WHAT, THEN, IS CHANGING?
THE NAME, THE LABELS
FULL STOP.
The Bluffers Work Bee White is the same as Clara’s White, the same Vitis labrusca Niagara grapes tended in the same unique Finger Lakes bluffs conditions, by the same devoted workers. Likewise, The Bluffers Tailgate Red is still lovingly grown using Catawba grapes.
Meet the women of Bluff Point — Donna Anderson, Shirley Finger, Pauline Culver, Connie Pinneo, and Joyce Simmons. Each was vital to life and work on Bluff Point, helping keep things steady for decades in their corner of New York’s Finger Lakes. Also pictured is Cloyce Pinneo, the Bluff Point Mafia’s consigliere and advisor.
IT’S EVERYTHING YOU’VE ALWAYS ENJOYED
WITH A FRESH NAME AND HANDSOME LABELS
Taken together, these changes serve to elevate all who spend or have spent their days working hard (and succeeding!) to bring Finger Lakes wine to the world’s attention.
Meet the original Bluff Point Mafia - Cloyce Pinneo (Consigliere and Advisor), Chet Culver (Founder and Godfather), charter members John Anderson, Gordon Fingar, Larry (Tubby”) Tubbs and Neil Simmons. All grew grapes, and each in their way helped keep life fair, righteous and joyful for decades in their corner of New York’s Finger Lakes.
The tales of
The Bluff Point Mafia
You can’t taste the stories. But they definitely add flavor.
First off, it should be noted that The Bluff Point Mafia had a lot of fun.
Nobody got hurt, nothing got broken. Rules might have been bent. Neighbors were helped, farms were saved, kids were raised, grapes were harvested and occasionally lessons were taught to those who deserved it. Mostly there was a lot of fun.
Second thing you should probably know is how isolated the Bluff Point area is.
If you’re looking at a map of New York’s Finger Lakes region, it might not look that far from Penn Yan to Hammondsport. But it takes at least 35 minutes to drive between them. And that’s if you’re not behind a grape harvester. Men, women and kids who lived and farmed The Bluff area had to stick together.
Meet Neil, far right in the above photo. We asked Neil Simmons for stories, and he shared these. This might be as close as you can get to an officially unofficial history of The Bluff Point Mafia.
A Perfectly Innocent Scavenger Hunt
You know how mean Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life was? Now imagine him running for office. The Bluff Point Mafia saved the community’s day with a mostly harmless prank.
A Perfectly Innocent Scavenger Hunt
Picture a villain. A bad dude. Wealthy, unethical, vindictive, opportunist. A guy who made himself unpopular his whole life, through unkind acts and plain old meanness. Now imagine him in the midst of a close-knit grape-growing community in the Finger Lakes with a retiring town justice.
Right before the election, this real-life Mr. Potter decides to run for office, knowing there wasn’t time to campaign against him. He put signs up all around the area at the last minute. A devious maneuver — but it might work.
Fortunately, The Bluff Point Mafia’s “counselor” Cloyce Pinneo knew some local college kids liked to stage scavenger hunts. He got in touch and said, “Let’s see who can bring in the most campaign signs from [NAME OF GUY REDACTED OUT OF THE SORT OF KINDNESS HE WOULDN’T HAVE SHOWN].” Cloyce offered to pay for each sign they brought in, with a bonus for whoever collected the most.
End result? A friendly grape-grower won the election, as a write-in candidate.
Best not to try to out-maneuver the Bluff Point Mafia, or their counselor.
How to Collect a Bill in Pennsylvania
You just don’t haul away the Bluff Point Mafia’s grapes and refuse to pay. A quick, unexpected visit to Pennsylvania evened the score against a winery who set out to cheat the growers.
How to Collect a Bill in Pennsylvania
You don’t want to stiff the Bluff Point Mafia.
But [NAME OF WINERY REDACTED] did. They were located hours and hours away in Pennsylvania and after buying $2,000 worth of grapes figured, “They can’t collect. They’re way up there in the Finger Lakes. What are they gonna do?”
What a couple of the Bluffers did was get in their truck, drive down and fib to the [NAME OF WINERY REDACTED] salesfolk in Pennsylvania that they were throwing a huge party and needed lots of wine. The bosses who’d recognize them weren’t there so they got the royal treatment: tastings were set up, the Bluffers found a couple of wines they thought weren’t bad, and they began loading cases and cases of wine into their truck, keeping a tally of the cost (to compare against what they were owed).
When the [NAME REDACTED] salespeople presented the bill, the Bluffers smiled and said, “Actually, this settles what you owe us. We stopped ten bucks short of the total, but don’t worry, we’ll forgive that last little bit so there’s no hard feelings.”
By now the bosses had been notified, and showed up demanding the truck be unloaded — offering to write a check. Knowing checks sometimes mysteriously (deliberately) bounce, the Bluffers held out for cash.
Sure enough, they drove home counting that two thousand dollars. Paid in full.
The Banker and the Backhoe
A banker showed up to foreclose on a family farm in the 1980s, insisting they abandon their grandmother’s maple tree. But he didn’t understand the community he was up against.
The Banker and the Backhoe
Times were tough in the eighties. People had trouble keeping up and banks would foreclose on farms — just take the keys and kick folks out. That had happened to a local family, and on their
last morning they were loading a U-Haul trailer, with the banker due at high noon for the final walk-through.
