Continuing on the Finger Lakes theme from last week’s post, this week I wanted report on a recent trip to the area. I spent a total of 3 days in the region driving around and getting to know the area again.
One thing that I can say for sure is that it is an incredibly relaxing place to spend time. Even in the “cold” by California standards, it was nice to bundle up and sit on an Adirondack chair overlooking Canandaigua Lake at my hotel.
The first day in the area I was shocked to see zero snow on the ground particularly after the well documented epic snows in Buffalo recently. However, one thing has not changed about the weather in upstate NY and that is if you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes and it will change. The next day brought 12 inches of snow while I was otherwise occupied inside.
One of the most exciting places that I visited was the relatively new New York Wine and Culinary Center which did not exist when I lived in the area almost 9 years ago. The place is fantastic and very homey with an excellent restaurant upstairs called “The Bistro”. I had the pulled pork sandwich which was so good it would make any Southerner stop to check that they were indeed outside of the South. It came with house made chips (the American kind) and a carrot based slaw.
I paired it with the Ravines 2011 Pinot Noir which confirmed all of my suspicions that Pinot Noir has a place in the future of the Finger Lakes. The Center itself is split into two stories, the top being taken up by the Bistro and the bottom housing an information center, gift shop and wine shop. I visited the later and stocked up with a Chateau Frank Sparkling Wine, Hermann J Wiemer Dry Riesling, Zugibe Gewurztraminer, and a bottle of the above Pinot Noir that I was so enamored with. In the gift shop, I found a book, recommended by my server in the Bistro, by Evan Dawson called Summer in a Glass highlighting the movers and shakers of the Finger Lakes. It is a lovely read and I devoured most of it on the flight back. I was excited to see some of my former class mates and colleagues mentioned as well as some of my previous winemaking mentors and some that were new to me entirely. I highly recommend getting it if you are looking for more information about the region and it was clear that Dawson has the upmost respect and sincere personal relationships with each and everyone of his subjects.
I finished off with a visit to my old winery home, Thirsty Owl Wine Company, for the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail Christmas party. It is refreshing to find that even after all my time in California, I still think that my former boss and now friend, winemaker and vineyard manager, Shawn Kime, is a genius with Riesling. The Thirsty Owl Dry Riesling is delicious and I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at the 2014 Rieslings as well as the Gewurztraminer and Traminette (which actually smells and tastes a lot like Torrontes).
It was a fantastic trip which made me want to make sure to have time on my calendar soon to go visit some of the winemakers in Dawson’s book as well as some of my other friends in the area.
