Truly a Gem

David and I made a trip back to upstate New York last October to visit with my mother, do a few household chores and repairs for her, and drink a little wine.

On the way from Tennessee to New York we made our first stop at the Abingdon Vineyard & Winery at Abingdon, VA and we were delighted!  The grounds of the winery have a creek running through with lots of trees and beautiful views.  The tasting room was somewhat busy, but we were welcomed and were told that we could try 6 wines for $5, so we each picked 6 different wines and shared 12 tastings.  We liked several!  They had a total of 23 wines with 1 not available due to being sold out, so we had 22 to pick from.  We chose to leave out the very dry and the very sweet.  Our favorites were the Traminette, a semi-sweet white; the Triple Duck, a sweet white made from a blend of Riesling, Traminette, and Chardonel; the Appalachian Sunset, a sweet blush; the Our Special Red, a dry red blend made from  Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, and Cabernet Sauvignon; the Red Hawk, a semi-dry red blend of red & white Chambourcin and Chardonel; and the Alvarado Rouge, a sweet red blend of Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc.   The Riesling, Misty River II, and Appalachian Autumn were also noteworthy.  This winery was very welcoming and had some very enjoyable vintages.  We will definitely stop here again.

After a couple of days in Afton, NY, (tiny town on the Susquehanna River) we took my mother to visit her sister and husband in Ithaca, NY.  For those of you who know geography, you will know that Ithaca is Finger Lakes country, and the place where excellent wines come from.  We hadn't planned to visit any wineries because my mother doesn't care about them and this was her day to visit with her sister.  Well, the best laid plans....you know the rest!  Right on the road we were travelling was the Six Mile Creek Vineyard, so we had to stop!  Mom waited in the car with a lovely view of the vineyards, and we did a very quick tasting, but wished we had more time because the wines were incredible! Our favorite was the 2012 Merlot, which was like wine and chocolate all at once.  Six Mile Creek also has a distillery and we fell in love with the Amore, which is their version of Amaretto.  This winery was truly a gem that we hadn't expected to find.  We made it to my aunt's home with plenty of time for a visit, so our little tasting jaunt didn't hinder our trip.

The little town of Afton, NY, is where I grew up and where my mother, brother, and assorted nieces and nephews still live.  It was a wonderful, rural town to grow up in, but there's not much going on there now, however, the town boasts at least 3 restaurants with very good food.  Vincent's is an Italian restaurant and pizza place with NY style pizza - you know, the kind with chewy crust, grease running down your arm,  and when you eat it your arteries call for help!  My mother loves it, but doesn't get to eat it very often, so we always get a large pepperoni while we're there and she freezes the left-overs to enjoy later.  I'm always surprised when David says we should go visit my mother (what husband ever wants to visit his mother-in-law?), but, not only does he enjoy her company, but he gets to fully relax while he's there because of the small town and leaving the cares of  our daily life behind for awhile.  We try to visit twice a year and the bonus is stopping at wineries along the way there and the way home.

Our next trip north will be the beginning of May, so stay tuned.  Maybe we'll find some new wineries to fall in love with!

There's No Place Like Home

All good things must come to an end, even vacations.  After a few quick days with my mother we were headed back to Tennessee where the lives we had put on hold for 10 days waited for us.  Now we still had more than 900 miles to drive and there just happened to be several wineries scattered throughout Virginia and Tennessee, so don't feel too sorry for us!

First stop - the Shenandoah Vineyards and Winery in Edinburg, VA.  This winery is as pretty as a picture when driving up to it.  There are mountains in the background of the lovely red barn that serves as a tasting room and gift shop.  Vines grow around the balcony railing just outside the entrance and the view of the vineyard is gorgeous.

 Sadly, we did not enjoy the wine near as much as the view and the interior of the tasting room.  The only bottle we left with was a Johannisberg Riesling (the spelling is theirs).  Most of their wines were on the dry side and some just didn't have any flavor.  With prices around $20 per bottle we weren't willing to take a chance on maybe liking it better when we got home.
  Shenandoah has several events through the year and does charge a tasting fee of $8 for approximately 8 wines.  If we lived in the area we would probably give it another try.

