Thanksgiving Dranksgiving Wine Tour 2012

It's no secret that I happen to live in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York, which is also wine country. Having grown up here, most of my friends and myself have worked in the "industry." Now that as we've gotten into our 20s and live farther away from each other, we always like to go on at least one wine tour sometime during the holiday season. The Saturday after Thanksgiving this year, we went all out and 18 of us rented a stretch SUV limo and hit up 8 (!) wineries on the east side of the Seneca Lake wine trail.

However first things first, you have to eat before a wine tour. It's bad news bears if you don't. A wine tour is serious commitment, typically one that consumes all day, so you are better off going into it with a full stomach. My friend Olivia graciously offered to host a brunch at her family's house, and oh my gosh guys, it was so good. Her mother is one of the best cooks who's table I've ever had the pleasure of sitting at. Unfortunately for you I was too busy shoveling food into my mouth to be bothered to take any pictures of it, however no brunch is complete without mimosas.

Then we piled into the limo and promptly opened a bottle of bubbly...you can tell where this day was headed.

I will link all of the wineries we then stopped at and try to provide some pictures. I don't have pictures for all of the wineries because at one point I forgot my phone in the limo but I will see if I can poach some off of the book of faces (facebook). I'm not even going to attempt to describe the wines we had because 1) who am I to tell you what wine is better than the other...this is something that's so individual that my opinion doesn't really matter to your own taste, and 2) I'm not gonna lie, I was quite drunk by the end and after about 4 wineries they all just taste the same anyways.

1.Wagner Vineyards

2. Penguin Bay Winery

I accidentally left my phone in the limo and have no pictures. To be quite honest the physical winery itself isn't all that gorgeous, especially compared to some of the other ones in the area, but this happens to be home to one of my favorite sparkling wines EVER. The Golden Spumante. It's like rainbows and puppies and happiness all mixed together. I realize that makes little sense, but it's awesome. I bought a bottle, plus it was only $11 and change because you get your $3 tasting fee back if you purchase something there.The said bottle was finished by the end of the wine tour...this probably contributed to the hot mess I became by the end of the night, but minor details dear readers.

3. Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards

If you've ever heard of Hazlitt, you're probably most familiar with Red Cat. I am not a huge fan of Red Cat myself, I've since outgrown it, but I do love that it has a song attached to it, and lucky you I recorded it for posterity!

4. Chateau LaFayette Renaue

  This place gives you 16 (holy crap!) tastings. No wonder details become fuzzy from the wine tour from here on out...

5. Atwater Vineyards

This is the winery I started to share tastings with my friend Caitlin.....lol that's all I have for this one. I think there was a warm mulled wine here...

6. J.R. Dill Winery

 Here I shared a bottle of Jabber Waulkie White with 4 other people. It was super sweet for me, and I remember it being too sweet (6.9% RS), but I wanted my $5 worth. I'm so classy. 

7. Standing Stone

I don't remember that much about this place...except for promising to bake cupcakes for a pair of engaged friends for their wedding ceremony...hmmm.

8. Eremita Winery

This winery was an instant favorite. The couple who opened the winery about a year and a half ago converted an old church into their tasting room. It has a Gothic feel to it and I loved it there. Definitely worth going back to when I'm less shitfaced drunk.

In conclusion my tips for a wine tour are as follows:

• always, always, always have a designated driver
• do not do a wine tour on an empty stomach
• if you have a large group (6 or more people) make a reservation to make sure they don't turn you away
• bring snacks and water with you
• try not to be a drunk asshole, respect the winery and the people working there
• don't drink more than you can handle, no one wants to be that girl (or boy)
• anticipate a nap afterwards