Rochester NY Area Winery/Brewery Tours

[overdrive]

Anyone from the Rochester NY area and know of any good winery/brewery tours in the area?

 

[the_bird]

If you've got time for a day-trip, there's a metric ****-ton of world-class wineries (and some very good breweries) down on Seneca Lake.

 

[overdrive]

Hmm. I don't think I've been to Seneca Lake before. I went to some other lake and there were wineries everywhere, but I wasn't 21 at the time. I'll have to give that a look. I go to college in Rochester, so I do have time for day trips every here and there.

 

[MW66]

Custom Brewcrafters - Beer
Wagner Winery - Wine and beer

Those are my top two.

 

[the_bird]

Hmm. I don't think I've been to Seneca Lake before. I went to some other lake and there were wineries everywhere, but I wasn't 21 at the time. I'll have to give that a look. I go to college in Rochester, so I do have time for day trips every here and there.

My wife and I do a fair number of winery tours, mostly around the Seneca and Keyuka lakes. Not all of the places offer tours of the facilities, but a few do. This last trip, we started on the east side of Seneca, went down through Watkins Glenn and back up the west coast.

PLENTY of places to do multiple day trips. Favorites on those two lakes include:

Lamoreaux Landing
Red Newt Cellars
Dr. Frank's Vinefra
Herman J. Weimer
Heron Hill
Chateau Lafayette
Wagner Winery and Brewery (very nice beers)
Finger Lakes Distilling
Glenora Wine Cellars (I *think* this is the place that offered a full tour, barrel tastings, cool stuff like that)

There's lot of others, too. Seneca Lake, it seems like there's another winery literally every two hundred yards.

 

[overdrive]

Wow. Yes, Keyuka was the one that we went to I think. Wherever the Thirsty Owl Winery is. That's the only one I remember that we stopped at.

 

[the_bird]

Actually, that's on Cayuga Lake (distinct from Keyuka Lake). Never been to Cayuga, myself. My mother-in-law lives in Bath, pretty close to Keyuka, so that tends to be our starting point for these voyages.

I'd advocate for making sure to visit Dr. Frank's and Herman Weimer; those are two of the most important wineries in the whole region, two of the ones that really started the whole area (Dr. Konsatine Frank was the first who was able to successfully grow wine grapes in the area).

 

[overdrive]

Oh ya, that's definitely what the lake's name was. Awesome, I'll make sure to visit those places.

 

[mr_goodwrench]

If you don't mind a bit longer drive, hit up the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. Hazlitt is a fun one to visit (Red Cat, Red Cat...) and SWMBO & I always hit up Glenora. Glenora even has a really nice inn that friends of ours always raved about. We never stayed there ourselves, but we have been told it is really nice. Also, Fulkerson has a corner of their shop with beer/wine making supplies.

 

[the_bird]

Ha! We specifically avoided Hazlitt, can't stand the sweet red wines. Give me a dry red (some pretty spectacular pinot noirs in the area), give me a dry or a semi-dry Reisling, or give me a completely over-the-top late-harvest or icewine, something with some tartness that's great with dessert. Can't do the Red Cat, can't do the Bully Hill-type wines.

EDIT: If you do find yourself on Keyuka Lake, make your way down to the Village Tavern in Hammondsport. Outstanding food, and one of the best beer lists I've ever seen. We stayed in Hammondsport on vacation a couple weeks ago, a house that was within staggering distance of the Tavern. But, that's a bit of a haul from Rochester - but a nice place to land if you're doing a weekend trip.

 

[overdrive]

I'm more of a Chardonnay type guy. Dryish white wine. Occasionally red, but not a big fan of it being room temperature and not a big fan of sweet wines. But I'll try any of them once.

 

[mr_goodwrench]

I agree that Hazlitt's wines are way too sweet... we are Cab Sauvingnon fans ourselves (which BTW, Glenora does really well.) They do have a pretty fun atmosphere there though. Of course, we always started out on the west side of the lake and ended on the east side, so Hazlitt always came up later in the day!

 

[the_bird]

I'm more of a Chardonnay type guy. Dryish white wine. Occasionally red, but not a big fan of it being room temperature and not a big fan of sweet wines. But I'll try any of them once.

There's some good Chards out there, too. I'm not a big fan of Chards that are heavily oaked, so what's interesting to me is that a lot of the wineries in the area are putting out un-oaked (fermented entirely in stainless) Chards. Heron Hill had one of the ones I liked the most. A very different character - a lot more lightness, a lot more crispness and fruitiness. Doing a lot of these tastings is a great way to do side-by-side comparisons.

Kind of wish we lived closer... but then we'd also be closer to the mother-in-law....