Our next stop was somewhat difficult to find and appeared to be fairly new.  The tasting room was locked when we arrived, but soon the owner came walking over from his house and let us in.  Also in Edinburg, The Wolf Gap Vineyard is nicely done with the tasting room on the second floor and a beautiful view looking over the vineyards.  Again we were disappointed in the wines with most being too dry for us.  The only one we liked well enough to buy was made completely from blueberries.  It was a bit pricey and came in a smaller bottle than most, but after having a lovely visit with the owner and some generous tasting pours, we felt it was worth bringing home.


Next up was Cave Ridge Vineyard in Mt. Jackson, VA.  Again, a beautiful setting in a rural area, but only one wine we liked well enough to buy - the Mt. Jackson Rouge, a semi-sweet red.  We're learning that the grapes grown in this part of Virginia produce drier wines than what we tend to enjoy.

We were beginning to despair of finding a wine we liked in this area when we found Bluestone Vineyard in Bridgewater, VA.  This winery appeared to be more well known and had a fun atmosphere.  The tasting room is small, but there were about 12 people all having a good time and enjoying the wine.  We liked Beau, which is a semi-sweet white that is named after a beloved dog that lives at the winery. This is a blend of Traminette and Vidal Blanc and is quite tasty.  The other wine we liked at Bluestone is the Crooked and Weedy, which is a semi-sweet red blend that goes well with spicy food or a good steak.  We've actually stopped at this winery again because we liked the wine so much.

Another "find" was the Cross Keys Vineyard in Mt. Crawford, VA, not far from Bluestone.  This is a very elegant winery with fantastic views and a very nice patio, perfect for enjoying some of their wonderful food and a good bottle of wine.  Our favorites here are the Joy, which is a sweet white made from the Vidal Blanc grape, and the Fiore, which is an off-dry blush made from a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Pinot Noir.  We also stopped at this winery again on another trip because we enjoyed it so much the first time.

 Now we've played enough and it's time to head for home.  The rest of the wineries in Virginia will have to wait for another time.  It's back to work, chores, and normal life, but with several bottles of new wine in our trunk!  We should be good for a few months.

A Better Day....

The next day was beautiful and, after a hearty bacon and egg breakfast, we were headed towards my favorite Finger Lakes winery, Wagner Vineyards.  This is also the home of the Wagner Valley Brewery, so lots to taste here.  Wagner has a special place in our lives because this is where David asked me to marry him in July of 2013.  Right by the pond with the swans.

The swans had cygnets this year and the daddy was very protective. David bent over to pick a piece of grass for him and the swan reached up over the fence and smacked David in the head with his beak! Poor David....starting off a wine and beer tasting with a headache!
   The wine at Wagner is exceptional.  Their red table wine is named Alta B and it was the first red wine I found that was very drinkable without being too dry or too sweet.  They now have an Alta B blush and an Alta B white, both of which are also very good.  At $6.99 per bottle these are a real bargain!  The Sunset Red is also a favorite.  Wagner makes Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir as well, but they are a bit dry for us.  The list of white wines includes 4 Rieslings, 3 Chardonnays, 2 Gewurztraminers, 2 Niagaras, Melody, and several others.  We weren't fans of the Chardonnays, but enjoyed most of the others.  After tasting the wines we headed into the brewery and tasted some of the beer.  I had found last year that most of the beer was too heavy for my taste, so I only had the root beer, which is very good.  David and my cousin sampled a few of the beers while I headed to the gift shop to pick out a case of wine.  Wagner has a great website and easy online ordering at www.wagnervineyards.com.

