We believe wine should reflect not only a time and place, but the people who made it. Fine wine is living and breathing, dynamic and evolving yet rooted in origin. We celebrate its nuance and the small surprises that make each bottle memorable.

Onyare is our tribute to the unspoiled beauty of the Finger Lakes and the result of our passion for crafting wines with character that develop gracefully over time.

Why Onyare?

We believe winemaking is storytelling at its core. Fine wines not only tell the story of a place and time, but of the people who made it. Onyare takes its name from a character in the oral traditions of the region’s original inhabitants — a horned water serpent of the Great Lakes — and evokes the enduring awe these waters inspire.

Accounts of lake creatures occur worldwide and across time, reflecting a recurring human impulse to explain and celebrate deep waters. In the Finger Lakes, that impulse appears in Haudenosaunee oral tradition and in 19th‑ and early‑20th‑century settler reports of a serpentine creature in Seneca Lake; together these stories help shape the region’s folklore and collective memory.

By adopting the name Onyare we acknowledge the region’s layered history, weaving local oral tradition and later lore into a larger human story of shared wonder and connection. We honor that history and steward the land so future generations may marvel.

We approach our wines with patience and attentiveness, making choices that let seasonality speak in the glass. They are crafted to evolve in the bottle and reveal new facets over time. Above all, they are made to bring people together around a table and a story.

We hope Onyare invites conversation, curiosity, and renewed appreciation for the living landscape behind every bottle.

About us

Thijs Verschuuren

Born in the Netherlands and raised in the Loire Valley (Muscadet), Thijs discovered winemaking working harvests in a local cellar at 15. He trained at a viticulture and enology high school and earned a Brevet Technicien Supérieur (BTS) in Viticulture and Enology, then worked at notable estates across the Loire, Bordeaux and Alsace. The first time he visited the Finger Lakes it felt like coming home; he values the region’s small, family-run wineries and the way grape growing and winemaking are woven into everyday life.

Katie Cook

Raised in Minnesota, Katie discovered wine during a college wine appreciation course and pursued that interest after earning a B.S. in Biology. She took a sommelier course in the south of France and soon moved into production work, learning the craft as a cellarhand in Napa Valley and Argentina. Katie then enrolled at L’Institut Jules Guyot at the University of Burgundy, earning a Diplôme National d’Oenologie in 2009—one of only a handful of Americans to complete the program.

She completed three harvests in France, including a six month stage in Alsace where she fell in love with Riesling, and followed with a vintage in Western Australia to explore the variety in a very different terroir. After discovering the wines of the Finger Lakes, she was excited about the idea of further exploring the region and making New York home.

Our Story

Though both fell in love with wine in France, Thijs and Katie met by chance while both were in Minnesota. After Thijs returned to France to continue work in Muscadet, they kept a long-distance relationship with meetings in places like Paris, the Loire Valley and Tuscany.

Over wine and roasted chestnuts in Tuscany they began planning a shared future—creating wines they loved and inspiring that same passion in others. Onyare is the culmination of that plan.