Two Hemispheres, One Tiny Rochester Room
Neighborhood of the Arts · Rochester · Winery · Visit Website ↗
Updated September 2026
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 18, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Living Roots Urban Winery’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Walking into a working urban winery in Rochester's arts district is already unexpected — walking into one where the co-owners split their winemaking between the Finger Lakes and South Australia's Adelaide Hills is genuinely surprising. The list is tight, maybe 20-40 wines, but every bottle has a reason to be here. This isn't someone else's distribution catalog; it's their own stuff.
Living Roots is doing something legitimately unusual: a dual-hemisphere winemaking project where the wines on your glass list are the same wines they make themselves, not a grab-bag of wholesale pickups. Finger Lakes Riesling anchors the New York side — and in a region that produces some of the best Riesling in North America, that's a serious card to play. The Adelaide Hills Shiraz brings a cooler-climate Australian perspective that's miles from the jammy Barossa stereotypes most people expect. The skin-contact white signals that someone here has actual opinions about wine, not just a license to pour it.
With 10-20 by-the-glass options in the $10-$18 range and a house-produced list, the BTG program is essentially a guided tour of what Living Roots makes. That's a feature, not a bug — you're tasting the winemaker's current work, not last year's surplus. Rotation likely tracks with what's in season or freshly bottled, so the list can shift.
Living Roots Finger Lakes Riesling — $14
Finger Lakes Riesling at a fair urban winery pour price is hard to beat. You're getting a wine with genuine terroir and a winemaker who cares, not a grocery-store pour dressed up with a menu description.
Living Roots Skin-Contact White
Most people scan past skin-contact and order the Riesling. Don't. This is the wine that tells you what Living Roots actually thinks about winemaking — orange-adjacent, textured, and the kind of thing you won't find at the restaurant down the block.
Living Roots Adelaide Hills Shiraz
Not a bad wine, but if you're sitting in Rochester with access to Finger Lakes Riesling and a skin-contact white right in front of you, ordering the Australian Shiraz is a missed opportunity. Save it for a return visit when you've done your homework.
Living Roots Finger Lakes Riesling + Charcuterie board
Finger Lakes Riesling — typically off-dry with bright acidity and stone fruit — cuts through cured meat fat and holds up to salty, funky cheese without flinching. Classic winery tasting room logic that actually works.
The Bottom Line
Living Roots is a Wild Card in the best possible sense: a dual-hemisphere winemaking project operating out of Rochester's arts district, pouring its own bottles at honest prices with people who know what's in the glass. If you're anywhere near the Neighborhood of the Arts and you care even a little about wine, this is the stop.
Downtown · Rochester · American Steakhouse
CHAR makes it easy to try Finger Lakes wine alongside the steakhouse standards. Our move is Hosmer Cabernet Franc at $16/glass, with Panizzi Vernaccia at $14 for anyone leaning white. Check the per-ounce pricing before ordering a Coravin pour.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Neighborhood of the Arts · Rochester · Contemporary American with Italian and French inspiration
Avvino is the rare neighborhood restaurant where the wine list is a genuine reason to show up, not an afterthought. If you're in Rochester and you care about drinking well, this is your room.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Brighton / Monroe Ave · Rochester · Contemporary American with Italian and French influences
Avvino is the kind of wine-forward neighborhood restaurant Rochester deserves more of — nearly 200 bottles, a sommelier, and a standing half-price Wednesday that makes a solid splurge genuinely accessible. It's not reinventing the wine list, but it's doing the right things consistently enough that we'd send a friend here without hesitation.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Seasonal Rotation
Proper
Village Gate / NOTA · Rochester · Farm-to-Table / New American
Lento isn't trying to be a wine destination, but its list is thoughtful enough that it kind of becomes one by accident — especially if you care about Finger Lakes wines in their natural habitat. Send your friends here, let them order the Duck Confit, and point them toward the Cab Franc.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Pittsford · Rochester · Refined Seasonal American with Wood-Fired Pizzas
jojo Pittsford is the kind of wine program that makes you want to cancel your dinner reservation somewhere else. For a bistro in suburban Rochester, this list is genuinely exciting — send your wine-curious friends here without hesitation.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Occasional
Proper
East Avenue / Winton · Rochester · Traditional Italian
Ristorante Lucano is a reliable Italian dinner with a wine list that doesn't embarrass itself — Italy-focused, anchored by classics, a bit overpriced but not offensively so. Send a friend here for a date night with the instruction to order the Barolo and not overthink it.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Lake Geneva · Winery
AeppelTreow is not a wine list — it's a statement. If you're driving through Lake Geneva and want something genuinely different from the standard Midwestern winery experience, this four-bottle fruit wine lineup delivers on its own terms. Just know what you're walking into: this is orchard country, not Napa.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Cherry Street · Gatlinburg · Winery
This isn't a destination for serious wine drinkers, and it knows that — Smoky Mountain Winery is a cheerful, unpretentious regional stop that delivers exactly what it promises. If you're in Gatlinburg and curious about Tennessee fruit wines, this is the place; if you're hunting for a serious cellar, keep driving.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Bainbridge / Greater Lancaster · Lancaster · Winery
Nissley is a Wild Card in the best sense: you're not getting a canonical wine list, you're getting a third-generation Pennsylvania winery doing its own thing with grapes most restaurants wouldn't touch. If you're open to that, the prices alone make it worth the trip out to Bainbridge.
Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
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