The Finger Lakes
Living Roots is a winery in both the Finger Lakes region of New York and the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. It was founded by husband and wife team Sebastian, an Adelaide, South Australia native and sixth generation winemaker and Colleen, a Rochester, New York native and marketer Hardy. Our intercontinental label pays homage to family heritage while also branching out to new vineyards, styles and low-input techniques.
Our Wines
As an homage to our family history and our new[old] industrial home on University Ave, we’re making wine based on longstanding traditions, but with a sense of adventure and discovery. We source grapes from different vineyards and growers, the majority coming from the Finger Lakes and the Adelaide Hills where our families have vineyards.
Our Process
Grow
Pick
Destem / Press
Ferment
Age
Blend
Bottle
CLICK EACH STEP FOR MORE REGION SPECIFIC INFO.
We’re keen on sparkling wines and rich, aromatic whites like Riesling and Pinot Gris [which thrive in the cool climate of the Finger Lakes], as well as emerging and re-emerging hybrids that can produce high quality, low input wines. We work with Colleen’s family via Shale Creek Vineyard on Keuka Lake and other Finger Lakes growers, and monitor the vines closely throughout the growing season, sampling as ripening progresses.
When we’re happy with the sugar, acid and flavor levels, we schedule the pick [usually done by hand, sometimes by machine harvester]. In the vineyard, we help load the grapes into bins, picking out undesirable bunches and leaves as we go, and transport the grapes to our Rochester winery in our trusty truck, Buck.
For sparklings, we pick into small baskets and hand tip the whole bunches directly into our 1-ton membrane press, minimizing phenolics. After settling the juice with cold temperatures over a few days, we transfer it into older, French oak barrels or stainless steel tanks to ferment. Most of our whites go through a destemmer before being tipped into the press as mostly whole berries. The juice goes back into oak barrels or stainless steel to ferment. Our reds are destemmed into 1-ton picking bins for fermentation on skins.
We ferment all batches with wild yeast. Sparkling bases and whites are fermented at cool temperatures to preserve aromatics, while reds are fermented warm to extract the color, tannin and flavor from the skins. Once ferment is finished, reds are pressed off skins and we find appropriately sized vessels for all batches to exclude oxygen.
This happens while we’re in South Australia for harvest [February through May]. Our Associate Winemaker, Beth, holds down the fort in Rochester: topping tanks and barrels, checking sulphur levels and cold stabilizing the batches using the cold winter weather. As most of our wines in New York are fresher styles, we age them for ~nine months before blending and bottling.
When we return from South Australia in May, Seb jumps into tasting everything from the previous vintage in New York. Sounds like a dream job, but the pressure’s on to determine the best blends, while also minimizing waste and maximizing taste. The blending trials start broad and get increasingly particular. Some wines are single site and batch, but many wines are blends of different sites or winemaking techniques [i.e., different pressing, fermentation or aging approaches]. Once the blends are more or less dialed in, we organize bottles, corks and labels.
Our sparklings and some smaller batches are bottled on a little hand filler / hand labeler, while our ‘larger’ batches are bottled and labeled on a truck that parks alongside the Rochester winery, operated by a combination of their team and ours. Once bottled, some wines are released pretty much right away [Dry Rosé, for instance], though we hang onto others longer. Our traditional method sparklings age for up to three years in bottle before disgorging. Most of our Finger Lakes wines stay in the US, but we have started sending some to Australia by sea.
Grow
Pick
Destem
Ferment / Press
Age
Blend
Bottle
CLICK EACH STEP FOR MORE REGION SPECIFIC INFO,
In South Australia, we focus on vibrant reds, working with classics like Shiraz and Grenache [managed with low sprays and, in some cases, organic farming in McLaren Vale], as well as emerging varieties like Teroldego and Montepulciano. The latter love a long growing season, retain their high natural acidity and can have more moderate alcohols. We source grapes from Seb’s family’s K1 Vineyard in the Kuitpo subregion of the Adelaide Hills and other growers throughout the Adelaide Hills and Mclaren Vale.