 

[the_bird]

I agree that Hazlitt's wines are way too sweet... we are Cab Sauvingnon fans ourselves (which BTW, Glenora does really well.) They do have a pretty fun atmosphere there though. Of course, we always started out on the west side of the lake and ended on the east side, so Hazlitt always came up later in the day!

We've been to Glenora, I think I still have a bottle of one of their reds in the cellar. I think they are the one that does the full tour, lets you do a barrel tasting (they were very impressed that I knew what a wife thief was called).

Didn't find a lot of Cabs that I cared for this last time. Red Newt's Syrah was absolutely out-****ing-standing, but they only had it in the Bistro (none available for sale in the shop). That's an outstanding restaurant; spendy, but spectacular.

 

[mr_goodwrench]

It has been a few years since we have been on wine tour and we are living in Atlanta now, so I don't think we will be going anytime soon, so I can't speak to the current crop of Fingerlakes wines. I don't doubt that you are spot on though as I seem to remember hearing that the past couple of years have not been ideal weather wise for the grapes.

 

[overdrive]

I haven't done enough wine tasting of the same style of wine with slight differences (oaked vs. non-oaked vs. heavily oaked, etc) to really comment on that. However, I'm taking this sweet class called Wines of the World in the fall which I'm stoked for. Hopefully will learn a thing or two from it.

 

[the_bird]

I haven't done enough wine tasting of the same style of wine with slight differences (oaked vs. non-oaked vs. heavily oaked, etc) to really comment on that. However, I'm taking this sweet class called Wines of the World in the fall which I'm stoked for. Hopefully will learn a thing or two from it.

That's what the tastings are good for. They're usually a couple of bucks (some places refund you if you buy a bottle, other places are free). Get to sample usually five or six different wines. When my wife and I go, we end usually sampling a dozen different wines, so we compare oaked-versus-unoaked Chards, or semi-dry Reislings versus dry Reislings versus semi-sweet Reislings. It's a great way of educating yourself.

The better places (like the ones I mentioned) almost always employ tasters who really know what they're talking about, and they're usually happy to teach you. Learnings about things like "French oak is more dense and therefore imparts less flavor than American oak, which is primarily designed for use in aging whiskey). Some of the lesser places... not so much, sometimes the tasters won't tell you much more than "we serve this one cold." It's worth it to seek out the Dr. Franks and Red Newts and Herman Weimers.

It's a lot of fun, although it's pretty easy to drop way too much money on (very good) wine. But if you're interested, the best way is to take a road trip and just keep pulling over and trying different places.

 

[overdrive]

Agreed. If you're ever in Maryland you should check out Linganore Winery. They're the biggest one in MD and they have some pretty good wines. They also do wine festivals once a month for about half of the year where they have live music, a bunch of tastings and you can buy bottles, chill in your lawn chairs, listen to the music, and hang out. It's a great time for $15 plus all of the wines are under 20 bucks.

 

[WPStrassburg]

http://www.fingerlakeswinecountry.com/

Dr. Frank/Salmon Run has some of the best Rieslings around. Heron Hill has an awsome tasking room. Bully Hill is just fun to go to. Miles is haunted. Finger Lakes Distilling is getting good reviews, but I haven't made it there yet. Rooster Fish is good for food and a cool little brewery. In Rochester(Gates/Ogden) is the Rohrbach's brewpub which has awesome german fare, plus the standard plus pub fare and in the city they have their main brewery at the public market which is open for tours, growler fills, and tastings. Genesee does tours during the week, but not sure of the day. Custom Brewcrafters is down in Honeoye and has a nice tasting room and brewery tour. Bellwether Hard Cider also makes some good ciders. Earle Estates is a meadery and is part of Torrey Ridge winery, which both have good stuff. For regular good food and drinks in rochester there's Tap & Mallet which has a supberb rotating tap menu, plus bottles you might not find elsewhere. The Old Toad is a authentic english pub with a couple of cask's all the time.

 

[the_bird]

I'll vouch for Finger Lakes Distilling. They had a very nice maple liquor, basically applejack that's backsweetened with maple syrup. Great with a Hansen's Natural ginger ale. Also, a very nice gin (tasted very "local," lots of pine/spruce-type flavors)... and in honor of the Watkins Glen racetrack, some white lightning!

EDIT: Oh, and Wagner Brewing. Mentioned them before. Sampled the beers, nothing earth-shattering but they were all good, clean examples of their styles. Also, they sell growlers there - but more like the nice fancy growlers that you pay $27 for at Northern Brewer. Think it was $25 to get one that was full of dopplebock!

 

[naughtyco]

Dude,

Rooster Fish Brewing in in Watkins Glen. They have the single greatest Brown Ale I've ever had in my life. There's also Two Goats Brewing on the opposite side of the lake (east side) that weren't making beer yet but they were preparing to in August...