A little-known chapter of Finger Lakes wine history will take center stage next week when the Finger Lakes Wine Museum unveils newly conserved artifacts from New York’s first African American-owned winery.
The museum at Bully Hill Vineyards will host a special lecture and reception June 19 honoring Raymond Fedderman, a Prattsburgh farmer, entrepreneur and community leader who founded the Fedderman Wine Company in the early 1970s. The winery produced a single vintage in 1973 before financial difficulties forced it to close.
At the heart of the event will be five rare Fedderman wine bottles and labels that recently underwent professional conservation work. The bottles, part of the museum’s archives, are considered significant pieces of local, regional and national history. Funding for the project came through a Save America’s Treasures grant awarded to the Greater Hudson Heritage Network to conserve historically important objects at museums across New York.
Conservator Kate Wight Tyler and Greater Hudson Heritage Network Executive Director Priscilla Brendler will return the restored bottles to the museum during the event. A lecture on the conservation process and the historical significance of the artifacts will run from 2 to 3 p.m., followed by a reception with refreshments and live music from Son Sur Son from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
The Finger Lakes Wine Museum, founded in 1967, is recognized as the first wine museum in the United States and houses one of the Northeast’s largest collections of vintage wine bottles and winemaking artifacts. Museum officials said the event is open to the public and will permanently add the restored Fedderman bottles to its exhibits.
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