Forge Cellars is a boutique winery located in the Finger Lakes Wine Region of NYS. In 2011, Louis Barruol and Rick Rainey founded Forge Cellars on the southeast shores of Seneca Lake in New York. Their goal is for the wines to reflect the place that they come from, because this is where the pleasure is. The choices in the cellar guard the purity of the vineyards. They make wine in the traditional, handcrafted manner.
Louis comes from a winemaking tradition of 14 generations. His family has been located at their historic property in the village of Gigondas in the Southern Rhone Valley of France since 1570. Louis grew up among the vines and took over the estate from his dad in 1992, proceeding to improve quality and grow a vigneron-negociant arm of the business. Château de St. Cosme is now regarded as the benchmark of wine quality in Gigondas.
Born in Florida, Rick came to the Finger Lakes by way of the Philadelphia restaurant industry with the aim of someday owning a winery. For more than two decades, Rick has been involved in all aspects of the distribution business, from his role as a wine buyer for a French portfolio to managing a team of nine sales people. He naturally gravitates to working in partnership with growers and alongside the vines but also enjoys the cellar, as it is the culmination of all their hard work.