Mini-Review - Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Vacation

My FI and I just got back from a great vacation in the Finger Lakes. That area is one of our favorite places on earth!!

We spent 4 days there last week wine tasting and just relaxing. We visited a total of 21 wineries on Seneca and Cayuga lakes. (Back in August, we visited 7 wineries on Keuka Lake as well) If anyone has any questions about the wineries, feel free to ask or FM me -- We are such dorks that we keep a wine journal and make notes of all the vineyards we've been to and keep track of most of the wines we've ever tasted.

We stayed at Belhurst Castle and it was lovely. I highly recommend staying in the Vinifera Inn at Belhurst Castle. (It's all one building, but the Vinifera Inn is a much newer part, whereas the Castle itself is older). We were supposed to stay in the Vinifera Inn every night, but we had to stay in the castle for one night (because the boiler went out in the Vinifera Inn!) The castle is very nice (and I belive more expensive generally), but we MUCH preferred the Vinifera Inn. Every room has a fireplace and jacuzzi - We also had a king size bed. The room was enormous! It sounds cheesey to have the jacuzzi tub and a two person shower, but it really wasn't. The room was awesome - with a view of the lake!!

The rooms in the castle were really suites, so there was a sitting room in our room there. That part of the buildling is older, but still really nice. We do NOT recommend the Butler's Suite in the castle, though (where we stayed). This is the room we stayed in the night we had to stay in the castle. It's right over the kitchen that services the two restaurants and also has the supply closets for housekeeping right outside the door. I have to say, though, we were more than generously compensated for the inconvenience for having to move rooms for a night, and the staff overall was very friendly. The prices out of season were pretty reasonable, too.

They have two restaurants at Belhurst, Stonecutters (pub-style, less expensive) and Edgar's (fine dining). We only had an opportunity to dine at Stonecutters. The food was amazing and the prices were great.

We did taste the wine at Belhurst, since it's also a winery! A free tasting and 10% off our wine purchases there was included with our stay. We were underwhelmed by the wines. They were nice, but overpriced compared to comparable wines elsewhere in the area.

We did two days of private wine touring with a chauffer. We used Quality Transportation and I cannot say enough good things about them. Our driver was friendly and professional and made excellent recommendations for vineyards to visit. We had the same driver both days, and we can't say enough good things about him. We went with them because their prices were the best in the area, and we were incredibly impressed with the level of service we received!

We visited 21 wineries while we were there, so I can't write about them all right now. I can say that we loved Torrey Ridge the best. I have notes on all the wineries / wines at home if anyone is heading that way and interested. I also have notes from when we were there back in August.

November was a bit late for visiting this area since it's generally colder and the leaves are off the trees. We had amazing weather - 58-60 degrees! We were so lucky. October is probably the busiest month up there for wine tasting b/c the leaves are all changing around the lakes (Most vineyards have a lake-view). Summer is awesome, too - we went camping there and wine tasting with a bigger group in August. Weekends are super-busy at the wineries in season. It was much nicer to go during the week this time - we had almost every place to ourselves, so we were able to take our time and chat with the staff.

It was such a nice vacation... I'm so sad to be back at work again today!

Re: Mini-Review - Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Vacation

WOW! Nice review - I forgot you were a self proclaimed wine snob!! The funny thing is - I was in Keuka Lake for thanksgiving! (Well not IN the lake!!) My DH's grandma lives on the lake and we go every year for thanksgiving!

Re: Mini-Review - Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Vacation

you're so thorough - i love it! It's like a mini wedding review! Glad you had a great time!

Re: Mini-Review - Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Vacation

Oooh, does she want more grandkids who'd visit all the time?!

I don't know if the Finger Lakes are real 'wine snob' territory since all the wineries are so new, but we love it anyway. It was a lot of fun, but we bought WAY TOO MUCH wine.

Unfortunately, we set the record (literally) with our driver for most wineries in one day - We tasted at 12 wineries in one day the first day! That made us useless for the rest of the evening! I don't recommend the 'volume' approach to wine tasting -- and we were taking our sweet time. There were just so many good ones in one area, so we hit a lot.

Re: Mini-Review - Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Vacation

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Posted by EverlovingEv

you're so thorough - i love it! It's like a mini wedding review! Glad you had a great time!

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Yes, be afraid of next year's wedding review... be very afraid.

I think it might have to be published in separate volumes.

Re: Mini-Review - Finger Lakes Wine Tasting Vacation

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Posted by Kara and Todd

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Posted by EverlovingEv

you're so thorough - i love it! It's like a mini wedding review! Glad you had a great time!

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Yes, be afraid of next year's wedding review... be very afraid.

I think it might have to be published in separate volumes.

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