Every Great Wine Has A Story...Ours Have That - And A History

A seasoned wine for a seasoned woodsman, The Guide is named after Kim's great, great grandfather Warren Jackson Slater, who embodied the spirit of adventure. He was born in 1849 as the youngest of seven boys.  He enlisted in the New York Volunteer Infantry in 1864 and was assigned to the 118th Regiment as a doctor's orderly, serving in the Civil War battles of Chapin's Farm, Va., and Fort Harrison. 

In the first general survey of the Adirondack Mountains, he served as the guide for Verplanck Colvin,  visiting the summit of practically every well-known peak, putting copper markers in the highest points in the rocks and cutting survey lines from one section to another. 

In addition to being a well-traveled outdoorsman, he had a career path as winding as the trails -- serving as a carpenter and builder, Justice of the Peace for Saranac Lake, NY, deputy Sherriff for Harrietstown, NY, serving on the Board of Education for both Saranac Lake and the town of Altamont. 

About two years ago, we took our boys to visit his grave, located in Saranac Lake, NY, and were able to discover the graves of Warren Jackson's parents in Jay, NY. It was very interesting for us to see together, and to make that connection across so many generations. 

Kim's grandfather owned a seaplane business called Warpa Airways, Inc., when he was about 20 years old. He would fly over and from Watkins Glen, NY, to give passengers the opportunity to see the Finger Lakes from the air. While our family never experienced flying with him, we make it an annual tradition to take our boys on seaplane rides with Helms Aero Service in Long Lake, NY. The plane featured on the label depicts Kim's grandpa's plane, but it is flying over the iconic steel bridge in Long Lake where our family likes to fly. 

Fun fact: if you visit our tasting room, you'll find a copy of the advertisement for Kim's grandpa's business hanging on the wall. 

An oxbow is a meander in a river, stream or creek that becomes separated from the flow of water. Our oxbow refers to our favorite part of the Raquette River and the Tupper Lake Triad paddling challenge we completed as a family of five in 2021. The challenge consists of paddling 3.25 miles from Stoney Creek Pond to Axton Landing; the 7.75 mile 'Crusher' between Raquette River and Tupper Lake boat launches; and 3.25 miles from Raquette Pond to Setting Pole Dam. 

Learn more about the paddling challenge here: https://www.tupperlake.com/tupper-lake-paddling-triad

Home is wherever you set up your basecamp. While we've chosen to set up ours in Marlboro Township, Ohio, it has traveled to some amazing places all over the Adirondack Park, Onslow Beach, N.C. and most recently to the Black Hills of South Dakota - because home is wherever you are together!

Kienuka means 'fortress with a sublime view,' which made it a fitting name for Kim's family's Adirondack camp located on Tupper Lake, NY, since it set atop a hill on a beautiful cove on the lake. It consisted of a variety of buildings including a main house, a kitchen, boat house, guide's cabin, maid's quarters, launch house, ice house, pump house and sleeper cabins. Camp Kienuka was purchased by the Slater family around 1910.  The boat house was the last building standing until it burned down. Our tasting room houses a wood burning stove (non functioning) that we pulled from the boat house prior to the fire. We are also fortunate enough to have several pieces of furniture from the main buildings in our own home. 

Conquer is named for our accomplishment in climbing our first Adirondack high peak - Cascade Mountain (4,098') . We were a prime example of what NOT to do while hiking....we were not prepared for the difficulty of the trail and simply brought with us one bottle of Gatorade. The 'trail' was littered with large boulders, and was a difficult climb, but oh so rewarding when we reached the top. We were hooked from that point on and have since climbed a total of 25 mountains in the Adirondacks, with hopefully many more in the future. You can conquer anything - even things you think you cannot. 

While we never saw the Northern Lights there (we saw them in Ohio of all places!), the Adirondacks receive many opportunities to view them. It is also a wonderful place to stargaze due to elevation and lack of light pollution. It is often very easy to see the Milky Way clearly. Kim can remember a time when she was about 10 years old and the already dark town of Tupper Lake, NY, had a power outage, and her and her dad took the boat out just off the shore to look up at the sky. Chris and Kim also spent nights on the beach by her grandpa's boathouse taking long exposure photos of the stars with Chris' camera. 

Triad is named after the Tupper Lake Triad hiking challenge - a combination of three mountains: Goodman (2,178'), Coney (2,267') and Mount Arab (2,525'). This was our first hiking challenge as a family  when our boys were three and five years old. They impressed us with their speed and desire to climb the mountains, pointing out every stick, rock and mushroom on the way to the top. On the top of Coney Mountain, we were fortunate enough to meet the creator of this hiking challenge, Charlie Hoffer. We hiked Mount Arab last and were rewarded with amazing views from its fire tower (which is featured on the label). 

Learn more about this challenge here: https://www.tupperlake.com/tupper-lake-hiking-triad

Visitors often ask how they can purchase our wines. Our wines are for sale by the bottle, glass or you can choose four, 2 ounce pours in what is traditionally called a flight. At Lost Trail though, we call them lifts because they are served on two miniature ski lift chairs. 

Our wines can also be enjoyed in winetini form as well as slushies in the summer and mulled wine in the winter.