About Us
At Red Tail Ridge Winery we specialize in limited production wines because we believe that quality is more important than quantity. Keeping our production down allows us to better monitor the details of the wine making process. We also believe that experimentation is an important step towards unlocking our vineyard's, and the region's, potential. For this reason, we have planted Teroldego—a red Italian grape variety grown primarily in the northeastern region of Trentino-Alto—in our vineyard and are optimistic about the future of these vines. Wines produced from Teroldego have been compared to Zinfandel due to their deep color, brambly blackberriness, solid acidity and moderate tannin structure. We are eager to see how these vines and wines develop, and we look forward to more experimentation in the future.
The winegrower and winemaker
Red Tail Ridge winery is owned and operated by Mike Schnelle and Nancy Irelan, a husband and wife team, who are dedicated to producing fine wine in the Finger Lakes.
Mike and I recently moved to Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes of up-state New York. Mike actually arrived a few years earlier than I did; he moved here when we first purchased the 34 acre property and began the long process of clearing and preparing the land for vineyard development. The property was primarily woods and scrub trees, so he had his hands full clearing trees, picking rocks, pulling stumps, leveling soil and placing drain tile. Very, very glamorous stuff! Before embarking on this project, he was working for a national company that rents heavy equipment to consumers. Mike used to manage the financial service center that serviced most of the individual locations west of the Mississippi . He’s a numbers-guy, with a lot of practical experience in heavy equipment—and he has a keen eye for vine health and development.
I arrived about two years later in January of 2006, leaving my position as Vice President of Viticulture and Enology R&D at a large corporate California winery to start a new life with my husband. When I’m not helping my husband pick rocks and pull stumps, I can usually be found walking the Pinot, Chardonnay, Riesling and Teroldego vines that we’ve already planted and keeping an eye on vine growth and fruit development. Once we reach veraison, I usually walk the vineyard every week to taste the fruit and assess ripeness. Once we harvest, I move my focus away from the vineyard and concentrate on the wine production process. And then, I sell the wine.
I also spend a lot of time on the road doing my other jobs. I own a vineyard and winery technical consulting company called “The Answer Grape” which provides troubleshooting, consulting and contract research support to the wine and grape industry. I’m also an Adjunct Professor for the Food Science Department at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva , New York . When I’m not working, I can usually be found out in the woods with my German Shepherd, training for K9 wilderness search and rescue. My four-year old German Shepherd, Shazzam, and I are currently training and preparing for operational testing and certification.
Red Tail Ridge Staff
Jim Robideau—Vineyardist
From Native to Vinifera grape varieties, Jim Robideau has been there, seen it, trimmed it. Current resident of Penn Yan, NY he keeps a busy schedule, but can usually be found outdoors. When he's not spending time with his wife Karen and two children—Jess and Tim; his 'home away from home' is our vineyard. Hidden somewhere along a row of vines, Jim can usually be found with a headset radio, a smile and big wave which comes complete with one of his ever present witty jokes. For Jim, The Finger Lakes region is a place he's happy and completely content to call home.
Red Tail Ridge Crew
Scooter—Pond Inspector and Mud Puddle Assessment
Scooter is a 7 year old yellow Laborador Retriever. He was pretty hyper as a pup, but he is starting to mellow a bit now that he is out of his terrible-twos. Scooter loves to play and, in particular, he likes to swim. In fact, it is pretty difficult to keep him dry. His absolute favorite thing is riding in the ski boat and retrieving sticks from the lake. He can do a really good belly flop off the dock.
We raised Scooter from a pup. He is originally from Riverbank which is located in the Central Valley of California. He also loves people and has been known to follow them everywhere—usually holding something in his mouth and wagging his tail at a feverish pace.
Shazzam—Winemaker Management
Shazzam is a 4 year old German Shepherd pup. She is originally from Kentucky; we adopted her when she was about 8-10 weeks of age. Shazzam has A LOT of energy. Luckily, this energy works really well for her in obedience training—something we work on everyday. It also works for her in her part-time job. She is a pup-in-training for Wilderness Search and Rescue team. She really loves to work. Shazzam especially likes to play hide and seek where she gets to look for hiding people. We hope that she will be a real, certified area-wide search dog someday. Shazzam spends a lot of time overseeing the activities of the winemaker and is a constant companion during vineyard fruit assessment, harvest and wine production—she is very opinionated at times. She is also a very big fan of "the stick” and loves to play fetch. Scooter is her favorite playmate and chewtoy.