Perinton’s Casa Larga toasts a half century of winemaking

When Andy Colaruotolo purchased a 40-acre plot of land along Turk Hill Road in Perinton back in the 1970s, he envisioned creating a new housing community.

A mason and co-owner of Anco Builders with his wife, Ann, Colaruotolo had become an accomplished homebuilder.

But instead of houses, “Mr. C,” as he was known, built a winery which, over the past five decades, has become a staple among New York’s vintners.

This year Casa Larga Vineyards, still family owned and operated, is celebrating its 50^th anniversary, a testament not only to the quality of wine but the nurturing of the grape vines that cover 25 to 30 rolling acres of the property.

“It was a labor of love or a love of labor for my father,” said John Colaruotolo, now president of Anco Builders and director of winemaking at Casa Larga.

Andy Colaruotolo died in 2004. Ann passed away in 2015. Their three children are now running operations. While John oversees winemaking and the vineyards, Andrea O’Neill is director of marketing and Mary Jo Telesca is director of accounting and information technology.

When the Colaruotolo family unveiled the first bottles of Tramonto and Pallido with the Casa Larga label, there were 21 farm wineries in New York. Today the state has more than 400 wineries.

You don’t thrive for 50 years in an industry with keen competition unless you produce a quality product and offer quality service. Not that there weren’t struggles in the beginning. The idea that a wine from New York could appeal to the most discerning sommeliers was a crazy concept.

“New York did not have a reputation for quality wine,” Colaruotolo said. “We would go to events and people would say, ‘Oh, you have New York wine.’ ”

It wasn’t a compliment. But the wine connoisseurs were swayed once they tasted a Casa Larga creation.

“We just had to put it in people’s mouths,” Colaruotolo said. “If they got to taste it, they got to appreciate the quality we have.”

Over the years, Casa Larga has expanded operations to include property tours, a special events facility, a tasting room and, most recently, a café. There’s live music on Thursday nights and the annual Purple Foot Festival — a celebration of the harvest — takes place in September. A special 50^th anniversary dinner with a meticulously planned menu by chef Scott DeFrees is planned for August.

And while the Colaruotolo family certainly takes winemaking seriously, there’s no haughtiness. How else do you explain a wine slushie machine at weddings and other events?

“We have nice wines and we have slushies — it shows we have a fun side,” O’Neill said.

There’s obviously nothing wrong with providing what the consumer wants. Again, that’s how you thrive for 50 years.

An emigrant from Italy, Andy Colaruotolo brought with him the tradition of always having wine at family dinners. But while certain wines pair best with certain foods, the folks at Casa Larga don’t enforce rules.

“I’ll have red wine with fish, I have no problem with that,” John Colaruotolo said. “Yes, certainly food-pairing with wine is a specialty. But it’s personal, it’s what you like.

“Wine is personal. There are $1,000 bottles of wine and $10 bottles of wine. I can enjoy a $10 bottle if it’s made right, made well and has no defects.”

The family ventured into ice wine nearly 20 years ago. It’s very much a specialty product. Grapes are left on the vines well into the winter, then harvested when the temperature is around 16 degrees. The nectar is then pressed out of the frozen grapes.

Casa Larga’s Fiori Vidal Ice Wine was named World’s Best Dessert Wine in 2008 at the International Wine & Spirit Competition.

“The Canadians make a good ice wine and they were blown away that we beat them,” Colaruotolo said.

Ice isn’t a good thing during growing season, however. Weather very much plays a role in the wines Casa Larga produces each year because grape quality can vary. One year the grapes can be high in acid. The next year, low, Colaruotolo said.

The ability to make Gewurtzraminer, a white wine, and pinot noir, a red wine, is very dependent on grape quality.

Colaruotolo said that in years when the weather doesn’t cooperate, it’s better to maintain Casa Larga standards than produce an inferior wine.

While standards haven’t changed, packaging has. The winery has transitioned to screw tops on almost all wine labels except its chardonnays, cabernets and ice wines.

The event facility at Casa Larga hosts weddings, corporate outings and high school proms. “There are so many people who had their prom here and then have their wedding here,” O’Neill said.

The children of Andy and Ann Colaruotolo still remember the early years of Casa Larga and the late dinners because their father was busy at work.

“He was out with the vines all the time,” O’Neill said.

That dedication built the foundation for 50 years of winemaking.

“It’s gone by in the blink of an eye,” Colaruotolo said.

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