The next stop was right up the road at a new winery that had been recommended to us.  It's called Idol Ridge and has a fantastic view of the lake.  They didn't have an extensive list of wines, so it was a fairly quick tasting.  We found that the Dry Riesling and the Timber Lodge Red were our favorites. We enjoyed looking around their gift shop before leaving with a bottle of each.

After this stop we had to leave wine tasting behind and head east to Afton, NY, where I grew up.  My mother was waiting for us to have dinner with her and spend a few days there visiting family.  She has the most wonderful covered porch to sit on during a hot, sultry summer day, so David and I enjoy visiting her and  relaxing there.  While we were there my brother and sister-in-law hosted a family reunion and we were able to catch up with aunts, uncles, cousins, and some family friends.  Several of us piled into the back of my cousin's pick up truck and headed into the woods where I used to hike to look for the lady slipper flowers.  Unfortunately we were too late to see them, but we enjoyed the hike and found a red newt and a spring peeper.

Red Newt

Spring peeper (full grown)

Some of my wonderful family

The Day of Over-Indulgence

After spending a comfortable night with my cousins in their fifth wheel trailer, the four of us were off to visit some favorite wineries on the shores of Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes of upstate New York.  If you've never tried New York wine, you don't know what you're missing!  To my taste buds it is Ambrosia, nectar of the Gods.

My first mistake of the day was not eating a hearty breakfast.  A bowl of cereal is not enough to begin a day of wine tasting.  Lesson learned!  The first winery we headed for was my cousin's favorite, Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards.  Since my cousin is a club member here we were all treated to a free tasting with very generous pours (at 10:00 in the morning).  Hazlitt has quite a selection of wines and most were quite palatable.  They are known for Red Cat, which is a sweet red made from the Red Catawba grape.  It was a little sweet for us, but we put a couple of bottles in our cart.  They also have White Stag, Niagara or White Cat, Gewutrzaminer, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Reisling (3 different ones), Cabernet Franc, Merlot, several fruit wines, and many more. We also liked the sparkling Gruvee. They are all excellent!  One of the best things was finding out that we could buy little plastic, screw-cap bottles of several of the wines.  These are just right for throwing in the cooler for a kayak trip or a picnic, and they can be refilled from the big bottle for another trip.  The atmosphere in this tasting room is light, happy, and relaxing with blues playing and a light breeze sifting in the open doors.  Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards is definitely one we'll go back to.

Next we stopped at The Hector Wine Company, one that we remembered from our last trip, and introduced my cousins to a winery they hadn't tried before.  We were greeted at the door by a very large, white, curly-haired dog named Luna, who escorted us into the big, open tasting room.  At a little after 10:30 AM, we were the only people there and the girl who poured our tastings took her time.  We had a leisurely tasting while we chatted about the area, the wines, and Luna, who stayed close by to take advantage of any hand that reached to pat her head.  Soul White is our favorite at Hector.  It's a semi-dry white that seems to go with anything.  We found another white called Lake Rat that we also liked. Then there's a Soul Red, Reisling, Pinot Blanc,  Essence, and a few more.  Again, they are all good and will please many different palates.

The next stop took us back to the sixties with tie-dyed, psychedelic T shirts and a hippie tasting room complete with incense and sixties rock and roll. Again we were met by the winery dog at the door, this one appeared to be a hound mix and was just as friendly and laid back as Luna.  The tasting room is also the gift shop and is rather crowded with merchandise, but still has a good feel to it.  I think the lady who poured our tastings was one of the original hippies and she was lots of fun.  The tastings were definitely not skimpy and were usually a full wine glass unless you stopped them mid-way.  Keep in mind that we've already had two generous tastings on very little breakfast.  This is about the time I started realizing I was headed for trouble.  Did that stop me?  Of course not!  I wanted to experience all the great wine I was finding! We really liked the Seyval Blanc, but I believe it was Uncle Homer's Red that did me in.  It's a very sweet red, and on top of all the previous wine it was a little too much!

