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10 years ago, Jim Milk and his wife, Terry Milk, retired and moved back to their fifth-generation family farm with plans to open a distillery. Now, they own Rock Valley Spirits, a small, craft distillery where they make spirits in a 150-year-old barn along the Delaware River.

The couple headed to the Syracuse Wine Festival for the first time this weekend to share their products.

“I enjoy giving someone a taste of our product and watching them go, ‘Wow, that’s really good,’” Milk said. “It’s very affirming, it’s very rewarding.”

Syracuse residents sampled unlimited wines, spirits, ciders and specialty food from local vendors, like Rock Valley Spirits, at the Syracuse Wine Festival on Saturday. All of the wineries and distilleries are based in New York state. The event also included full meals and beverages for sale, along with a DJ, photo booth and paint-and-sip.

Tim Cianciola is the owner of Craftproducers, an events management company in Vermont that holds events around New York state. Although previously held at the F Shed in the CNY Regional Market, the company hosted the Syracuse Wine Festival at the Oncenter Convention Center for the first time this year. The change in location offers a bigger venue space for both attendees and vendors.

Attendees sampled wine or spirits then could purchase bottles of their favorites, available to pick up at the end of the event. Tammey Smith came to the festival to spend time with family while sampling different wines, cheeses, balsamic vinegars and other things the vendors had to offer.

She enjoyed discovering nearby wineries that she’d never heard of before. Each person in her family enjoyed something different at the event.

“It’s nice because they have stuff for everybody, even if you don’t like wine,” Smith said.

The festival goers could enjoy wines and spirits from various sellers. Other vendors sold items like feathered jewelry, candles and body products to attendees. Avery Magee | Asst. Photo Editor

Other vendors sold items like feathered jewelry, candles and body products. Joan Cofield-Bridges owns L and J Creations, where she makes hand-painted glassware with designs ranging from flowers and butterflies to the Buffalo Bills mascot. Cofield-Bridges said the business, which sells pieces such as wine glasses, coasters, plates and bowls at events, is her therapy and a sort of “love affair” for her.

As the DJ played throwbacks and popular contemporary music, festival-goers moved and grooved, even dancing to the “Cha Cha Slide” while sipping their spirits. Eryn Bell stood back laughing and smiling as she watched her partner Jordan McGriff dance to Afrobeats with other attendees by the DJ booth.

The two liked finding out locals produce and grow their favorite wines. The pair said they were happy to support the wineries and distilleries at the event, as well as the farmers who grow the wine’s ingredients.

Bell collects different wines and diversified her palate by tasting various samples at the festival. She said it was nice to try samples out of her comfort zone, like orange cream whiskey, instead of having to purchase a whole bottle to try at home.

Brad Carso and Greg Lowry run Pail Shop Vineyards outside of Cooperstown, NY, set up in a building that used to make wooden pails in the 1800s. They make fresh red and white sangria out of wine and fruit juice and pouch it cold for sale — what Lowry calls a “party in a pouch.”

While some people prefer to stick with just a dry red wine or a sweet white, others prefer to branch out and experiment. The business owners enjoyed watching people who don’t typically enjoy wine or sangria try their products and be convinced to purchase one of the pouches.

“When people come up they try it for the first time and they say, ‘Wow, this is different,’” Lowry said. “They realize this is something they’re going to enjoy, that is the best part; they’ve never had anything like it before.”

While some attendees preferred to stick to a dry red wine or a sweet white, others preferred to branch out and experiment. The vendors enjoyed watching people who don’t typically enjoy wine or sangria try their products. Avery Magee | Asst. Photo Editor

In between crowds of people, vendors like Bobby Padilla stopped by the other booths to sample products and talk business.

Padilla is a local upstate New York artist, and he also owns Roc Paint Sip, a mobile paint-n-sip based out of Rochester. After a fun experience while tabling at a wine festival in Rochester, Padilla decided to attend the Syracuse Wine Festival.

While the environment is hectic and a “hustle,” Padilla finds it enjoyable and rewarding. He lets patrons paint whatever they’d like to, providing samples and his own painting as examples for guidance. Padilla finds this is a better experience for attendees because it emphasizes the process over the final product. People could sample wines and spirits while painting with family and friends.

While patrons milled about, vendors reconnected with customers and learned more about new ones, and vice versa. Attendees, like McGriff, said the festival exposes people to local wineries and distilleries in the Syracuse area they wouldn’t know about otherwise.

“The bloodline of a community is local businesses,” McGriff said. “That’s what helps keep the community building and thriving.”

Published on April 20, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Contact Mia: mjones58@syr.edu