Like in the Finger Lakes, we sample the grapes as ripening progresses, schedule and help with the pick before bringing the grapes up to our Kuitpo winery in our old ‘83 Land Cruiser ute, Shaz.
We make almost exclusively reds in South Australia. Without a rotating head forklift, we hand shovel the bunches into our destemmer and destem either directly into other bins [for whole berries] or use the pump to macerate the berries while transferring to fermenters.
We ferment all batches with wild yeast. Without a chilling system in our Hills winery, the natural heat from the sun is used to warm ferments during the day, while cool nights and an air conditioned room help moderate temperatures to keep the ferments from overheating. Once ferment is finished, we drain the free-run wine and hand shovel the must into a basket press for extraction of the wine. Once pressed, we find appropriately sized vessels to exclude oxygen, mostly older French oak.
This generally happens while we’re in New York, while our Winemaker, Anthony, holds down the fort in the Adelaide Hills: topping tanks and barrels, keeping them warm enough to go through malo during chilly Kuitpo winters and checking sulphur levels. We age most of our reds for ten to eighteen months before blending and bottling.
When we return from New York, Seb jumps into tasting everything from the previous vintage in South Australia [a very similar process to in New York].
Our Aussie wines are bottled at a commercial bottling hall used by many wineries in the area. Once bottled, we ship a container with a mix of our wines, new and old, to our Rochester winery. This takes ~45 days by sea.
We’re keen on sparkling wines and rich, aromatic whites like Riesling and Pinot Gris [which thrive in the cool climate of the Finger Lakes], as well as emerging and re-emerging hybrids that can produce high quality, low input wines. We work with Colleen’s family via Shale Creek Vineyard on Keuka Lake and other Finger Lakes growers, and monitor the vines closely throughout the growing season, sampling as ripening progresses.
When we’re happy with the sugar, acid and flavor levels, we schedule the pick [usually done by hand, sometimes by machine harvester]. In the vineyard, we help load the grapes into bins, picking out undesirable bunches and leaves as we go.
For sparklings, we pick into small baskets and hand tip the whole bunches directly into our 1-ton membrane press, minimizing phenolics. After settling the juice with cold temperatures over a few days, we transfer it into older, French oak barrels or stainless steel tanks to ferment. Most of our whites go through a destemmer before being tipped into the press as mostly whole berries. The juice goes back into oak barrels or stainless steel to ferment. Our reds are destemmed into 1-ton picking bins for fermentation on skins.
We ferment all batches with wild yeast. Sparkling bases and whites are fermented at cool temperatures to preserve aromatics, while reds are fermented warm to extract the color, tannin and flavor from the skins. Once ferment is finished, reds are pressed off skins and we find appropriately sized vessels for all batches to exclude oxygen.
This happens while we’re in South Australia for harvest [February through May]. Our Winemaker, Taylor, and the team hold down the fort in the Finger Lakes: topping tanks and barrels, checking sulphur levels and cold stabilizing the batches using the cold winter weather. As most of our wines in New York are fresher styles, we age them for ~nine months before blending and bottling.
When we return from South Australia in May, Seb jumps into tasting everything from the previous vintage in New York. Sounds like a dream job, but the pressure’s on to determine the best blends, while also minimizing waste and maximizing taste. The blending trials start broad and get increasingly particular. Some wines are single site and batch, but many wines are blends of different sites or winemaking techniques [i.e., different pressing, fermentation or aging approaches]. Once the blends are more or less dialed in, we organize bottles, corks and labels.
Our sparklings and some smaller batches are bottled on a little hand filler / hand labeler, while our 'larger' batches are bottled and labeled on our new bottling line. Once bottled, some wines are released pretty much right away [Dry Rosé, for instance], though we hang onto others longer. Our traditional method sparklings age for up to three years in bottle before disgorging. Most of our Finger Lakes wines stay in the US, but we have started sending some to Australia by sea.
