Description
While we first opened the doors to Liberty Vineyards & Winery in 2008, its history goes back much longer – to 1839 when the Reuben Butler family (ancestors of the Burmaster family who currently own and operate the vineyards and winery) headed west from Herkimer County, New York and settled in the small town of Sheridan, New York near Lake Erie. They built their home on Main Road in Sheridan, just in front of the site where Liberty Vineyards & Winery now stands. The Butlers began farming the land.
In the 1860s, Sheldon "Rufus Butler and his family planted about 7 acres of Concord grapes. While most of the grapes grown in this original vineyard were transported on trains to cities where they were sold on the fresh market, Rufus was also a winemaker and was listed in the the 1891 Directory of the Grape Growers, Winemakers and Distillers of California, and of the Principal Grape Growers and Wine Makers Of the Eastern United States Published by the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners of California. Today, the Concord vineyard Rufus planted remains one of the most productive vineyards on the property and is lovingly referred to as the "Old Vineyard".
