Our Wines

Nancy Irelan & Michael Schnelle are the owners-operators of Red Tail Ridge. They are partners in life and in business. In 2002, Nancy & Michael made the momentous decision to leave California to come to the Finger Lakes. Nancy had already become a highly respected member of the US wine community. She was Gallo’s VP of Viticulture and Enology R&D, and collaborated on various projects with Cornell and USDA researchers in the Finger Lakes. Michael brings a bevy of financial and practical knowledge needed to bring the Red Tail Ridge vision to life. Together they have a passion for precision and are the force behind Red Tail Ridge.

Nancy’s philosophy is to create wines that are transparently pure expressions of the place they are grown. There is no “fussing” in the cellar; consequently the winemaking is slightly ephemeral. The focus is on using the best techniques each vintage to work with the gifts and challenges that mother nature has provided that season. “One of the great things about wine from the Finger Lakes is that they are so unique. They can't be misconstrued with wines from any other place. Every vintage is not repeatable, they are moments of time captured in a bottle and available to experience over and over again."