Living Roots Wine & Co.

About Living Roots Wine & Co.

Living Roots Wine & Co. is an intercontinental winery with roots in both the Finger Lakes of New York and the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. Founded in 2016 by husband-and-wife team Sebastian and Colleen Hardy — Seb a sixth-generation winemaker from Adelaide, Colleen a Rochester native and marketer — the label splits each year between two hemispheres, focusing on sparkling and rich, aromatic whites in New York and vibrant reds in South Australia.

Its Finger Lakes tasting room and winery sits on Colleen's family's Shale Creek Vineyard, perched above Keuka Lake just outside Hammondsport, where many of the winery's New York grapes are grown. The space pairs a first-come, first-served tasting bar with a relaxed, view-filled lounge and a pet-friendly patio. Wines here lean toward dry Riesling, traditional-method and session sparklings, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Franc, and low-intervention, wild-ferment styles.

Living Roots opened Rochester's first urban winery in 2017 and added this Finger Lakes home on Shale Creek in fall 2023. Across both regions the team works with minimal additions — wild yeast, unfined, dry wines left unfiltered — sourcing largely from their two families' vineyards: Shale Creek on Keuka Lake and K1 in the Adelaide Hills.