Hector, N.Y.—The Hazlitt family has been growing grapes on the east side of Seneca Lake in New York’s Finger Lakes region for more than 160 years. Elaine and Jerry Hazlitt, the fifth generation of wine growers, started Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards winery at the family vineyard in 1985, and throughout 2015 the winery is celebrating its "30th Wine-A-Versary." 

One of Hazlitt’s early wines, a sweet red called Red Cat, has become very popular in New York and neighboring states. In 2010, the family purchased the Widmer Wine Cellars facility on Lake Canandaigua from Constellation Brands. Now called Hazlitt’s Red Cat Cellars, the winery serves as a tasting room location for the winery, roduction facility for the 200,000 cases of wine made under Hazlitt brands each year and the home of East Coast Crush & Co-Pack, a company that “specializes in ‘soil to shelf’ winemaking, bottling, packaging, warehousing and shipping.”

In 2014, Hazlitt added a sparkling cider called Hazlitt’s Cider Tree that is made from New York State apples. The Hazlitt sales and marketing team is working to create a network for national distribution of Cider Tree.