It has become an annual tradition for a group of our friends to spend the first Saturday of November on one of the area’s wine trails. Early November is a great time to tour wineries and craft breweries in the Finger Lakes as the foliage is usually near peak and the weather is still generally comfortable.
Last year, we enjoyed a picture-perfect autumn day on the Keuka Lake Wine Trail. This year, we plotted a course on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. Specifically, the western shore starting shortly before noon at Bottomless Brewing Company on East Lake Road in Geneva and ending up in downtown Watkins Glen just before 6:00 pm at the Crooked Rooster / Wild Flower Cafe for dinner.
In between we stopped at Fox Run Vineyards, Anthony Road Wine Company and Climbing Bines Craft Ale Company.
We had planned a stop at Herman J. Wiemer Winery but upon arrival found that the tasting room was closed for a private party. Luckily, we stopped at the next winery we found, Bellangelo, and were treated to what could be the best scenery on Seneca Lake.
Next, our plan to stop at Glenora was nixed by extraordinarily long lines at all the tasting stations. We were again fortunate in that we could simply walk across Route 14 to the Seneca Lake Brewing Company and the O’Begley Distillery.
With time to spare before dinner, we make one last unplanned stop when we pulled into the unassuming Rock Stream Winery lot. Rock Stream offered both beer and wine tastings and both yielded impressive offerings. My favorite was the grapey, but not too sweet, Dry Niagara white.
Check out images from Saturday along Seneca Lake in the video below…
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– Jim Sinicropi, FingerLakes1.com