Our next stop had to be lunch, so we headed for the Ginny Lee Cafe at Wagner Vineyards.  As soon as we were seated I excused myself and headed for the restroom.  Well, the rest is history and I won't bore you
with the details.  Our wine tasting day was cut short and I had a 3 hour
nap.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the fifth wheel with my cousins and they made a wonderful dinner for us - water to drink, please!  It really was a beautiful day with just a little bump in the road. By they way, even if you don't want to visit wineries, the Finger Lakes are amazing just for the scenery and water falls.  

Day 2 of Our Journey - 5 Wineries and a Distillery

Time flies when I'm busy and I realized I hadn't written anything since July!  I want to get our journey down in black and white mostly for my reference, but also for anyone who might want to read about some of these great wineries we went to.

The second day of our trip began as we drove away from our bed and breakfast after eating some wonderful blueberry pancakes and a fresh fruit and yogurt parfait.  Most wineries don't open until late morning, so we made our way to North East, Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery near Lake Erie.  Mazza Vineyards (www.mazzawines.com) was our first stop of the day.

 This well decorated and welcoming tasting room was upstairs in a beautiful stucco building.  The people working there were very helpful and full of information.  Samples were 4 for $2 or 6 for $3.  David and I each picked out 4 to try and share.  The Country Red, a medium sweet red, was our favorite without a doubt.  Country Blush, medium dry & fruity; Niagara, sweet & fruity white; and Reflections, semi-dry white, were the others that we enjoyed the most.  We found the Bare Bones Red too dry for our taste and did not like the Vidal Blanc at all.  I learned on this trip that it's not the wine, but the Vidal Blanc grape that I don't like because every place I tried a Vidal Blanc I didn't care for it.  Mazza had several varieties of fruit wines of which we tried the cherry and raspberry, but they were just average.  We bought a bottle each of Niagara, Country Red and Country Blush.

Then we were off to the Penn Shore Winery and Vineyards for our second stop in North East, PA.  The owner of the winery was our tasting pourer and he was quite informative about his vineyard and the wineries in the area.  They all seem to be quite helpful to each other.  We only tried a few wines at Penn Shore and bought two that we thought were very good.  Normally a Pink Catawba is too sweet for us, but we liked this one and we usually find a Burgundy too dry, but found this one quite enjoyable.

Our third stop in North East was at the sister winery of Mazza, the South Shore Wine Company.  This was by far our favorite building.  The tasting room is an actual wine cellar built underground (as a cellar should be) of stone in 1864.  It was a historical delight to walk down into this cellar and feel the coolness of the stone around us. I was so taken with our surroundings that I didn't make good tasting notes, so all I can tell you is that we came home with 2 bottles of Hops and Honey, which is a honey wine with added hops, and a bottle of Unwooded Chardonnay.  Normally a Chardonnay is too oakey and too dry, but this one was unoaked and had a nice light flavor.

Our next stop was just over the New York border in Westfield, NY, at the Five & 20 Spirits, which is a distillery owned by the Mazza Vineyards people.  The people at the winery had told us about Five & 20, so we decided to try it for something different.  It was still before noon and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we didn't try much, but bought a bottle of Limoncello to enjoy later.

We grabbed a quick lunch in Westfield and headed to one of our favorites from our trip last year - Johnson Estate Winery (www.johnsonwinery.com), which is also in Westfield, NY, near Lake Erie.  We had fond memories of several of the wines here and we weren't disappointed.  Our favorites were still there along with some new discoveries.  The Ives, a semi-sweet red, was a new favorite along with the Liebestropfchen, a sweet and fruity white wine from the Delaware grape.  A couple of other favorites are the Finger Lakes' Riesling and the Chataqua Rouge.  The Riesling is slightly sweet and the Rouge is a
semi-sweet blush made from the Delaware and Ives grapes.

