Living Roots Urban Winery
Two Hemispheres, One Tiny Rochester Room
Neighborhood of the Arts · Rochester · Winery · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 18, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
Walking into a working urban winery in Rochester's arts district is already unexpected — walking into one where the co-owners split their winemaking between the Finger Lakes and South Australia's Adelaide Hills is genuinely surprising. The list is tight, maybe 20-40 wines, but every bottle has a reason to be here. This isn't someone else's distribution catalog; it's their own stuff.
Selection Deep Dive
Living Roots is doing something legitimately unusual: a dual-hemisphere winemaking project where the wines on your glass list are the same wines they make themselves, not a grab-bag of wholesale pickups. Finger Lakes Riesling anchors the New York side — and in a region that produces some of the best Riesling in North America, that's a serious card to play. The Adelaide Hills Shiraz brings a cooler-climate Australian perspective that's miles from the jammy Barossa stereotypes most people expect. The skin-contact white signals that someone here has actual opinions about wine, not just a license to pour it.
By the Glass
With 10-20 by-the-glass options in the $10-$18 range and a house-produced list, the BTG program is essentially a guided tour of what Living Roots makes. That's a feature, not a bug — you're tasting the winemaker's current work, not last year's surplus. Rotation likely tracks with what's in season or freshly bottled, so the list can shift.
Living Roots Finger Lakes Riesling — $14
Finger Lakes Riesling at a fair urban winery pour price is hard to beat. You're getting a wine with genuine terroir and a winemaker who cares, not a grocery-store pour dressed up with a menu description.
Living Roots Skin-Contact White
Most people scan past skin-contact and order the Riesling. Don't. This is the wine that tells you what Living Roots actually thinks about winemaking — orange-adjacent, textured, and the kind of thing you won't find at the restaurant down the block.
Living Roots Adelaide Hills Shiraz
Not a bad wine, but if you're sitting in Rochester with access to Finger Lakes Riesling and a skin-contact white right in front of you, ordering the Australian Shiraz is a missed opportunity. Save it for a return visit when you've done your homework.
Living Roots Finger Lakes Riesling + Charcuterie board
Finger Lakes Riesling — typically off-dry with bright acidity and stone fruit — cuts through cured meat fat and holds up to salty, funky cheese without flinching. Classic winery tasting room logic that actually works.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Living Roots is a Wild Card in the best possible sense: a dual-hemisphere winemaking project operating out of Rochester's arts district, pouring its own bottles at honest prices with people who know what's in the glass. If you're anywhere near the Neighborhood of the Arts and you care even a little about wine, this is the stop.
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