Last week was my friend Jenna’s birthday. (Happy Birthday Jenna!) To celebrate, she decided that she wanted to go on a wine tour in the Finger Lakes, located in the Western region of upstate New York. Here are some of the highlights of the trip:
The first winery we were driven to was the Montezuma Winery. It was a small little winery located in Seneca Falls, and known for being “a pioneer in the field of artisan distilling in New York State.” All of the information you need about their winery in on their website.
What I liked about this winery was a few simple things. Firstly, they offered the wine in actual wine glasses as opposed to the other wineries we went to which offered plastic cups. On a side note, I automatically deduct 10 points from a winery if they serve in plastic cups or plastic shot glasses. Not only is it not classy, its incredibly wasteful and bad for the environment!
They also offered a variety of specialty liquors including apple brandy and Bee vodka made from honey from the Finger Lakes.
The staff at Montezuma was very friendly and knowledgeable on the wines they offered, and the place had a very cozy feeling, as it was relatively small compared to the others we toured. They also had the best variety of wine accessories and gifts to go with wine bottles of the three places we toured that day.
The second winery we traveled to was called Three Brothers Wineries. This location has three different wineries and a brewery. When we arrived we got a “Tasting Passport” and wristband (to prove we are of legal drinking age) and as we went from winery to winery we had our passport “stamped.” We started our Three Brothers tour at Stoney Lonesome Estates.
The way it works at wine tours typically is you can choose 4 or 5 types of wines on the list from dry to sweet and from red, rosé and white. The bar tender will pour a small taste into the glass (or cup as seen above) and if you like it, you may purchase a bottle of it.
The second winery we went to within the Three Brothers was called Passion Feet. This winery has a handful of incredibly sweet wines, which I did not care for, but for those who enjoy sweeter wines, this would be perfect for you.
The wine from Passion Feet is definitely not something you drink on a business lunch or give as a gift to your mother; it’s more of a bachelorette party or girls night in type of wine.
The third place we went to was a brewery called War Horse Brewing Company.
I actually really enjoyed tasting all the different varieties of beer they offered. Again, thumbs down for offering the beer in plastic cups. A nicer touch would have been a 2.5 ounce shot glass, but in any case I enjoyed the beer and their delicious root beer as well!
The fourth place we tasted at the Three Brothers was Bagg Dare Wine Co.
Again, not something I recommend drinking when you invite your boss over for dinner, or now that I think of it, this wine is something I do not recommend drinking at all. Each of the wines offered at Bagg Dare were suuuuper sweet, that I didn’t finish any of them. But, if sweet wine is more of your pallet then you might enjoy these.
After we were finished at the Three Brothers Wineries, we rode to Wagner Vineyards.
This winery was my favorite of the three for many reasons. Wagner is located on the gorgeous Seneca Lake in Lodi, New York. We had lunch at the Ginny Lee restaurant outside on the patio overlooking the lake, next door to Wagner winery.
What I liked the most about Wagner was how authentic the atmosphere and people were there. They didn’t seem too commercial or too pushy, but instead they were very professional. This winery was by far the classiest of the three I visited, and had the best tasting wines.
All in all, I had a great time and would definitely go on a different wine tour some other time. I recommend having someone drive you to the different locations so you don’t have to drive after tasting. This way you avoid any gray areas, and besides, its not cool to drink and drive.
Cheers!
~Maggie
