Oct 21 2008
Finger Lakes Wine Trail
Well, its been a long time since I’ve posted much. And since I’ve promised to post photos (just click on them to enlarge) of my trip, I figured I’d better do it before the season has passed.
About a week and a half ago, we took the boys to my hometown. But instead of staying locally, we headed an hour or so north to the Finger Lakes. Growing up in the region, I had no idea there were wineries. Not until I brought my future husband home years ago and my parents took us north on a wine trail….
Getting ready for NaNoWriMo, I decided to set my new novel in the Finger Lakes region. Well, what with a lot of school vacation days and the boys driving me nuts, I had a bright idea. My husband cashed in a vacation day, and we headed off on a ‘research’ trip (some things about writing are fun and my husband hoped on board this project willingly enough).
Its been a while since we’ve been back, but this past weekend had those perfect fall days that start off cold, but warm to a pleasant 70 degrees. The sun was out and a recent frost had caused the leaves to break out in brilliant color, but the rain and wind had yet to knock the leaves off their trees…
On a Saturday, we took the boys to Glenora Wine Cellars, mostly for the tour (but we did sample the wines and walk off with a few). They showed us the machinery that separates the grapes from their stems, extracts the juice, then filters out the sludge. Then it was off to the barrel room.
Here’s a photo of a barrel. Note the plaque? You can buy your own barrel, visit it (I kid you not, the guide says people do), and at last, collect the wine AND the empty barrel.
Here are the fermentation tanks.
The bottling/corking machinery.
By the end of the tour, the boys were getting a bit wild, so we took them to Watkins Glen. Nothing like about a thousand steps to wear them down. Unfortunately, it did us in too.
The next day, my parents kept the kids at home and we set off to sample the wines of those wineries between the lower halves of Lake Cayuga and Seneca. Our favorites? Lucas, Lamoreaux Landing, Wagner, and Standing Stone. The photos below are from Wagner.
On our way out, we passed a ‘limo’. You can sign up for tours that include a driver. No need to sip discreetly and dump the rest (or spit). Those individuals debussing had definitely not been dumping their tastings. They looked to be enjoying themselves thoroughly… Wiffer Wine Tour anyone?
6 responses so far
It sounds like you had a great time! The pictures look wonderful! I especially like the first one of the leaves.
Hmmm, a Whiffer Wine tour does sound kind of nice! I imagine we’d be a bit of a rowdy crowd all together in one place.
Jennifer – All the more reason to rent a bus. Um. Limo.
I’m glad you like the leaves. With the kids occupied, I had a moment to be ‘creative’.
Ilana, those pictures are great! Thanks for sharing them. It sounds like you had a wonderful time. I love this time of year when the leaves are starting to fall. Best of luck with NaNo!
Glad you had a good trip! Thanks for sharing the gorgeous pictures!
That sounds like so much fun, and I love the pictures! Glad you enjoyed your trip.
Sounds (and looks!) like you had a fabulous trip. And if we did a Wiffer tour, the driver would need to be “educated” before he got to deal with tipsy Wiffers.