A Penn Yan winery is again receiving attention from the James Beard Foundation.
Red Tail Ridge Winery’s owners, Nancy Irelan and Mike Schnelle, have been nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award in the category of outstanding wine, spirits or beer producer. Irelan is the winery’s winemaker, while Schnelle oversees the vineyards on the west side of Seneca Lake.
The husband-and-wife team began the winery in 2004.
No other Finger Lakes or Rochester-area food-and-drink establishment made the list of semifinalists this year. Irelan was nominated on her own in the same category in 2019.
Most James Beard nominees tend to come from large urban areas, with some exceptions. In the category of Best Chef: New York State, for instance, all the nominees come from New York City except for three from the Hudson Valley.
Finalists in this and other categories will be announced in Philadelphia on March 25, with the awards ceremony held during the James Beard Awards Gala in Chicago May 4.
Ireland was one of seven Finger Lakes women in the food and beverage industry who presented a dinner in January at the James Beard House in Manhattan.
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