They’d asked the banker if they could uproot a maple tree they’d received from their great-grandmother, and take it with them to their new home for sentimental reasons. “Absolutely not,” said the banker. “The maple tree stays.”
Well, none of the neighbors liked the sound of that. Seemed pretty cold. So when the banker arrived a little before noon, there was a Mafia member’s backhoe gently lifting the maple into the back of the family’s truck. Banker was, of course, outraged.
Over the roar of the backhoe they told him, “If you want to take this family to court, you go right ahead.” The banker declined — everybody knew the judge was John Anderson, another charter member of The Bluff Point Mafia.
Great-grandma’s maple tree was transplanted, and justice was served.
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?
Bluff Point Mafia charter member Cloyce Pinneo had an uncanny talent for being inches away from historic misfires, including the Great Blackout of 1965.
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?
November of 1965. 80,000 square miles of the northeastern U.S. plus Toronto and Ottawa went dark. Thirty million people without power. A series of tripped relays created a domino effect, each sending a surge to the next. It’s a common question to anyone old enough to remember: where were you?
Well, Bluff Point Mafia charter member Cloyce Pinneo was right there. On the scene. Inches away from the guy who started it all by pulling the wrong lever and overloading the system right at rush hour. If Cloyce had been quicker, he might have stopped his co-worker’s simple mistake that stranded New York City commuters in elevators and subway cars.
In addition to hatching a lot of clever ideas for The Bluff Point Mafia, Cloyce had a knack for being right there. When the Bluff Point Volunteer Firehouse burned down, he was second fireman on the scene. And when Tammy Wynette performed at the Yates County Fair, Cloyce was the electrician who wired her microphone. Unfortunately, Tammy was performing on an open stage on a rainy day. As she grabbed the mic, Cloyce’s junction box shorted out and electrocuted her. Almost knocked her down. Luckily for Cloyce and Tammy Wynette fans, she took her near death by electrocution with grace and humor.
Escorting The First Grape Harvester
A towering grape harvester, a road under construction, and a determined crew on the Bluff. Around here, harvest has always required a little creativity.
Escorting The First Grape Harvester
The first grape harvester on Keuka Bluff was huge, and there was a lot to learn.
Time came to move the new harvester to a vineyard near Branchport, a short distance away. One problem — the harvester was as wide as the road, which crews were rebuilding. Highway superintendent said, “No way, we’re not shutting down and moving our machines out of your way.”
The other option was to drive seven miles on a different road, then another seven on the way back. Riding slow. Taking up two lanes. Perched eleven feet above the ground in this unfamiliar machine.
Obviously the shorter route was preferable.
Bluff Point Mafia “Counselor” and chief instigator Cloyce Pinneo had an idea. “What if there was a fire on the bluff? They’d have to let our volunteer fire trucks through.” Sure enough — an amazing coincidence! — there was a fire, and the road crew did have to get out of the way.
After the fire, the highway crew had to move a second time for the return trip. Imagine the highway superintendent’s fury at the fire trucks rolling slowly toward him up the road, escorting the enormous grape harvester.
He hadn’t counted on most of the Bluff Point Mafia being volunteer firemen.
Work Bee #1: Ninety Acres in a Weekend
When a neighboring farmer was injured, the Bluff Point Mafia gathered for a Work Bee and plowed his farm in record time. Around here, community has always been part of the harvest.
Work Bee #1: Ninety Acres in a Weekend
One of the most important roles The Bluff Point Mafia played was coming together and helping neighbors who were in trouble, one way or another.
They called it a Work Bee. Named after the more common quilting bee, bringing many hands together to get something done.
Back in the sixties, there was a farmer who got crushed between two trucks. Workman's comp wasn’t much back then, and there was a farm payment coming up. “How are we going to take care of this family,” the Bluff Point Mafia members wondered. And the answer was, they were going to plow his 90 acres for him.
Nowadays that wouldn’t be a big deal — but this was the sixties, and that was a challenge. In one weekend, though, joining together, they plowed his whole farm. Then the community got together and paid for wheat seed and fertilizer.
That fall they harvested 4,500 bushels of wheat. The family faced no fertilizer or seed bill, and managed to pay taxes, insurance and the farm payment waiting for Dad to get out of the hospital.
All because The Bluff Point Mafia pulled together in a Work Bee.
Work Bee #2: Death, Hail, Lightning and Fire
After an epically tragic year one young farmer needed money, but dejectedly anticipated a small check from the local winery. He didn’t know the Bluff Point Mafia had quietly come to his rescue.
Work Bee #2: Death, Hail, Lightning and Fire
Sadly, one young farmer’s Dad had a heart attack in his late fifties and left him suddenly in charge of their vineyard. He was in his twenties, and would have admitted he was overwhelmed.
Then there was a hail storm. He lost most of his grapes.
Then his barn got struck by lightning. Burned to the ground — taking beef cows and pigs with it.
He lost his Dad, his grapes, his livestock and his barn, all in the space of a year.
So the Bluff Point Mafia grape farmers quietly made an arrangement with the local winery: for every ten tons of grapes they delivered, two tons would go to fund the young farmer.
On the 15th of the next month, after bringing in his meager harvest, that young man walked to his mailbox despondent, expecting a check for three or four hundred dollars. He opened his envelope from the winery to find a check for almost $8,000.
That’s called sticking together.
JUST GETTING STARTED.
You better believe there’s more stories. Come back soon for more Tales of the Bluff Point Mafia.