Our Story -
Bet the Farm Winery was founded in 2006 as an idea to fill a retail space with locally produced foods and wines. The original location was a pristine, 500-square-foot shop located in the quaint and historic Village of Aurora where founder, Nancy Tisch, had worked as an innkeeper at the E.B. Morgan House. Recognizing that innkeeping was more immersive than she wanted for a career in hospitality, Nancy turned to her passion for food and wine to inspire the retail shop. According to NYS liquor laws, the only people that could sell wine & food in the same retail space were craft beverage producers. She sought and found mentors in Lou Damiani and Phil Davis of Damiani Wine Cellars in Hector.
Shortly after opening the shop, Julia Reich, a graphic designer whose husband was working at Wells College, visited. They agreed that Julia would design their first wine label. Two factors played a role in selecting the image of the sun as a logo for the winery. First is Nancy’s favorite quote from Galileo “Wine is sunlight held together by water.” Second is the meaning of an Indian name for the Village of Aurora - Deawendote – “land of constant dawn”. The sun over distant hills and a blue body of water was perfect for a Finger Lakes impression. What started as a graphic design would later come to life when the winery relocated to the hills between Ithaca and Trumansburg.
The name, Bet the Farm, was taken from a conversation that Nancy had with Kit Kalfs during the early planning stages of the business. She said, “I’m not so sure about this, I don’t really know very much about making wine.” Kit said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you, you can bet the farm on it.” With the strong connections to agriculture, they agreed that Bet the Farm would be a good name for a retail space featuring the agricultural products from the region’s winemakers, cheesemakers, and small-scale food producers. The name also reflects an unsurpassed level of commitment. As a recent visitor commented, “The name makes perfect sense. You can taste the commitment to quality in your wines.”
Production continued to grow over the years, Kit worked full-time for the winery while Nancy pursued a better-paying job as a research scientist at Genex in Ithaca, NY. Her work at a global bovine genetics company was the antithesis of their commitment to small-scale, local farming. When the time was right, and maybe the universe perfectly aligned, Nancy took a different route home from work and saw a for-sale sign on an open field along Krums Corners Road. After some research on soil types and water availability, Nancy and Kit purchased the property with monies from the Jacob Thomas Kalfs Trust. They built a multi-use building and planted the Jacob Thomas Vineyard, named after Kit’s Dad, in 2018. Originally, they planned to maintain their tasting room in Aurora, but rent increases caused them to rethink and move the entire operation to the new location. The shop in Aurora closed at the end of 2018.
Meet the Team
Nancy’s Story:
Nancy grew up and stayed in RI following undergraduate training in Medical Technology. While she enjoyed laboratory work at a small community hospital, the changes to the medical industry in the mid-eighties led her to pursue a graduate degree in biology at her alma mater, the University of Rhode Island. Upon completing her Ph.D., Nancy applied for a one-year post-doctoral appointment at Cornell University. After several years of working semester to semester as an adjunct faculty member in Biometrics and Mathematics, she gave up on her dream of a tenure track position and left academia to explore the world of hospitality, and ultimately founded the winery in 2006.
With the business barely started, the economic downturn of 2008 forced Nancy to find part-time employment outside of the winery. She landed a research position at GENEX, a company that would eventually become part of one of the largest providers of bovine genetics in the world. In 2012, Nancy accepted a fulltime position with the company, and continued oversight of the winery leaving the day-to-day operation in the capable hands of Kit Kalfs. In June of 2021, GENEX closed their Ithaca operation and Nancy resumed full-time duties at the vineyard and winery.
What did she learn on this journey? Timing is everything and transferable skills are key to success.
Kit’s Story:
Kit grew up in Ohio and received an M.F.A. in Film from Ohio University. He worked in various film and photography laboratories through the 1990’s and frequently vacationed in the Finger Lakes. In 2000, he wanted to change his career path, deciding on the wine industry. He started as a vineyard hand at McGregor Vineyard Winery for the harvest of 2000. In 2001, at Sheldrake Point Winery, he worked as a tasting room associate and, by year’s end, moved up to Tasting Room Manager. Nancy and he met, she started Bet the Farm in 2006, and their journey together began. He left Sheldrake Point in 2012 to join Nancy and BTF full-time. The vineyard they planted in 2018 - Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Lemberger, Saperavi, and Dornfelder - is known as the “Jacob Thomas Vineyard,” in honor of Kit’s father. He & Nancy harvested their first Estate Reds in 2020. He concentrates on working the vineyard throughout the season, learning more with each passing vintage, and living the lessons of growing fruit – always think of your future self, properly planning and executing.