easy to drink. The grapes (Gamay and an oddball variety from the Jura region of France called Poulsard) are farmed biodynamically, which is several levels stricter than organic, and the wine is a blend of 2024 and 2025 vintages. We won’t say that this is the best summer sipper ever made, but… it’s the best summer sipper ever made.
$38 bottle