Bellwether Hard Cider and Wine Cellars
Bellwether Hard Cider and Wine Cellars
Bellwether Hard Cider and Wine Cellars
4.5
Monday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
About
Bellwether Hard Cider and Wine Cellars is located on the west side of Cayuga Lake about 5 miles north of Taughannock State Park. We have a tasting room and gift shop where guests can try our artisanal hard ciders and single vineyard wines-all produced on site. Our gift shop carries mostly locally made products, as well as a selection of wine related items and cookbooks. Visit with our resident cats and dogs while you're here! Amenities include a covered outdoor patio with seating, picnic table, pond, restrooms (handicap accessible), and tours. Groups of 10+ by reservation only.
Duration: < 1 hour
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
46 reviews
Excellent
29
Very good
11
Average
4
Poor
0
Terrible
2
Dominique U
Wyomissing, PA39 contributions
Jun 2023 • Couples
This unassuming farm looks like you made a wrong turn on Waze but no! Take a chance on this barn because you have found Emerald City and the Wizard of Cider! Owner, Bill Barton, has been developing ciders since 1996 and he will give you a personal tasting. He is gentle and friendly with his rescue animals greeting you at the door. The ciders and rieslings were delicious and he only charges $10 for 5 tastes! You cannot put a price on the product, service and quaint experience this Cidery offers its guests! A must stop!
Written June 4, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Maurene_K
Dover, NH12,283 contributions
Jul 2015 • Solo
This is my favorite winery on the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail for three reasons:
● The creativity of the owners with products and marketing.
● The topnotch quality of the products they sell.
● The Bellwether mascot Harry, a white cat still handsome and active at age 19.
On this visit, I browsed the ciders and wines first. The Original was still on the product list. I’d bought some on a previous visit. It’s a crisp, semi-dry sparkling cider with a light apple taste. It was excellent. It went well with chicken. I didn’t buy anything this time because my two wine racks at home were full.
I looked at other products and decided on an 8 oz. bottle of Finger Lakes Soap Co. Natural Bath Lavender Body Wash at $5.99 + tax. I've since used it and found it to be top-quality. It was made with a good amount of pure lavender essential oil. The fragrance is wonderful. I like this better than the similar all-natural Yves Rocher product.
It was coming up on 6:00 PM. Harry, the Bellwether mascot, was hungry for his dinner so he’d come in from a day of patrolling the property. I’d met Harry before on a previous visit. We’d had a nice visit then. He was out back on the patio. When he heard me call him, he perked right up. We had a nice visit again. As I began to leave, Harry followed me so I led him into the building and had his owner hold him while I said my goodbyes again. He is a really sweet kitty but has his tough side when it comes to mice. His prowess with field mice is legendary. Someone did a pencil drawing of Harry; and, beside him is a mouse on its back with all fours straight up in the air and X’s on its eyes.
This is an outstanding small cidery getting into wines. I was glad to see that it had grown and prospered since my last visit, but it still has that customer-oriented, small cidery / winery atmosphere in the showroom / tasting room. And, the owners are friendly.
When I return to the Ithaca area, I’ll drive up to Trumansburg again for Taughannock Falls State Park and Bellwether Hard Cider.
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● The creativity of the owners with products and marketing.
● The topnotch quality of the products they sell.
● The Bellwether mascot Harry, a white cat still handsome and active at age 19.
On this visit, I browsed the ciders and wines first. The Original was still on the product list. I’d bought some on a previous visit. It’s a crisp, semi-dry sparkling cider with a light apple taste. It was excellent. It went well with chicken. I didn’t buy anything this time because my two wine racks at home were full.
I looked at other products and decided on an 8 oz. bottle of Finger Lakes Soap Co. Natural Bath Lavender Body Wash at $5.99 + tax. I've since used it and found it to be top-quality. It was made with a good amount of pure lavender essential oil. The fragrance is wonderful. I like this better than the similar all-natural Yves Rocher product.
It was coming up on 6:00 PM. Harry, the Bellwether mascot, was hungry for his dinner so he’d come in from a day of patrolling the property. I’d met Harry before on a previous visit. We’d had a nice visit then. He was out back on the patio. When he heard me call him, he perked right up. We had a nice visit again. As I began to leave, Harry followed me so I led him into the building and had his owner hold him while I said my goodbyes again. He is a really sweet kitty but has his tough side when it comes to mice. His prowess with field mice is legendary. Someone did a pencil drawing of Harry; and, beside him is a mouse on its back with all fours straight up in the air and X’s on its eyes.
This is an outstanding small cidery getting into wines. I was glad to see that it had grown and prospered since my last visit, but it still has that customer-oriented, small cidery / winery atmosphere in the showroom / tasting room. And, the owners are friendly.
When I return to the Ithaca area, I’ll drive up to Trumansburg again for Taughannock Falls State Park and Bellwether Hard Cider.
If you found this review helpful, kindly click YES below.
Written August 13, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jody W
3 contributions
Jul 2017 • Couples
The selection of ciders and wines was good. The person doing our tasting was very knowledgeable about the samples and how they were made, and very willing to answer questions. There is no view of the lake from their outside seating area, but it is next to a lovely little pond and garden area.
Written July 18, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
chris S
Montgomery, NY23 contributions
Aug 2017 • Couples
Tasting was so limiting. You were only allowed to taste ciders or wine. Ok well they only had 5 ciders all of which tasted the same. Felt like we were bothering them. Try someplace else.
Written August 27, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Abigail M
36 contributions
Oct 2015 • Couples
I love Bellwether Hard Ciders. Every time I get a chance my boyfriend and I visit to grab a bottle of the black magic cider wine, and mulled spices. This is a great little alternative for those who are not completely keen on wine, but still want to try the low-alcohol drinks. I highly recommend the sweeter cider wines, they are so refreshing and perfect heated with the mulled spices.
Written June 29, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
EW1979
State College, PA35 contributions
Aug 2015
Outstanding cidery that even has a winery with it! Staff was super nice and well knowledgeable. I will be going back to this one!
Written August 17, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
theotter1
Ithaca, NY79 contributions
Aug 2014 • Family
This place started with very dry hard cider and has recently added a new line of wines. My favorites are the "Lord Skuddermore" a champagne like slightly bubbly and their "Black Magic", a garnet colored hard cider made from black currents and hard cider.
Written September 15, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Marlene K
Robbinsville, New Jersey, United States161 contributions
Aug 2014 • Friends
A group of us were on the Winewagentour and our driver suggested Bellwether as an alternate to a winery. Wonderful hard cider but other spirits as well. The Ginger Vodka is delicious and I bought some to take home. Worth the visit!
Written August 12, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fred C
5 contributions
Jul 2023
Excellent cider, very knowledgeable host,Bill! Great location just North of Taughannock State Park and beautiful tasting room and outside seating.
Written July 23, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
utooley
Eugene, Oregon6 contributions
Sep 2019
We showed up at 11:30 on a Thursday as the hours listed said they were open, only to find out that they only open the tasting room Fri-Sun! Not sure if this is only during the fall/winter or all the time. The cidermaker let us in anyways, saying he isn't super technological, and we got the best one-on-one intro to cidermaking and tasting we'd had--if you like dry cider this is the place to go. Wine there is quite good as well, we particularly enjoyed the carbonic Cab Franc, a unique offering.
Written September 21, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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