Snow Farm Vineyard
190 West Shore Road
South Hero, VT
The vineyard that proved wine could be grown in Vermont, on a lake-tempered island where summer evenings end with music on the lawn.
Snow Farm was Vermont's first vineyard, planted in the mid-1990s on South Hero in the Champlain Islands, and it opened a door many had assumed was closed. Conventional wisdom held that Vermont was too cold for wine grapes, but the Champlain Islands have a secret: the vast body of Lake Champlain moderates the climate, holding off spring and fall frosts and creating one of the more forgiving pockets in the state.
By taking a chance on that microclimate and on hardy grape varieties bred for northern cold, Snow Farm proved the point and helped launch a Vermont wine industry that has since grown across the state. Today it remains a welcoming place to taste those wines, walk among the vines, and, on summer evenings, settle onto the lawn for live music with the lake nearby.
What Guests Love
- Tasting cold-climate wines grown on the island that started Vermont's wine industry
- Free summer concerts on the lawn, a beloved local tradition on warm evenings
- The mild island setting, where the lake softens the seasons around the vines
- A relaxed, unpretentious tasting room that welcomes newcomers to Vermont wine
Worth Knowing
- The vineyard and tasting room are seasonal, busiest and most complete in the warmer months
- The summer concert series is a highlight, so check the schedule and bring a chair or blanket
- Cold-climate grapes make wines with their own character, worth approaching with an open mind
- It pairs well with a loop of the Champlain Islands and their farm stands and shoreline
Details
South Hero, VT
Learn about Snow Farm Vineyard
Wine on a Vermont island
The Champlain Islands sit low in the middle of a very large lake, and that geography is the whole reason grapes can grow here. Water warms and cools more slowly than land, so the lake acts as a buffer, delaying the killing frosts that would otherwise cut a Vermont growing season short at both ends.
Snow Farm's founders recognized that advantage and planted where few had dared, betting that island vines could ripen a crop. They paired the site with cold-climate grape varieties, many developed by northern breeding programs specifically to survive hard winters, and the gamble paid off.
That combination of place and plant is the story behind every bottle here: a Vermont wine made possible by an island's borrowed warmth.
The wines and the tasting room
The wines lean into the strengths of cold-climate grapes, which tend toward bright acidity and distinctive fruit, and the range runs from crisp whites to fuller reds and sweeter styles. Part of the pleasure is tasting varieties you rarely meet outside the north country.
The tasting room is easygoing and geared to visitors who may be new to Vermont wine, with staff happy to explain how island viticulture works and how these grapes differ from the familiar names. It is a low-key introduction rather than a formal affair.
Because the vineyard helped start the state's industry, tasting here comes with a sense of origin, the source of a movement that has since spread across Vermont.
Summer evenings on the lawn
Snow Farm is perhaps best loved for its summer concert series, when the lawn fills with locals and visitors who bring chairs, blankets, and picnics for free live music as the day cools. It has become a warm-weather ritual in the islands, as much a community gathering as a vineyard event.
With the vines on one side and the island landscape all around, the concerts turn a wine stop into an evening out. Families spread out, wine flows, and the music carries across the fields.
It is the kind of unhurried, generous experience the Champlain Islands do well, and it draws people back season after season.
Season by season
Summer is the heart of the year here, when the tasting room, the vines, and the concert series are all in full swing and the island is at its most inviting. Long light and warm nights make it the season to visit.
Early fall brings the harvest and the first color to the island's farms, a fine time to taste with the year's work coming in. The lake keeps the islands a step milder than the mainland as autumn deepens.
In the cold months the vineyard rests under the island's snow, the vines dormant and the lake gray and wide, waiting for the return of the growing season.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near South Hero
Grand Isle State Park
About 5 miles, a 10 minute drive
A lakeside state park on Grand Isle with camping, a swimming area, and wide views across Lake Champlain.
Hero's Welcome General Store
About 6 miles, a 12 minute drive
A classic island general store in North Hero, a hub for provisions, local goods, and a dock on the lake.
Burlington
About 15 miles, a 30 minute drive
Vermont's largest city, reached by the island causeway, with a lakefront, the Church Street Marketplace, and ferry connections to New York.