Seneca Lake Wineries - Part 2

*click on a pic to enlarge

So my last post was day one of my family trip to the wineries around Seneca Lake in NY. Day two started with a continental breakfast at the hotel. It wasn't anything fancy, but I had a pretty darn good bagel, and there were doughnuts, cereal, oatmeal, bananas, and coffee and juice. After breakfast, we checked out and went to a little park with a path around the lake. It was GORGEOUS, and I took about a million pictures.































It's my mom's favorite place in the world! We walked around for probably an hour, and made some seagull friends. We then embarked on the the journey down the other side of the lake, to 11 more wineries and a brewery.

Our first stop was Ventosa Winery. They were kind of big and overwhelming. We didn't taste there, just looked around the shop. We then hit the Three Brothers Wineries. This was by. far. my favorite. There were three wineries and a brewery, all together. Each winery had very different wines and atmospheres. The first, Stoney Lonesome Estates was kind of sophisticated and had dryer wines. They had a Gewurtz that I liked, but not even close to that $24 bottle the first day. The second winery at Three Brothers was Bagg Dare Wine Co. You had to go through a little path in the woods, with this at the entrance:



It's Louisiana bayou-themed. "Bagg Dare" is Louisiana-speak for "Back There". They had sweet wines with fun names like "Skirt Lifter", "Well Hung", and "69 Ways to Have Fun". Their mascot is a skeleton. I want to go back right now. Maybe they're hiring??



The last winery in the group was Passion Feet. Mom and I decided that if the three wineries represent the three brothers, this one is gay. It had wines with names like "Seduce Me", "90 Seconds of Heaven", and "Heart Pounding Crush". Connected to Passion Feet was the brewery - War Horse Brewing Co. They had some great beers - my favorite being the American Black Lager. It tasted like coffee. Hardcore. They also had the best root beer I've ever tasted. Ever.

So yeah, Three Brothers was by far my favorite thing ever. They had a "passport" you can get for $8 that lets you taste 5 wines at each winery, and all the beers and root beer at the brewery. It was fan. tastic.

After Three Brothers, we hit up Zugibe Vineyards. They were good. I got a Gewurztraminer there. It was floral and fruity, and as good as the $24 bottle, if not better. Wagner Vineyards was next, and they had a pretty awesome gift shop, but no really amazing wines. We were going to eat lunch at their restaurant, but they didn't really have anything Dad could eat, and the deck facing the lake was pretty much full, and who wants to eat inside with that view?!

Next up was Caywood Vineyards. They had free tastings, and the guy just went to town. I tried several "meh" wines, and a Madeira that'll put hair on your chest. Then. Then we tried their chocolate wine. Just by itself, it was amazingly delicious. But when he mixed it with the strawberry wine? It was a downright religious experience. For. real. I also got to try some champagnes which were awesome and bubbly.

After Caywood, we hit up Standing Stone Vineyards, and Penguin Bay Winery. I tasted at both, but nothing really reached out and grabbed me. Hazlitt was next. I'd had some of their wine before, that Mom and Dad brought home from their last trip. I got a "Bramble Berry" wine there. They also had a great gift shop. Our last stop was Red Newt Winery. They had some fantastic wines, and the people giving the tastings were super fun and friendly. I got a nifty hat here, and a bottle of Blue Newt wine.

By this time, it's after 4PM, and we realize we never ate lunch. Mom and I had been tasting wine and beer all day, and all we'd eaten was a bagel at 9AM. Yeah, we were petty much drunk. We decided that we should find some food, so we headed down to Watkins Glen at the bottom of the lake. (You should know that my Dad was driving, and had not been drinking. :-P) We first tried to eat at the marina, but they were between lunch and supper. After some debate/argument/walking, we got back in the car and went to Montage Italian Restaurant. It was pretty much super expensive, but deeeeelicious, and Dad actually managed to get half of his ravioli down. Oh, and the view from our table....



So it was an EXCELLENT two days, and an unforgettable experience. I'm glad we got to go before my dad starts all his surgeries and treatments. We're also now fully stocked up on wine. I have 27 bottles, and my parents have something like 50 bottles. Should get us through the winter. :-P

Seneca Lake Wineries - Part 1

So this past Monday and Tuesday my mom, dad, and I went to Seneca Lake in NY. It's one of the finger lakes, and is surrounded by wineries. Sur. round. ed. I decided to make this into two posts since we went for two days, and I took lots of pictures.

We hit 13 wineries and a brewery the first day, and 11 wineries and a brewery the second day. We came back with 27 full bottles of wine, 4 mini bottles of wine, and a mini bottle of champagne. That's right. You're jealous.

The first day, we left our house around 8:30AM. The GPS took us on some weird back ways, but we were in NY and at the first winery around 11:30AM. The first one we stopped at was Heron Hill Winery. They had an amazing Chardonnay - I think the best that I tasted the whole trip. I didn't get any pictures here since it wasn't very impressive, and they didn't have a view of the lake. We continued on to Hermann J. Weimer Winery. Here, I tasted my first Gewurztraminer. (Pronounced guh-vertz-truh-meen-er.) It. was. awesome. I tasted many throughout the trip, and none were anything like this one. You know when someone says a wine has "floral" qualities? Well, this one seriously did. It was like drinking roses. No joke. It was $24 a bottle, though, so I will have to go back after I hit the lottery.

Ashley Lynn Winery was next. It was kind of hick-ish. You tasted out of a disposable shot glass, and they only had fruit wines (apple, blueberry, cherry, etc.). They were very good, but I don't like too-sweet wine. They had a nice little gift shop, too. We got a few bottles there. I got an Apple-Cherry wine that was pretty magnificent. Fruit Yard Winery was down the street, and also had a lot of wines made from fruits other than grapes. I got an awesome Pear Wine there.

