This is all about the Finger Lakes and their wines. |
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| There are eleven lakes that make up the
Finger Lakes area of New York state. Our plan is to taste around three of
the lakes, Seneca, Cayuga, & Keuka. There are more wineries
than we will be able to visit, but we will give it the old college
try! Monday July 7th
We tasted at Stony Lonesome, of the three wineries, this is the only one that has the traditional style wines, meaning dry reds for us :) Jennifer was pouring and was fun to chat with. She brought Dave, one of the brothers, to chat with us and we got a quick tour. We tried a 1998 Pinot Noir that was delicious and we bought 2 bottles :) We checked out the other two tasting rooms (they are all on the same property) because they were there and all different. They need to be experienced. We also tasted the beer, one must always remember the saying: "it takes a lot of beer to make good wine". The beer was pretty darn good also. They do a Riesling ale (with actual grape juice) and it was pretty darn good. |
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| We found the right place, even with the "help" of our GPS | Heading into the Stony Lonesome tasting room. |
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| This was the most interesting Pinot Noir I have ever seen. They did have a 1998 Pinot Noir that was just delicious (not this orange stuff). | Dave (to the left), one of the 3 brothers, gave us a tour of the facilities. Jim is chatting with Dale Nagy, the winemaker, while one of the helpers fixes the bottling contraption to bottle 350ml bottles of their Late Harvest Riesling. |
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| Front of Passion Feet, one of the other tasting rooms, there wine was oriented towards women... | Jim in front of Rogue's Hollow tasting room, it is definitely a sight to be seen and fun. Again, they have fun and sweet wine here, nothing that we wanted to taste. |
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| I did try all the beers, their dark lager was my least favorite. The ales were pretty darn good and their Root Beer was wonderful! They sell their beer by the growler. | Ventosa is done in the Italian style. The wine was pretty good. |
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The facility is huge, they cater to large groups, weddings, etc. they also have a small cafe in the tasting room where Jim and I had paninis for dinner one evening. |
Tuesday July 8th
Bill was pouring for us in the tasting room, he was a kick in the pants. We enjoyed chatting with him and the others that were enjoying the wines. We had a nice lunch at the Ginny Lee Cafe on the premises, what a great view of the lake. |
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| You name it, they got it! | Jim outside on the veranda getting ready to order lunch. I tried one of their beers with lunch, Jim had a glass of Pinot Noir. |
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| The end of the veranda looking towards the tasting room. You have to go through the gift shop to get into where you actually taste wine and they let only so many through at a time so that you get "the whole show" from Bill. | Another view from the veranda. If the land isn't under grapevines, it probably is under corn, wheat or hay... need to have something to feed all the cows and horses! |
| Wednesday July 9th We drove over to Keuka Lake which is on the east side of Seneca Lake and is shaped like a big "Y". I picked 2 wineries to taste at and then asked others as we tried those two what other two we should try. It's always interesting to try out what other people have recommended...
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| Looking at the tasting room of Dr. Franks (the shortened version of the name). If you go tasting in this area, this is a MUST DO place to go. We liked and even loved many of their wines. | The view of their vineyards and Keuka Lake from the veranda of Dr. Franks tasting room. They are one of (if not the) largest producer of wine in the state of New York (and it's even good!) |
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| We had to go to Bully Hill because of a recommendation that was over 30 years old :) | The buying room, the main tasting room we passed through because we weren't going to do the tourist thing (though they did sound like they were having way too much fun). We wanted to custom taste, taste only the wines we wanted to try. The list is LONG and interesting :) |
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| A panoramic view of Bully Hill Vineyards which includes tasting room, winery, several gift shops, and restaurant. | |
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| The panoramic view of Keuka Lake from Bully Hill Vineyards, it was a hazy day as you can see, but still beautiful. | |
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| Next was Ravines, one that was recommended by a fellow taster at Bully Hill. | The tasting room, it was very sedate inside (especially after Bully). They had some nice whites. |
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| The gal that was pouring wine for us at Bully said that she had just joined the McGregor wine club, so we had to give it a whirl. | Jim being so patient, waiting for me to take the pictures so that we could go inside and taste. This was the only tasting room that "made" you sit down to taste and they brought a small sampling of food items they sell also. Nice. Jim was very confused about a couple of the wines they made from Russian varietals, just couldn't get his mind wrapped around that. |
Thursday July 10th
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| Jim and his dorky smile, waiting for our appetizer to show up. I asked the gal to try two different wines to figure out what bottle we wanted to try (it was half price bottle night). We ended up with they syrah. It was very good, but the bottle was too warm and I had to send it back to get it cooled down. They looked at me funny, but well worth the cool down! | We moved outside to the back veranda to enjoy the evening sun and to have dessert. We had the chocolate pate and it was delicious! |
| Saturday July 12th This is our first day of power tasting with Phil & Terri. They drove over from Ohio to join us for the weekend. We always have a great time together, Phil keeps everyone on their toes. While going from winery to winery, we ran into at least 4 different groups of "bachlorette parties" that were out enjoying the day also. Sad thing is, we picked wineries that had dry red wines (all of us liked that type of wine), but Phil and I tried a few whites along the way. Riesling wine (white) is what put the Finger Lakes on the wine map and I hadn't tasted very many of them up to this point.