In South Australia, we focus on vibrant reds, working with classics like Shiraz and Grenache [managed with low sprays and, in some cases, organic farming in McLaren Vale], as well as emerging varieties like Teroldego and Montepulciano. The latter love a long growing season, retain their high natural acidity and can have more moderate alcohols. We source grapes from Seb’s family’s K1 Vineyard in the Kuitpo subregion of the Adelaide Hills and other growers throughout the Adelaide Hills and Mclaren Vale.
Like in the Finger Lakes, we sample the grapes as ripening progresses, schedule and help with the pick before bringing the grapes up to our Kuitpo winery in our old ‘83 Land Cruiser ute, Shaz.
We make almost exclusively reds in South Australia. Without a rotating head forklift, we hand shovel the bunches into our destemmer and destem either directly into other bins [for whole berries] or use the pump to macerate the berries while transferring to fermenters.
We ferment all batches with wild yeast. Without a chilling system in our Hills winery, the natural heat from the sun is used to warm ferments during the day, while cool nights and an air conditioned room help moderate temperatures to keep the ferments from overheating. Once ferment is finished, we drain the free-run wine and hand shovel the must into a basket press for extraction of the wine. Once pressed, we find appropriately sized vessels to exclude oxygen, mostly older French oak.
This generally happens while we’re in New York, while our Winemaker, Anthony, holds down the fort in the Adelaide Hills: topping tanks and barrels, keeping them warm enough to go through malo during chilly Kuitpo winters and checking sulphur levels. We age most of our reds for ten to eighteen months before blending and bottling.
When we return from New York, Seb jumps into tasting everything from the previous vintage in South Australia [a very similar process to in New York].
Our Aussie wines are bottled at a commercial bottling hall used by many wineries in the area. Once bottled, we ship a container with a mix of our wines, new and old, to our Rochester winery. This takes ~45 days by sea.
Valerie Faust: Everything you need to know, or almost everything, about New York wines
April 2026 Recipe & Pairing
New York Cabernet Franc: Uniting the State, Focusing the Future
Fresh New York Wines at the Wine Paris 2026 Fair
Curated Club Booklet – March 2026
March 2026 Food & Wine Pairing
Travel & Leisure: This New York Wine Region Was Just Named the Best in the U.S.
February 2026 Food & Wine Pairing
Custom Club Booklet – January 2026
Where Legacy Takes Root: Living Roots Wine Co. in Hammondsport
January 2026 Food & Wine Pairing
Curated Club Booklet – November 2025
Recipe
May 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Recipe
June 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Recipe
July 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Recipe
August 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Recipe
September 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Recipe
October 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Recipe
November 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Recipe
December 2026 Recipe & Pairing
Wine Enthusiast’s 2025 American Wine Region of the Year: The Finger Lakes
Guided Wino: Fall in the Finger Lakes: Wine, Foliage, and Harvest Adventures
Custom Club Booklet – September 2025
VinePair: The 25 Best Orange Wines for 2025
Slow Wine USA: Winemaker Stories
Lonely Planet: Guide to the Finger Lakes
Hybrid Grapes Could Save Wine From Climate Change
Waterfalls, Wine, and Hidden History: Your Guide to the Finger Lakes
Smith & Diction: Branding Living Roots Wine & Co.
Curated Club Booklet – July 2025
The Buyer: On Tour: Introducing New York State to Top UK Buyers & Importers
NYWGF: Toasting to New York’s Future With Sparkling Wine
Winart: A New York Wine Whirlwind
Wine Enthusiast: 5 Wine Regions Vying to Become the Next Napa
Custom Club Booklet – May 2025
Les 5 du Vin: What’s up, New York Wines?
