Saratoga Springs’ resident winemaker Saratoga Winery is on the cusp of a big expansion. On Tuesday, August 6, the winery will have an official ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the opening of its brand-new Wine Barn tasting room at the winery’s location on Route 29, just a ten-minute drive from Downtown Saratoga. The local winemaker is set to double its indoor seating capacity with the expansion.
“We’re coming up on our tenth anniversary this fall, so we’re really excited about this new addition, which is really pushing us forward,” says Amy Greth, Saratoga Winery’s Events Coordinator and Marketing Manager. The new Wine Barn will not only expand the winery’s indoor seating capacity from around 125 seats to more than 250, but it will also serve as a versatile, multi-use space for comedy shows and musical acts, which the winery is hoping to host in the near future, as well as more weddings and private events. “One of the main reasons we needed to build [the Wine Barn] was because we’ve been doing a lot of weddings,” says Greth. “It’s been great for the winery.”
The Wine Barn will mimic the rustic, Adirondack aesthetic of Saratoga Winery, with the addition of higher ceilings and its own bar and restrooms. Plus, as to be expected, the space will have lots of working wine barrels. The new space will also include a big, wrap-around porch and large lawn area on which customers can enjoy a fire pit and play corn hole (in season, of course). Despite all the warm-weather activities that the Wine Barn offers customers, Greth says that the new tasting room will be most appreciated during inclement weather, as the winery has only been able to accommodate a limited amount of guests in the winter or when it’s storming in the summer. “Now with the new Wine Barn, it’s going to open up this place a lot,” she says.
The ribbon-cutting, which is scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday, is open to the public and will feature live music from 3-6pm on the deck. (The winery’s usual Tuesday happy hour will still be on tap from 4-6:30pm.) A separate kickoff party for the Wine Barn is currently being planned, and the date for that event will be announced soon.
