Thousand Islands Winery
Owner Steve Conaway is originally from Pennsylvania and his wife, Erika, is from Washington. Steve and Erika were married in 1990. The Conaways have four children.
In 2003, Steve retired from the United States Army as a Major after serving more than twenty-two years. During that time, he completed tours in Germany, Greece, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan.
While spending five years stationed in Germany along the Rhine and Mosel Rivers, Steve became passionate about Riesling. After the family moved to the beautiful 1000 Islands Region of New York, Steve became inspired by the mighty Saint Lawrence River and the grand castles that are located on the islands. He noticed many similarities between the two distant locations. Both areas feature scenic beauty, gorgeous stone castles, large tour boats, and many visiting international tourists. However, the St. Lawrence River lacked the vineyards and wineries that were prevalent in Europe. Seeing this as a tremendous opportunity, the Conaways set out to establish a new grape-growing region in New York State and purchased a farm in December 2002. Thousand Islands Winery officially opened to the public in 2003 with a starting inventory of 1,100 gallons of wine. The region was new to vineyards and wine production. Many thought that the Conaways were foolish and would soon go bankrupt. However, the exact opposite was true. Not only did Thousand Islands Winery survive, it thrived!
The Winery experienced rapid growth and purchased an additional thirty-acre farm on Wellesley Island in 2013 and now produces over fifty thousand gallons of wine annually.
When Steve first began his winery operation, he found that the general population of Northern New York preferred beer and hard spirits. Steve had to educate his customers and specially tailor his wines to fit their taste, not his own. He started with five wines and quickly found that his customers favored sweeter style wines. After several years, the area’s taste began to evolve towards drier wines like Marquette.
Today, Thousand Islands Winery produces twenty-three different varieties of wine in five categories. The categories include Dry, Semi-Dry, Semi-Sweet, Sweet, and Fruit & Dessert Wines. The Winery also produces a fortified, port-style wine and honey mead. Thousands Islands Winery has over nineteen acres of wine grapes planted on the farm. The grapes consist primarily of Frontenac, Marquette, La Crescent, and Riesling. Thousand Islands Winery has been gaining recognition in various wine competitions across the country since 2006. From 2007-2019, 168 medals have been awarded.
The medal list includes the 2010 New York State Wine & Food Classic Double Gold and Best of Class for Wellesley Island White, the 2011 Indy International Wine Competition’s Double Gold and Best of Class for Saint Lawrence Red, the 2011 Florida State Fair International Double Gold for Frontenac, the 2012 International Riverside International Wine Competition Gold (Best of Class, Chairman’s Award, Unanimous) for Marquette, the 2013 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition Double Gold for North Country Red, the 2014 New York Food & Wine Classic Gold for Marquette and Frontenac, the 2015 Florida State Fair Gold & New York State Fair Golds for Marquette, the 2015 International Women’s Wine Competition Gold for Pinot Grigio, the 2016 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition Gold for Moscato and Semi-Dry Riesling, 2017 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition Gold for Semi-Dry Riesling, the 2018 Florida State Fair International Double Gold for Moscato, and Gold for Wellesley Island White. The Winery is still entering competitions to date and hopes to receive many more medals in the future!