Our last winery for the day was the Noble Winery (www.noblewinery.com), also in Westfield, NY.  We had tried to find this winery last year, but never did.  This year we tried a little harder and were successful.  Most of the wines here were either too dry or too sweet for our tastes, but we did find a couple that we liked enough to buy.  The Elvira is a semi-dry fruity white with lots of flavor and the Pastavino is a sweet red with a clean finish.  Both were very enjoyable.  The tasting room is very nicely done and has big windows with great views.  If we had more time that day we might have enjoyed a glass along with the views, but we had to move on and head to the Finger Lakes where my cousin and his wife were expecting us for dinner.

8 days, 2000 miles, 15 wineries

About a month ago David and I took an 8 day trip that covered 2000 miles and we stopped at 15 wineries!  We had a wonderful time just being with each other that long, we saw some beautiful country, and we tried some very good and some not so good wine.

First, a little background....David and I have only been married for 9 months and that 8 day trip was the longest continuous period of time we've spent together since our honeymoon!  We have a slightly unconventional marriage, not by choice, but because of circumstances.  We're a few years from retirement, so we both have lives that were started long before we met.  David has a great career as an over the road driver, so he lives in his truck 5 days out of every 10.  I work in the mortgage industry, therefore, I stay in one place for the most part.  When we met we also each had a house....in different parts of Tennessee.  For some family reasons David has to be in his part of the state a few days each month.  Sometimes I can be there too if it's a week-end, and sometimes we spend the week-ends in my part of the state.  Now you understand why it was such a treat for us to be together for 8 days straight.

The Kentucky winery I mentioned in the second post was the first winery we stopped at on our trip.  From there we drove into Ohio and stopped at The Winery at Wolf Creek (http://www.wineryatwolfcreek.com/).  This one is not far off the main road, but it's set in a wooded area that is beautiful and peaceful.  We found our way into the tasting room which is quite spacious with lots of windows to enjoy the views.  We were there on a Tuesday afternoon, so they weren't busy and we had a pleasant conversation with the lady who poured our samples.  This winery has lots to offer with several events and live music a few times each month.  The wines ran from very dry to very sweet with several varieties of red and white.  We actually found a dry white called Blind Faith that we liked well enough to buy a bottle. The blush, Sweet Revenge, was another favorite, and the third one we purchased was a Vignoles.  For once the Reisling wasn't a favorite and the Sweet Lies was a little too sweet for us.  All the wines were good quality, the place was beautiful, and the hostess charming.  If you're in the Norton, OH, area The Winery at Wolf Creek should be on your list.

We left the Akron area and headed north to Geneva and The Old Mill Winery (http://www.theoldmillwinery.com/).  We were hungry and had read some good reviews about the food here, so we headed in for a tasting and dinner.  When we walked in we thought we were in a bar....this didn't look anything like a winery!  It was dimly lit with not much light from outside making it's way in, there were tables and chairs scattered about the floor and there was a large bar with all kinds of liquor and beer behind it.  We slowly walked up to the bar and asked if they had a wine tasting.  We were given a sheet of paper with little circles and wine names on it along with a list that described each of the wines.  It was a beautiful evening so we opted for a table on the patio and began to peruse the tasting sheet.  We could get 12 tastes for $6.00, so we picked out 12 to share and the waitress brought them back in little plastic cups (communion size) filled to the brim, sitting on our tasting sheet so we would know which one was which.  We ordered the highly recommended wine burger along with salads drizzled with wine dressings.  While we waited for the food we worked our way through the samples.  Nothing was terribly impressive - food or wine.  The wine burger didn't have any wine flavor and the texture of the meat was soggy, however, the salads were fresh and the wine dressings were interesting.  The only wine we liked well enough to buy a bottle was the Geneva Blanc, which was a fruity, semi-sweet white made from the Niagara grape.

