Finger Lakes winery owner still glowing following success of recent Pop-Ups

Erin McMurrough, the founder of Little Clover Wine Company in the Finger Lakes, for the second year held two weekends of Pop-Up in the Vineyard. She wrote in an email that they turned out well, albeit who knew that the fourth weekend in October would provide the best combined Saturday and Sunday of the month weatherwise. “Overall, the weekends were successful,” she wrote. “We did hit a few snags with the weather. So during the first weekend, we were outside on Saturday, inside the Lakewood Vineyards shop on Sunday due to rain. The second weekend, we were inside on Saturday due to cold temperatures and wind and outside on Sunday. The days we were inside were by reservation only and when we were outside, we saw those beautiful walk-ins too.” The Chicago native told The Wine Classroom in a previous story that she was using the Pop-Ups to “test the waters of opening a small tasting room focused only on sparkling wine.” A bit of background: McMurrough moved to New York City and seemed destined for a career in theater before she got a taste for something else: working in wine. She never looked back and built her Little Clover Wine Company on a specific wine style: sparkling. She sources Riesling, Cayuga White, and Delaware to showcase vinifera, hybrid, and native grapes. Her 2018 Sparkling Cayuga White was featured as the Best American Sparkler on VinePair’s list of the 25 Best Sparkling Wines for 2024 (That Aren’t Champagne or Prosecco) and that publication’s list of Top 50 Wines of 2025. She posted the following on Facebook on Oct. 20, following the second weekend: “Thank you for another wonderful Pop-Up in the Vineyard series! Key takeaways: Try new things. During the Pop-Up, I shared a very limited-edition Cayuga Zero, a bone-dry sparkling Cayuga White. The reaction was priceless, and we sold out! I also loved seeing so many guests try caviar for the first time. Bubbles and caviar are trancendental together. Be flexible. Thanks to unpredictable weather, we had to move indoors for half of our Pop-Up days. Our guests were gracious, open-minded and rolled with the punches. Thank you! Support your community. Conversations around the tables covered wine, food and travel. We admired the gorgeous centerpieces from Ivy Lane Flowers, swapped recommendations for places to visit, and celebrated the exciting things happening around us. I’m so grateful for the word of mouth that brought guests to the Little Clover table, and I love being able to pay that support forward by sharing recommendations. “I’m still glowing from the beautiful weekends. Thank you to everyone who made it special.” Little Clover wines can be ordered on the website, and can be found in local wine shops across New York state. Private tastings can be booked by reaching out on her website. ALSO READ It started as a ‘goof,’ but the evolving curiosity about East Coast wines turned into 2M page views Finger Lakes climate, hybrids give husband and wife team lots of opportunities to explore Finger Lakes winemaker feeling ‘pretty incredible’ as downtown project bears fruit