Stored heat is released from the deep lakes during the winter, keeping the local climate mild relative to surrounding areas and preventing early season frost.

The first record of wine making in the Finger Lakes is in 1829, when William Warner Bostwick, an Episcopal minister in Hammondsport, planted Vitis labrusca shoots in his rectory garden.

[citation needed] A number of factors, including phylloxera, competition from California, and prohibition, combined to cause a decline in commercial viticulture production in the early 20th century.

[11] A major change in Finger Lakes viticulture occurred when Dr. Konstantin Frank, a Ukrainian immigrant with a PhD in Plant Science, came to work for the Cornell University Geneva Experiment station in 1951.

Commercial growers and researchers at the Geneva Experiment Station were convinced that European Vitis vinifera varieties could not grow in the cold Finger Lakes climate.

After years of planting Vitis vinifera in the colder climate of Ukraine, Dr. Frank was sure that it could be grown in the Finger Lakes if grafted onto the proper, cold-hardy native rootstock.

Dr. Frank successfully grew and produced wine from Vitis vinifera grapes such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Gewürztraminer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, grafted onto native rootstock.