Chateau Buffalo Ciderhouse & Winery

I love this place!
My husband and I have very different tastes in wine and cider, but we each found something we loved. They have a variety of wines and ciders– from fruit forward and sweeter, to drier and more full bodied. My favorite part? The full bottles of wine and cider are incredibly affordable! We definitely left well stocked for the coming months.
Their tasting room is beautiful and a perfect place to enjoy some time with friends and family. We made a reservation since there were 8 of us. They accommodated a large group wonderfully. The owner was kind and informative about the wine, as well as the local cheese plate we ordered. Everything we tried was delicious– from the wine to the cider to the cheese.
Over the years we have tasted their wines at the Broadway market, (we even had a case of their Pear cider at our wedding) but I’m so glad we came to their home base. I highly recommend stopping in to check out their tasting room! They also carry wines and ciders from other local NY wineries.

Bought a bottle of wine at the broadway market the day before easter. Just opened it yesterday and it tasted like vodka. It hadn’t been opened yet, but it tasted like it fermented more in the bottle. It definitely did not taste anything like what I sampled that day. It was so strong and rancid tasting, we had to dump the entire thing. I bought a bottle of desert wine that day, too, and now I’m afraid to open that. What I sampled that day was great and I was looking forward to buying more, but if the bottles have such a short shelf life, I won’t be buying again.
Update: I emailed them in July about this and received a response saying they’d replace the bottle. I emailed back the name of the wine and never heard back. It’s now October.

Fun event, wine and cheese. Used the Groupon and saved a lot of money. Though to buy the wine, its quite expensive for the local brands.

I purchased a Groupon for my boyfriend and I. $ 12.50 for $ 25 worth of cider and wine tasting with cheese. We decided to go after our final exams, to celebrate. I called on Wednesday to inform them that we would be coming on Friday. As the hour loomed closer, I started getting afraid that we would be the only people there and that it would be awkward. But nonetheless, we trekked down to the Clinton-​Bailey neighborhood for some cider and cheese!
The place itself is weird to find. It’s right before Bailey Ave if you’re heading down Clinton St from Downtown. If not for the small neon «Open» sign, I probably would have driven right past it. We parked, and found the entrance in the back. Inside, the place is nice and inviting. Warm colors, with lots of wine bottles and artisan products. We told the guy (who ended up being the owner and only person there) about the Groupon. He informed us that nobody else would be there other than us. Great… my big fear!
He provided us with the list of the 5 cheeses, all artisan NYS cheeses. There was a white cheddar, blue cheese, smoked gouda, herbed goat cheese, and camembert. We were also given crackers. He provided us with 2 lists — one of ciders and one of wines. He recommended starting with the ciders, because they are lighter. We had their homemade, Château Buffalo Apfelwine cider. It was a delicious homemade cider. You could really taste the sweet apples unlike many other ciders! Next we tried the honey mead, because we love mead. Thirdly we tried the Cherry port wine, and lastly, I tasted some ice wine.
While we drank, we spoke with the owner personally, as it was just the three of us (some people did wander in and out though). He told us all about how he started the company, about how they started on Hertel, and how he got into winemaking in general. You could hear the passion when he spoke. He was very knowledgable about wines, even providing us with a little science/​chemistry lesson about the wines.
The experience itself was so much fun. Not only was it intimate, but I loved supporting the small business. I ended up purchasing the cherry port and Apfelwine, as well as a few little $ 2 jellies (cranberry and red wine). I will definitely be back to purchase the delicious wines here. I’ll probably even go back for another tasting! I really, really, really recommend this place for a nice intimate experience if you like cider, wine, and cheese!

Hertel Ave location is closed. Great locally made cider. The owners are moving to the niagara frontier food terminal, but in the mean time they set up shop in the Broadway Market on Saturdays for sure. Do a tasting there and see which ones you like, they have dry and sweet ciders.