Since we were in Geneva, we decided to try one more winery (there are several to choose from) before heading to our bed and breakfast.
 We chose the Old Firehouse Winery which sits right on the shore of Lake Erie.  There was a musician playing guitar and singing in the gazebo, the sun was setting over the water, and it was a very interesting place to relax.  Again we were presented with a paper with circles and wine names on it and told to pick what we wanted from the list. There was a tasting charge - I believe it was about the same as the Old Mill.  We chose the wines we thought would be interesting and while we waited I explored a little and took some pictures.  There's a Ferris wheel made in 1956 right by the patio.  It wasn't running that night, but it is a working Ferris wheel and runs nightly for most of the summer. This was a fun, unique place with a fantastic view of the lake, but, sadly, the wines were just average or below.  We couldn't even find one we liked well enough to buy a bottle.

Our Room

We were wined out by now, so we headed to The Covered Bridge Bed and Breakfast (http://www.coveredbridgebnb.com/) in Conneaut, OH. We had stayed at this B & B last year and found it to be quite charming.  It's a house in a rural area that the owners have made into a B & B now that their children have grown up and left home.  Bob and Candy are delightful and they're very considerate and welcoming.  We stayed in the Covered Bridge room which is attached to the house by a covered walk-way, so is more private than the rooms in the house.  In the morning Candy cooked a wonderful breakfast and we were off again.  Stay tuned for the next day's adventures!

Kayaking the Buffalo

Let's talk about kayaking today!  I'm not tired of wine, but maybe it's time for a new subject.

Last Wednesday David and I went on a 10 mile trip down (or up since it flows north) the Buffalo River out of Linden, TN.  We own our kayaks and didn't have a second car to spot at the take out, so we had to find someone to portage us to the put in spot.  That was more difficult than it sounds!  You would think that with all the outfitters on this river there would be plenty of them willing to tote a couple of kayaks one way, especially on a week-day....not so!

I won't list the names of the uncooperative outfitters here because they may be really nice people who just didn't feel like being helpful at that point in time, but I doubt it.  By the way, did I mention that I called a week in advance for this?  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking for a freebie, I was willing to pay a reasonable amount (key word is reasonable).  The first place wanted to charge just as much as it would cost to rent one of their kayaks - $40 each!  The second place was a little better at $25 each, but come one, it's only one way and both kayaks will fit in one slot on their trailer!  I finally found Flatwoods Canoe Base and they were willing and happy to take us for $15 per boat!  This outfitter appears to be a one-man operation run by a very nice young man who is from the area and married to a school teacher - very sweet couple.  It's a no frills business with an old panel van fitted with benches inside and screens that flap on the windows - perfect for what it's used for!

We arrived at Flatwoods about 10:30 am and were on the river by 11:30, having ridden with a few others to the 4 mile trip put in before getting to our spot.  We put in at Bell Bridge and were quickly floating away.  It was a beautiful day with blue sky and a few white puffy clouds.  The river was quiet with only about 50 people on it, compared to hundreds on the week-ends.

  The Buffalo is very clean and you can see lots of fish swimming along.  I know there are snakes, but we didn't see any (what a relief)!  The bugs stayed away with only a few dragon flies accompanying us.  At one point a very large dragon fly landed on David's hat for a free ride.

 There were a few strainers (trees and limbs overhanging the water that will smack you in the head if you're not careful), and some deadfall (trees and limbs submerged in the water waiting for unwary folks), but if you watch where you're going you can easily avoid them.  The outfitter told us he had heard there was a tree down all the way across the river at one point and we would have to get out and take the kayaks around it, however, we never found this.  Obviously some good person (or a few) moved it out of the way.  There was just enough "fun" water to make it interesting, but no real rapids.

We took our time paddling a little, floating a little, stopping for lunch, drinking a little wine, and just enjoying a quiet day on the river with each other.  We don't get to do this very often, so it was a rare treat!  The 10 miles slipped by and, before we knew it, we were at the take out point where we had left our car.  The float took about 5 hours and was an easy paddle.

If you want a relaxing river trip I highly recommend the Buffalo and the nice folks at Flatwoods Canoe Base.  If you go in the summer, try to go on a week-day when it isn't crowded and crazy.

Happy Paddling!