Women Winemakers of the Finger Lakes
by Maiah Johnson Dunn
Photos provided by Red Tail Ridge Winery
Nancy Irelan has always been a little bit different. “I was always engaged in science as a really young kid, even though it wasn’t a popular thing for females,” she said with a smile. “I knew when I was 14 that I wanted to be a Ph.D., and I had to figure out how to make that happen.”
Irelan, who owns and operates Red Tail Ridge on Seneca Lake’s west side, grew up in a working-class family. Her love of science came naturally. In fact, almost everyone in her family was a chemistry technician for DuPont in her home state of New Jersey. “Our dinner conversations were riveting,” she laughed.
They worked hard because they had to, which shaped Irelan’s own persistence. She started her first job before the age of 10. In high school, she participated in a work-release program that split her days between schooling and earning.
“We didn’t have enough money in our family to send me to college, so I had to figure my own way out,” said Irelan. “I’d save up money and go to school, then I’d run out of money, and have to go back to work again.” She continued this cycle of work and study, eventually earning her undergraduate degree in biology through night school by the age of 28. Quitting was not in her vocabulary.
From the lab to the field
Irelan’s experience working for chemistry researchers emboldened her to pursue new dreams. She didn’t know exactly where to begin, but she knew she wanted to do something more environmentally sustainable. Through research and letter writing to universities, Irelan pinpointed an opportunity with the University of California, Davis, and influential grape geneticist, Professor Dr. Carole Meredith.
She knew this was it. “The thing about grapes is that we have no idea what their genetic background is because they’ve been propagated for centuries, not bred,” Irelan explained. “The sky was the limit.” Irelan moved across the country to work in Dr. Meredith’s lab, study for her Ph.D and forge her own path.
When her time at UC Davis came to a close, Irelan employed her resourcefulness once again. She crafted a proposal applied to grape growing which quickly landed her a job at E. & J. Gallo.
In her 12 years there, Irelan created and managed a department focused on research and development within viticulture and enology. Her success was painstakingly earned as she built trust with growers. She was the only woman doing this work.
“To be successful in that male-led and dominated culture, I couldn’t be different,” said Irelan. This impacted everything from how she dressed to how she spoke, and even how she buried her hard-earned Ph.D. “It was the best way to avoid unnecessary barriers.”
By the time she left, Irelan held a VP title and grew her department of one to nearly 30 people. Eventually, her promotions took her out of the field and into the boardroom, exactly where she didn’t want to be. With life moving quickly for both herself and her husband, Michael Schnelle, Irelan began to explore a different future for her family.
Finger Lakes or bust
After years of business trips to the East Coast, Irelan and Schnelle purchased a little more than 30 acres of woodland on Seneca Lake in 2004. Her goal was to craft wines expressive of the Finger Lakes, with Schnelle overseeing the vineyards and Irelan serving as winemaker. “I’m very much a purist. I’m trying to make the very best wines I can from this little place with as little effort as possible,” Irelan said.
Iran leaned into different growing grape varieties not often seen in the Finger Lakes Region, like Dornfelder, Lagrein and Teroldego.
Her low-intervention style and focus on distribution over on-premise sales were also unique at the time, and drew attention. Red Tail Ridge made history as the first and only Finger Lakes winery named a James Beard Award semi-finalist in 2019 and 2020.
At last, Irelan’s differences were celebrated. “We were really rocking, and then COVID happened,” Irelan recalled. “It just decimated us, our partners and neighbors. It was painful, and we needed to evolve to survive.”
Sparkling New York
Since then, Irelan and her team have been hard at work. The guest experience has expanded to include an outdoor pavilion with a view of colorful sunsets. They have also built a larger tasting space that will soon offer food service, an answer to the limited dining options around the lakes. Their original tasting space is now a small, dog-friendly experience. Her cellar has also grown to accommodate increased production.
The one thing that hasn’t changed is Irelan’s love of bubbles. She is simply joyful when talking about New York’s sparkling potential. “I get gifted with this fruit every single year that is perfect for base wine,” Irelan said. “Low pH, high acid, good aromatic and flavor maturity, and age, age, ageworthy.”
Though she’s been making sparkling wines for Red Tail Ridge for years, Irelan wanted to push the envelope. “I felt really strongly that we needed to make a statement about what’s possible in the Finger Lakes when it comes to traditional method.”
Her statement has been well-received since the October 2025 launch of her 100 percent sparkling wine line, Limnad. The wines already boast excellent scores from Wine Enthusiast and acknowledgement from the renowned New York Times wine critic, Eric Asimov. Irelan herself is often on the road selling the label.
Passing it forward
Today, Irelan fills a mentoring role, like Dr. Meredith. Her team is heavily female in the cellar and the tasting room, though not by design, and she couldn’t have asked for better.
Her general manager, Kristin Evans, relocated to the Finger Lakes for a chance to work with Irelan. “Nancy is one of the most precise people I’ve ever met,” said Evans, who came to New York with years of working experience in California, D.C. and Virginia.
Evans calls Irelan one-of-a-kind. “She has incredibly high standards and she holds people to them. However, she holds herself to those same standards. She and Michael are very good and very fair people. They are some of the most ethical and thoughtful people I’ve worked for.”
When asked what she is proudest of, Irelan’s answer is simple: “That I’m still making wine, still being creative, still being innovative – that I’m still on a crushpad. I’m proud that I’m still here.”
Maiah Johnson Dunn is a writer, educator and optimist telling heart-forward stories about New York wine. Her work can be found in CITY Newspaper, Decanter Magazine and the Oxford Companion to Wine. When she’s not writing, Maiah can be found at New York Kitchen, where she oversees beverage education programming. The Boston native currently lives in Rochester with her husband. Visit maiah.com for more information.