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| We had to have Phil & Terri try Stony Lonesome wines, they bought a couple of bottles too. | We then headed over to Ventosa, since we liked it, we figured they would too, and they did. |
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| Now, we are hitting the new ones... Belhurst was first on the list because we wanted to taste here but to also have lunch. | Belhurst has a small castle, used for conventions, etc. It has an Inn, 2 restaurants, and the tasting room. |
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| Their Rosé was pretty darn good, we bought a couple of bottles, had them open one of them to enjoy with our lunch. | Like kids in a candy store, the gang in the Belhurst tasting room. :) |
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| Next stop was White Springs Winery... | the tasting room was huge, but only one counter to serve people. I don't get that, especially since so many people taste in the Finger Lakes region. |
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| We had to stop at Fox Run, had heard good things about it. | Again, they have a cafe and a large tasting room and a gift shop. The wine was good, the gentleman pouring for us was fun. I tried several of their whites that had won medals and they were pretty good. Loved the Triece. |
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| Wineries are very close here, Prejean was next on the list. | The gang heading on it. Wines were ok, but not exactly what Jim and I were looking for. I think Terri bought a bottle. |
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| We had to taste here, the mansion is haunted! Read the story on their website | Miles Wine Cellars is located in a Greek revival mansion (built in 1802) overlooking Seneca Lake at a location that was once the site of a ferry crossing. |
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| The willow tree in the yard is probably as old as the house and is huge! | Heading into the tasting room. The family use to live here, but it got to the point that the spirits finally drove them out. We heard some interesting ghost stories from the gentleman that was pouring for us. |
| Sunday July 13th Second day of tasting with Phil & Terri. We couldn't do too much tasting, they had to drive home that afternoon. We got 4 wineries under out belts and then they took off to enjoy the drive and possibly try a couple of wineries over on Keuka Lake. We had enjoyed breakfast with them at their B&B, it was a wonderful breakfast of French toast, one of my favorites!
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| We started Sunday at Penguin Bay to enjoy their sparkling wine. The day was wet and very humid... | We were there, waiting, saying "open, open" a few minutes before the tasting room staff showed up. They drove down all the way from Rochester, NY! |
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| The gang enjoying a taste at Penguin Bay. | Hey, I'm trying to take a picture here! Next stop, Rasta Ranch. |
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| Heading into the barn that is the tasting room for Rasta Ranch. | It was a step back into the 60's, the wine was served out of jugs and lots of very interesting things for sale... |
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| Hazlitt 1852 was next on the list to try... | Again, another large building, use to be a working farm. |
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| I stepped behind the tasting bar to take this picture, they were discussing what there was to taste. Low & behold, all of their dry red wines were sold out so we didn't even stay. They mentioned trying Damiani, so away we went. | Damiani was not originally on the list, but we are glad that we added it. |
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| The tasting room was in this house, Alex (short for Alexandria) was pouring for us and a lot of fun. She knew the wines... | Chateau Lafayette Reneau was our next stop and to be our last as a group... |
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| Beautiful grounds, flowers, grapevines and a view of Seneca Lake | This is the main home on the property, probably built in the early 1800's. The owners still live here. |
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| The tasting room is in an old carriage house or barn. Again, beautiful flowers... | The winery cat at her post, making sure all is well. |
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After saying goodbye to Phil & Terri, we finally stopped at Red Newt to actually taste the wine instead of just eat there. We knew almost all of the people working the tasting because they had been serving food or behind the bar while we were eating at the bistro. We chatted with all of them and enjoyed the wine. There is wine on their menu (like the syrah) that we could not taste in the tasting room, so we had made great choices all around. |
| Wednesday July 16th We decided to take this week easy, only 4 wineries. We needed a short break. We had enough wine to enjoy for the next few weeks, so we weren't in any hurry. Besides, there were other things we wanted to do while in this area of the Finger Lakes. (btw, Happy Birthday to my sister Molly)
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| Are you getting a theme here? Lots of the wineries we tasted at also had food (always a good thing). | Another old farm converted into a winery, tasting room & restaurant. |
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| This is the tasting room entrance, Jim always being patient, waiting for me to catch up. | In the tasting room at Sheldrake. We enjoyed their wines, we loved their Rosé and also bought a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon. |
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| Just down the road was Lucas Vineyards. | Fairly new, the winery was started in 1980. It was so-so and I can't remember much about it (sad...) |
Thursday July 17th
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| We had to try this winery, it has a profile of a duck! | We tasted in this barn... |
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| Come on, pet me, pet me! The official door greater... | Having a nice sit while trying the wines. It was an interesting place to taste, nothing much for us to write about, but the others that were tasting at the same time, seemed to be enjoying themselves. |
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| Goose Watch is owned by the same group that owns Penguin Bay. | The goose that is watching over them... |
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| Another great view, this of course is Cayuga Lake. | Waiting, waiting, waiting, always waiting for me to get my pictures... |
Friday July 18th
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| This wasn't about wine tasting, but about trying out the food. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and a glass of their Rosé. In fact, we bought 3 more bottles of their Rosé. | What a treat! Yum-O as someone would say. The people sitting at the next table at lunch mentioned having dessert here, so we just had to do the same thing (it was our third time :P ) You can have their ice cream shipped to your home! |
| We enjoyed our time in the Finger Lakes wine tasting. Many of the whites were very good, but I bought only a couple since Jim doesn't really drink them. We bought quite a bit of different Rosé wines, but several blends, a couple of Pinot Noir's, and I was even surprised when we bought a Merlot (we enjoyed that a couple of nights ago) and also the Cabernet Sauvignon (again, already gone...). The wine here is not the fruity, jammy wines that we get on the West Coast, it is more subtle, made in the old world style, a shorter growing season, so not the high level of alcohol we are starting to see on the West Coast. That is one reason why the whites do so well here. If you ever get the chance, I would give a few of these wineries a try, you never know where your next favorite is going to be found. | |
