Finger Lakes Wines and Wineries help please

My son will be attending Colgate in Hamilton NY starting in the fall and I will be up in that area periodically over the next four years. I know Hamilton is 1-2 hours away from the Finger Lakes, but it is close enough to allow me to explore the wines and wineries of the region. Unfortunately, very few NY state wines are available to me locally, so my knowledge of these wines is quite limited.

Any guidance on wines, wineries, places to stay and places to visit would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

G

You might want to post this in the main forum or do a search on NY State wines.

There are plenty of people on the board who love NY State wines, many of them living in the area and therefore prime candidates for offlines when you visit your son (assuming you have time for that ), but this section of the board is much less travelled.

Thanks. I will give it a try.

G

Greg, we're going next week and will visit both the Keuka Lake and Seneca Lake wine trails. I'll report back on this thread and there'll be a two part travelogue on Wine Trails USA in September.

Reporting back as promised ...

My wife and I decided to do two wine trails on this trip (there are 4 in the Finger Lakes area btw), the Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail and the Keuka Lake Wine Trail.

Canandaigua is a fantastic small town, just gorgeous. It's a very walkable historic town, well worth a day's visit. There are a couple of terrific restaurants and two wine related attractions, the Finger Lakes Wine Center and the New York Wine and Culinary Center. The Finger Lakes Wine Center is adjacent to the Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion, and is an excellent introduction to Finger Lakes area wines and the whole wine scene. I recommend it as a perfect first stop for anyone visiting the Finger Lakes region.

As for wineries ... there are well over 100 in the area so there's plenty to discover. On the Canandaigua Lake Trail, we particularly enjoyed Imagine Moore Winery on the south side of the lake for their dry riesling. The setting is spectacular! Another we really liked was Wilhelmus Estate Winery just outside Canandaigua.

On the Keuka Lake Wine Trail, we discovered several we liked. There are about a dozen wineries around the lake. The villages of Penn Yan (on the north) and Hammondsport (south) bookend the lake and are well worth exploring for restaurants, shops, etc. Hunt Country Vineyards, Ravines Wine Cellars, and Heron Hill Winery are just a few of the wineries turning out interesting wines. Rieslings are more or less king of the mountain in the Finger Lakes, but winemakers there are producing some very interesting wines.

The full travelogue for the Canandaigua Lake Wine Trail is now up at Wine Trails USA, and the Keuka Lake travelogue will be published 9/16.

Hi Greg!
Hope your son is doing well and liking Colgate.
I just joined this forum - so forgive the late reply - but am working on a book about the Finger Lakes wineries - so have done a lot of research and interviewing many of the owners/ winemakers. Here's a link to my blog that I started for some info on Keuka Lake wineries: http://sipaway.blogspot.com/As you know the Finger Lakes region is a bit of a drive from Colgate - but worth the trip. Not sure where you're coming from....
There are over 100 wineries in the area - Seneca Lake has the most - Cayuga is closest to Colgate - and Keuka lake has some of my favorites! Each winery is unique - and has different things to offer - be sure to at least take a tour to understand the process of wine making at one place. (not all provide this) - Be sure to strike up conversation with whomever is pouring your tastings - they have lots of good information to share - and love answering questions (for the most part) Now - in the winter is a great time to visit the region - as there is much less traffic - and you can chat with the owners (although many are open only on the weekends - so check ahead!)
Uncork NY has the most complete listing - check it out at: http://uncorkny.com/Winery/Index.ashx?r=2&title=Finger+Lakes
April is NY State Wine Month - so be watching for promotions and events around that.
Hope this helps.
Bonnie