Up until this point, I hadn't taken any pictures because none of them were especially impressive buildings, and didn't have views of Seneca Lake. When we got to Glenora Winery, though, it was gorgeous.





















Plus, they had these huge wine barrels all over, and this awesome wine bottle tree. I could totally make one of those. Guess what everyone's getting for Christmas. :-P Since we hadn't eaten all day and Mom and I were basically tipsy, we had lunch here. I had a Cuban Pork Sandwich. It may be the best thing I've ever eaten. It was huge, and smoky and sweet and a little spicy, served with homemade potato chips.... I would totally drive the three hours back up there just for that sandwich. We also got a tour of the winery here that lasted, like an hour. It was cool, but halfway through I was ready to be done.

After Glenora, we backtracked some and started back up to the top of the lake, since our hotel was in that direction. Our next stop was Miles Wine Cellar. This one also had a brewery. The building (which I'm very mad I didn't take a picture of for some reason) was this old plantation-looking mansion. They claim to be haunted, and say that the ghosts like sitting on the porch. I tasted a few great wines, two beers, and a wine slushie here. That's right. A wine slushy. Mmmmmmm. Miles also had a dock, and you can go right down to the lake.



We left Miles and hit Torrey Ridge Winery and the Earle Estates Meadery. I think I should have gotten some kind of amazing discount at Torrey Ridge. How many Torreys do they get? Come on.



Connected to Torrey Ridge is the Earle Estates Meadery. They make honey mead, and had an active beehive right in the tasting room.



After Torrey Ridge, we hit Seneca Shore Wine Cellars, Fox Run Vineyard, and Billsboro Winery. We tasted at some of these. Seneca Shores was a cool medieval-themed winery. None of these really stood out, though, and I didn't take pictures. We then went to White Springs Winery. I didn't take pictures here, but they had some awesome Sangria wines. Dad got a wine bottle accent light here, that I think he was nuts to pay $20 for. I've decided I'm going to learn how to make them. Some people may actually get these for Christmas if I buy the glass-cutting drill bits.

Our last stop for the day was Belhurst Castle Winery. I didn't actually taste here, because nothing really struck my fancy, and they were pretty high-end and pricey. I would love to stay in the castle some day (honeymoon??).



After we hit all the wineries for the day, we checked into our hotel in Geneva, NY - just a few minutes from the lake. It was decent (a Days Inn), and clean. They had a complimentary gym (that I didn't use) and continental breakfast. That night, we went to the Waterloo Outlets. It's this huge 100-store outlet mall in the middle of nowhere. I just got some gym shorts and a workout shirt because I had forgotten to pack pajamas.... The outlets closed at 9, and we headed back to the hotel. I didn't realize there was a 24-hour Coldstone right down the road, or we would have stopped there. :-P We went to bed early since it had been a very long day of getting drunk, and everyone was exhausted.

I'll post day two soon. This post was long enough, and the second day was just as eventful!

Wonderful Wine

Since this is my last week in SC, instead of a cocktail post we're going to discuss the wineries I've been to in South Carolina and Georgia.

I'm rather proud of my current wine collection. There are several Georgia wines, a few South Carolina wines, some PA wines, and a German wine I got at the Outer Banks, NC.



I've found three new favorite wineries in and around upstate SC. Since I just took my parents there yesterday, we'll start with Habersham Winery. It's located in Helen, GA at the Nacoochee Village. They're pretty fairly priced, and have a complementary tasting of up to 4 wines in their tasting room. That's also where I got this:



It's pretty much the best thing ever. Also in Nacoochee Village is an amazing antique store in an old 3-story mammoth farm house. It's a never ending maze of gorgeous antiques and collectibles. There are also a working river-powered grainery, and a little coffee shop in the Village. Down the road is a Pizzeria/Tavern. We didn't eat there because we didn't want to fight the horrific traffic.

The first winery I found when I moved here was Victoria Valley Vineyards in Cleveland, SC. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of this, but it's a gorgeous winery - very European looking. They have free tours of the winery and vineyard, and tasting is (I believe) 5 wines for $5, and you can buy your tasting glass for $2. They have a lot of wines that I loved, and this is where I discovered Viognier and White Merlot. Loooove.

The last winery that I went to around here is the Boutier Winery in Danielsville, GA.



The woman who was there is one of the owners (the other is her husband - the winemaker), and is from Ireland. I could have stayed all day just to listen to her accent. The tasting is 6 wines for $6, but I was the only one there and she kept telling me I had to taste this and that, and I ended up trying about 10 for $6. I was pretty much tipsy by the end. The wines are a little pricier, but amazing!

Yesterday with my parents, we also stopped at Sautee Nacoochee Vineyards and Yonah Mountain Vineyards, both in Sautee, GA. The first one allowed free tasting of up to 10 wines, and had this slushy wine mix stuff that was AMAZING. The woman who did our tasting was a super-nice Italian lady with a fun accent. We got some of the slush mix and a couple of bottles of "Red Headed Stepchild".

Yonah Mountain had tastings of 4 wines for $4, or 10 wines for $10, and you got a free glass with the latter. We just did the 4 because by this time, I was probably already 3 glasses of wine in and had barely eaten all day. Their wines were good, mostly dry, and pretty expensive. I did get a bottle of the Bearly Sweet Red because it was delicious. Mom really liked their Dolce Bello wine that actually had chocolate extract in. I wasn't really a fan of that one, but it would probably be amazing with something like chocolate cake or fondue.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the wine scene around me. Once I'm back in PA, maybe I'll do a post on wineries up that way!