Owners of a well known winery near Geneva say they will eventually rebuild the structure lost in a fire on Monday night.
The fire at Three Brothers Wineries and Estates near Geneva destroyed a building at its Bagg Dare Wine Company.
According to a Facebook post from Three Brothers, no one was injured and no one was in the building at the time.
The post said that the owners “are heartbroken at the destruction of the famed structure, its history and the authentic memorabilia inside,” but they said that they are grateful to local firefighters and others who arrived to help.
Several fire departments were called to the scene shortly after 6 p.m. Monday, and the flames could be seen for some distance away.
Seneca County Fire Coordinator Jeffrey Case said the fire is considered "accidental," but the cause is undetermined.
Erica Paolicelli is president and one of the owners of the winery operation. She said the building that went up in flames, called the Bagg Dare Wine Company, was something lovingly curated by her business partner, Dave Mansfield.
She said he spent the last 14 years or so finding memorabilia that would help fit in with the character of that structure.
“It was just a really special handcrafted building, and people really loved it,” said Paolicelli. “It gave them a good feeling when they went down there and it was crafted to be a place where people just have fun. And there was not the pretense that sometimes surrounds wine tastings."
Paolicelli said that she and her partners are just glad no one got injured, and she is not too surprised at the hundreds of messages and offers of help from people who heard about the damage.
“It means a lot to us. The support has really been, it’s an outpouring and I can’t say I’m surprised because our customers are the best,” said Paolicelli. “They’ve supported us through COVID and everything, but it does feel really good, and we’re so grateful for them."
The building that burned was one of the original buildings at the winery, but Three Brothers will reopen as scheduled on Thursday and Paolicelli said that they’re working on the insurance details and planning to rebuild the part of the winery that burned.
