Welcome to Boland Thomas Vineyards
NY Finger Lakes Region- Our Terroir
Boland Thomas Vinyards
I’m Mark Thomas and this is my wife and life partner, Kimbly Boland. Welcome to Boland Thomas Vineyards.
Mark Thomas - the ultimate Renaissance Man. Mark is a poet, master carpenter, entomologist, welder, distiller, guitar-playing chef who now proudly adds vintner to his list of accomplishments.
Kimbly Boland - an artist, teacher, mother and entrepreneur who can usually be found anywhere there is a body of water.
OUR STORY
When Mark first bought a small farm in 1990, the thought that someday we would plant grapes, make wine and open a vineyard, simply did not exist. The 22 acres purchased in Ovid, NY were ripe with peach, apple and pear trees and living among them was heavenly.
Ovid is in the heart of the Finger Lakes wine region, situated smack dab between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. We are surrounded by over a hundred wineries and distilleries that make up New York state’s largest wine growing area. The many glacial lakes in this region help create the perfect micro-climate for growing Riesling grapes, among others.
It was roughly a decade later before we planted our first grape vines, with the intent of selling the grapes to a nearby winery. It seemed like a good hunch at the time. We began with 1000 Riesling, 350 Cabernet Franc and 350 Cabernet Sauvignon vines. Kimbly made sure we had the right equipment and implements for growing grapes, and if we couldn’t find what we needed or couldn’t afford it, well, Mark just built it. We have found that being good with your hands usually comes in handy. Over the next 13 years, our farm provided grapes to multiple local wineries.
In 2013, Mark decided to actively take over the vineyard for our own production and he added “vintner” to his long list of careers. The following years weren’t easy – we learned a lot during this time with help from neighbors, friends and of course, trial and error. Some crops were light, some were non-existent due to cold winters, but each year, the grape flavors were exquisite and we knew we had grown good wine to drink.
2016 was the year it all started to come together. It was a good growing year, and we wound up with a good amount of clean, ripe fruit - 2.7 tons of Riesling, 1.2 tons of red blend. It was becoming apparent we were getting out of the “hobby” category. Making wine well requires diligence, experience and capital investment. We’ve partnered with Hosmer Winery in Ovid, NY, to produce and bottle our BTV wines.
Visit our tasting room in downtown Trumansburg - we hope to delight you with what we’ve done.
Kimbly creating Japanese-style print images for use on the BTV labels.
Mark and Kimbly hard at work, making their dream business real.