This has never happened since we have been farming grape vines, but we found that we had a little time to take a short trip to the Finger Lakes. Also, the big draw was that our landlady when we lived in Ithaca 40 years ago turned 90 this year so it was our pleasure and duty to see her!
When we left Stonington on Tuesday morning, the weather was beautiful and sunny. As we approached Ithaca, there were some amazing cloud patterns and this is one I captured.
It did take around 6 plus hours to get there. Before going to Ithaca, we learned that one of the restaurants that we went to, Souvlaki House was still there so that's where we went! The food was still good and the baklava was what we remembered it to be, nice and crispy, filled with nuts and dripping with honey. We learned from the current owner, (the brother-in-law of the original owner) that they expanded Souvlaki House in 1985 and took over the copy shop space. (I remember the copy shop!)
The following day, we went to Ryan William Vineyard overlooking Seneca Lake. This was an interesting place because they had wine tastings but also served food! We met Michael who told us that all of the food served there was grown at their farm or sourced from other local farms. We had brunch along with a white flight and a red flight. It was a pleasant way to spend a morning. We headed back to our hotel so that my husband could participate in an online discussion related to fire regulations in Stonington. Our interest was in the new regulation stipulating that new wineries must be equipped with overhead sprinklers.
The following day, Thursday, was another chance to taste some Finger Lakes wines! The first place we visited was Forge Cellars where we were part of a tasting given by Anthony. We were there with another couple, Tim and Alexandria from Philadelphia. Anthony gave us a short history of the founders of Forge Cellars, Louis Barruol and Rick Rainey. We tasted around 7 wines, 4 of which were Riesling grown from different areas along Seneca Lake. Anthony's point was that each wine was typical of it's lieu-dit, or the place where it was grown. Indeed, we could all taste the difference in the Rieslings. They were all very good!
After the tasting, there was time for lunch and then we headed to Kemmeter for more tastings! Interestingly and coincidentally, Tim and Alexandria were also there. We tasted 3 wines made by Johannes Rienhardt. Soon it was time to head back to Ithaca to see our landlady and her daughter. We had a fabulous time visiting with Nanse and Jen, telling stories and catching up on the intervening 40 years!
Our trip back to Stonington coincided with a snow storm! What a difference 3 days makes!
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