Wine Tour Report
Oct. 11th, 2009 10:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennythereaderMark & Kristina met us at our place and we all rode down together. The drive down was pretty nice, with the weather getting better as we went south.
The first winery we stopped at was Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery. Kristina's sister met us there. They were pretty crowded. Lots of families were there to pick apples, and there were tons of people picnicking on the grounds. They had a $5.00 tasting fee, which they don't mention on their website at all, and a pre-determined list of what you could try. There were a couple that were OK, but none Tom or I liked enough to buy. Kristina and her sister each bought one bottle there. They also have a cafe where we had lunch after we were done tasting. The food was pretty good, and fairly reasonably priced.
Stop two was Applewood Winery. This one also doubles as a U-Pick apple orchard, and was even more insanely crowded than Warwick. They also have a $5.00 tasting fee which isn't on their website, but they at least let you pick which wines you want to try. Tom & I bought three bottles there: Riesling, Wawayanda White, and Hard Cider. I think Kristina and her sister also bought stuff there, but I don't remember what.
Stop three was Brotherhood Winery. They bill themselves as "America's Oldest Winery," so you'd think they'd have a better system in place by now. You have to get in the (ridiculously long) line at the check out counter, choose which group of wines you want to try, pay the cashier the fee (which they at least tell you about on the website), and then go line up again at the tasting bar which is serving the group you selected. I think we were in line to taste for half an hour. We should have left as soon as we realized how long the wait was. But we didn't, and Tom & I did end up buying two bottles from them: Riesling, and Rosario. I disliked my experience of the winery itself enough that I'm not going back, but the wines were good enough that I'm going to keep my eyes open for them in stores.
Stop four was supposed to be Benmarl Winery, but we got there and discovered that they were hosting a harvest fair of some sort, and it was a $15 dollar fee just to walk through the gate. That didn't seem worth it, so we left to try our next stop.
We got utterly turned around trying to find Stoutridge Winery, so stop four instead ended up being Glorie Farm Winery. Glorie Farm was probably the least impressive looking of all the places we stopped, but it was my favorite. It was very low-key, and the people running it were very nice and stayed open an extra half hour for us. The only thing I didn't like, was that again, the website doesn't mention the $5.00 tasting fee. Tom and I bought four bottles: Seyval Blanc, Sully's Cinnful Pearple, Peach Wine, and DeChaunac. I know Kristina and her sister each bought some, but I don't remember how much.
We got somewhat turned around trying to find our way back to the Thruway, but made it eventually. We stopped at a diner in Kingston for supper, and got home almost exactly 12 hours after we left.
There were some bad moments, but overall it was a good day. If I put together something like this again, I'm going to do a little more advance planning. Avoiding the wineries that have apple orchards during apple picking season seems like a good idea, and maybe skipping the southern part of this trail altogether. The wineries on the northern part of the trail are closer together, which means you don't have to spend as much time driving from place to place.
The first winery we stopped at was Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery. Kristina's sister met us there. They were pretty crowded. Lots of families were there to pick apples, and there were tons of people picnicking on the grounds. They had a $5.00 tasting fee, which they don't mention on their website at all, and a pre-determined list of what you could try. There were a couple that were OK, but none Tom or I liked enough to buy. Kristina and her sister each bought one bottle there. They also have a cafe where we had lunch after we were done tasting. The food was pretty good, and fairly reasonably priced.
Stop two was Applewood Winery. This one also doubles as a U-Pick apple orchard, and was even more insanely crowded than Warwick. They also have a $5.00 tasting fee which isn't on their website, but they at least let you pick which wines you want to try. Tom & I bought three bottles there: Riesling, Wawayanda White, and Hard Cider. I think Kristina and her sister also bought stuff there, but I don't remember what.
Stop three was Brotherhood Winery. They bill themselves as "America's Oldest Winery," so you'd think they'd have a better system in place by now. You have to get in the (ridiculously long) line at the check out counter, choose which group of wines you want to try, pay the cashier the fee (which they at least tell you about on the website), and then go line up again at the tasting bar which is serving the group you selected. I think we were in line to taste for half an hour. We should have left as soon as we realized how long the wait was. But we didn't, and Tom & I did end up buying two bottles from them: Riesling, and Rosario. I disliked my experience of the winery itself enough that I'm not going back, but the wines were good enough that I'm going to keep my eyes open for them in stores.
Stop four was supposed to be Benmarl Winery, but we got there and discovered that they were hosting a harvest fair of some sort, and it was a $15 dollar fee just to walk through the gate. That didn't seem worth it, so we left to try our next stop.
We got utterly turned around trying to find Stoutridge Winery, so stop four instead ended up being Glorie Farm Winery. Glorie Farm was probably the least impressive looking of all the places we stopped, but it was my favorite. It was very low-key, and the people running it were very nice and stayed open an extra half hour for us. The only thing I didn't like, was that again, the website doesn't mention the $5.00 tasting fee. Tom and I bought four bottles: Seyval Blanc, Sully's Cinnful Pearple, Peach Wine, and DeChaunac. I know Kristina and her sister each bought some, but I don't remember how much.
We got somewhat turned around trying to find our way back to the Thruway, but made it eventually. We stopped at a diner in Kingston for supper, and got home almost exactly 12 hours after we left.
There were some bad moments, but overall it was a good day. If I put together something like this again, I'm going to do a little more advance planning. Avoiding the wineries that have apple orchards during apple picking season seems like a good idea, and maybe skipping the southern part of this trail altogether. The wineries on the northern part of the trail are closer together, which means you don't have to spend as much time driving from place to place.
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Date: 2009-10-12 11:49 am (UTC)I might give Brotherhood another chance at some point, but not any time soon. Their whole set-up was annoying.