Ria's Wines

September 21, 2025 / Photo: Ria D'Aversa

Ria D'Aversa is creating exciting and approachable wines in New York’s Finger Lakes region, while honoring its terroir with ecological farming practices. 

She and husband Mike Penn have years of winemaking experience between them and moved to Hector, NY in 2021 to pursue their own venture. Both have backgrounds in winemaking and viticulture and have worked in California, France, Italy, and New Zealand. 

Their wines include an array of rieslings, an effervescent, citrusy pet nat, and a multifaceted cabernet franc. All are made without unnecessary additives and utilize indigenous ingredients.. 

D'Aversa and Penn are committed to growing practices that complement the region and promote biodiversity. They utilize cool climate farming methods and hope to become regenerative agriculture certified by 2028. They are also working to restore the soil around their acreage, which has endured over 40 years of farming grapes. 

D'Aversa, who also teaches at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is currently overseeing the winery’s September harvest. She says she is looking forward to connecting with the community further through their winemaking and enriching the region that she, Penn, and their two children now call home. 

More about Ria’s Wines can be found here.