Vagabond Little Sparrow Red Finger Lakes 2024

Founded in 2022 by husband-and-wife team Alex and Jimmer Bond, Vagabond is a small, bootstrap winery built on deep Finger Lakes roots — Alex is head vinifera winemaker at Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, while Jimmer manages vineyards at Knapp on Cayuga Lake. Together they craft Vagabond wines with a gentle, largely non-interventionist hand, favoring ancient techniques like foot-stomping, ambient fermentation, and lees stirring, sourcing fruit from trusted grower relationships along Seneca Lake's southeast shore. Little Sparrow, their signature red table blend, is a tiny-production wine named for its spirit of unity, simplicity, and joy.

The 2024 vintage blends 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc and 25% Merlot into a medium-bodied, lifted red with a bright ruby hue. Expect energetic red fruit — cherry and raspberry — layered with subtle herbal lift from the Cabernet Franc, fine-grained tannins, and a fresh, food-friendly acidity that carries through a lively finish.

An unpretentious, small-batch red that captures the joyful, hands-on ethos of its winemakers and offers a rare, characterful expression of Bordeaux varieties grown on the Finger Lakes' cool-climate soils.