Wine Enthusiast: Riesling, Waterfalls and a Thriving Dining Scene Await In the Finger Lakes
Spilled Salt: Crushing Grapes on Two Continent
The Cork Report: Wine of the Week
Curated Club Booklet – March 2025
The Written Palette: Best Finger Lakes Wineries
Wine Enthusiast: For These 7 Couples, Winemaking Is a Romantic Affair
Custom Club Booklet – January 2025
Curated Club Booklet – November 2024
Custom Club Booklet – September 2024
Curated Club Booklet – July 2024
Australian winemakers: Class of 2008
The Science of Carbonic Maceration in Wine
Custom Club Booklet – May 2024
Curated Club Booklet – April 2024
Custom Club Booklet – January 2024
Drink of the Week: Living Roots Session Sparkling White
Wine Enthusiast: In New York State, Sparkling Wine May Be the Future
Curated Club Booklet – November 2023
Democrat & Chronicle, October 2023
Custom Club Booklet – September 2023
Decanter: New York State: A look at the ‘unpredictable’ 2023 vintage
Harvest 2023 forecast for New York State
Putting down roots
The Brooke Blend, July 2023
Curated Club Booklet – July 2023
Le 5 du Vin, June 2023
Press
Wine Enthusiast, May 2023
Press
Forbes, May 2023
Press
Democrat & Chronicle, May 2023
Club
Wine Club – March 2023
Another busy harvest season is wrapped in AUS, and it was a fantastic one! Aside from making wine [old favorites and LOTS of new ones], we also worked on launching Living Roots in Australia.
Curated Club Booklet – March 2023
Press
New York State: A Winemaking Melting Pot
If New York State’s so-called vinifera revolution had its main instigator in German-born Dr. Konstantin Frank, it could be said that another revolution, happening now, is also a product of equally passionate migrants.
Club
Wine Club – November 2022
Another busy harvest season is wrapped in AUS, and it was a fantastic one! Aside from making wine [old favorites and LOTS of new ones], we also worked on launching Living Roots in Australia.
Press
Halliday Wine Companion, August 2022
Press
Glam Adelaide, August 2022
Club
Wine Club – July 2022
After returning from Australia in May, we hit the ground running. Here’s a bit of an update:
• Our associate winemaker Beth held down the winery while we were away for vintage in the Adelaide Hills
Press
Meet Your (Wine) Maker: Sebastian Hardy, Living Roots
Sebastian Hardy, along with his wife Colleen, started Living Roots, a winery melding the best of their hometowns in the Finger Lakes of New York and the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. The Living Roots story can be traced to Thomas Hard
Press
Edible Finger Lakes, May 2022
Press
The Swirl Suite Podcast, May 2022
Club
Wine Club – March 2022
Hello friends! We’re currently in Australia for our 13th vintage for Living Roots [can you believe it?!], and we wanted to give you a little sneak peek into what’s happening on this side of the world.
Press
Wine & Spirits Magazine, February 2022
Press
Give Thanks For These 10 Perfect Thanksgiving Wines, Wine Enthusiast 202
Club
Wine Club – November 2021
We’re *almost* ready to wrap up harvest in the Finger Lakes! There’s still late-harvest Riesling and Vidal hanging on the vines and a bit longer, but the rest of our batches are at various stages of ferment in the winery.
Press
Give Thanks for These 10 Perfect Thanksgiving Wines
You might plan to attend a raucous Thanksgiving with an array of relatives and chosen family, or carefully curate a party of one. No matter the size of your celebration, with so many hearty foods around the table, it can be difficult to cater to every taste.
Press
585 Magazine, October 2021
Press
Unorthodox Tasting Notes For Unorthodox Wines
Labeling wine as a “healthy” beverage has stirred up a hornet’s nest recently of vocal objection and indignation.
Although the research is well-documented that drinking a glass of red wine provides antioxidants and can help protect against heart disease and inflammation
Press
What The Fizz?
