Scott Osborn - Owner
International politics were the first interest of this Rochester, NY native and son of two professors. He attended the Friends World College with campuses all over the world, and studied in Kenya, India, Thailand, Japan, and England. After college, in the mid 1970s, he went into the real estate development business in Lake County California, where he discovered his passion for wine. In 1980 he took his first job in the industry, labeling bottles at Konocti Winery. His aptitude led to cellar master positions at Firestone Vineyards, Zaca Mesa, and Byron Winery.
Returning east in 1986, Osborn soon realized that the Finger Lakes region was where he wanted to make his mark producing wine, eventually with his own establishment. He worked for a distributor, then became general manager of Long Island’s Pindar Vineyards in 1988. After two years, he moved back to Rochester and began the search that would lead to the purchase of Fox Run, in partnership with Andy Hale, in 1993. Since then he has made his home Fox Run’s lovingly renovated centuryold farmhouse.
At first Osborn wore both hats, as general manager and winemaker of Fox Run, but increasingly travel and speaking obligations led to the hiring of a full-time winemaker in 1995. The selection of Peter Bell, the most gifted winemaker in the Finger Lakes region, expressed a shared vision of what goes into making excellent wines. This has freed Osborn to devote more time to upgrading Fox Run’s standards and practices in both vineyard and cellar, and to plan for Fox Run’s future which he sees as intimately bound to the destiny of the Finger Lakes appellation.
Osborn is a frequent participant in wine judgings, panel discussions, and symposia relating to the challenges involved in making the Finger Lakes a world-class wine region. Both as advocate and producer, Osborn is setting a formidable example for his peers and leads the way in gaining for the fine wines of Finger Lakes the international recognition for excellence they deserve. In June 2002, Scott Osborn received the Outstanding Tourism Professional Award by the Geneva (N.Y.) Chamber of Commerce. In announcing the award, the first ever of its kind, Melanie Steep, Chamber executive director
cited Mr. Osborn as “a brilliant marketer and trailblazer… We are greatly impressed by everything Scott is doing at Fox Run and for the entire Finger Lakes wine region.” In February 2003, Scott Osborn received the “Unity Award” from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation. This prestigious award is given to an industry member who has made a major contribution in advancing the interests of the New York wine and grape industry. Scott Osborn is also president and founding member of the New York Wine Industry Association; the only advocacy group for the wine industry in New York, and an active member of the Seneca Wine Trail.