Nancy Irelan once told me that Americans torture themselves by not drinking bubbly every day. She’s the owner and winemaker at Red Tail Ridge, and she’s not wrong. In the past, I’d save my sparkling wines
Club
Wine Club – July 2021 Release
Another busy harvest season is wrapped, and it was a fantastic one! Aside from making wine [old favorites and LOTS of new ones], we also worked on launching Living Roots in Australia. We’ve been making our wines
Press
Living Roots Wine & Co. is Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
Sebastian Hardy’s favorite book is titled The Obstacle is The Way. He often listens to audiobooks or podcasts for a mindful way to unwind after his busy days making wine. Colleen, his business partner and wife,
Press
Wine Spectator, April 2021
Press
New York Wines, April 2021
Press
Nine Finger Lakes Rieslings for $35 or Less
Rieslings from New York are among the best examples of the variety in the country, with those from the Finger Lakes region leading the charge. About 1,000 acres are planted to the grape in the area, making it a relatively small affair
Club
Wine Club – March 2021 Release
We landed in South Australia at the end of January [just as we came out of the orange zone in Rochester and our tasting room was once again permitted to be open for service] to allow for two weeks of hotel quarantine.
Press
Forbes, March 2021
Press
Wine Enthusiast, March 2021
Press
585 Magazine, January 2021
Club
Wine Club – November 2020 Release
2020. What a year, right? We’ve found ourselves without wine dinners, in-store tastings, and Club events, but have stayed busy adapting front-of-house operations for COVID safety and continuing to make your favorite wines behind-the-scenes.
Press
Australian Financial Review, October 2020
Press
Democrat & Chronicle, September 2020
Press
Best of Both Worlds
Sebastian and Colleen Hardy make wine in both Adelaide and Upstate New York, a wildly ambitious project rooted in the love of their home towns and families.
Press
Gourmet Traveller Wine, June 2020
Press
l’Enologo, June 2020
Press
A Perfect Pairing
The origin story of Living Roots Wine & Co., Rochester’s first urban winery, begins a bit like a modern day fairytale: Girl leaves big city job, moves to a new continent to pursue a dream, mets an eligible bachelor
Press
Edible Finger Lakes Magazine, February 2020
Press
Democrat & Chronicle, January 2020
Press
Wine Enthusiast, August 2019
Press
Rochester Business Journal, August 2019
Press
Wine Enthusiast, July 2019
Press
It’s a New Era for Australian Grenache
Once upon a time, in a land down under, there lived a grape so unpopular that winemakers would often pretend it didn’t exist. They tucked it into blends. They hid it behind its more famous big brother, Shiraz.
Press
Fortune, June 2019
Press
WineVine, May 2019
Press
Brain Music, February 2019
Press
Foodism Toronto, December 2018
Press
WXXI Connections with Evan Dawson, August 2018
Press
Movers & Shakers
Written by Katie Spain for Fritz Magazine. May, 2018.
Press
Fritz Magazine, May 2018
Press
Mann’s Accent Magazine, May 2018
Press
Living Roots Wine & Co. Offers Transcontinental Flavors
On a wall inside the production facility at Living Roots Wine & Co., two clocks hang side by side: one shows the local time in Rochester, the other the time in Adelaide, Australia.
Press
Rochester Urban Winery Sees Grapes from Near and (Very) Far
An hour from the famed Finger Lakes wine region, Rochester, New York’s third-largest city, boasts a successful craft beer industry and, now, an emerging wine culture of its own. Exemplifying that is Living Roots Wine & Co.
Press
Rochester City Newspaper, January 2018
Press
Wine Enthusiast, January 2018
Press
I Heart ROC, January 2018
Press
iHeartRadio Food & Wine Show, December 2017
Press
Living Roots Wine & Co: Ten Reasons Why It’s Your New Favorite Hangout
Pay attention wine lovers! Help us welcome the newest kids on the block to Rochester’s food and drink scene, Living Roots Wine & Co. Owners Colleen and Sebastian Hardy are opening the city’s first urban winery and it does not disappoint.
Press
Roc Girl Gang, November 2017
Press
Boomtown Table, November 2017
Press
VinifeROC, November 2017
Press
Democrat & Chronicle, November 2017
Press
