2017 Albion Sip and Stroll Through History Wine Walk

Today was the Fourth Annual Sip and Stroll Through History event – Albion’s Wine Walk! The first three years, they held the event in August, but this year they were urged to give it a try in March and see how it goes. Well……after a very mild and mostly snow free winter, today Mother Nature decided we needed to be reminded that it IS winter and we do live in Western NY and she dumped a nice little snow storm on us! I was afraid it might put a damper on the turn out for the event, but I was very happy to see it didn’t stop a nice size crowd from braving the weather and coming out to support our Albion Merchants Association and enjoy some amazing wines from some of the best local wineries around!

Here are some photos from the 2017 Albion Sip and Stroll Through History:

Registration and VIP Reception was at the Pullman Church, this year – I took this from my nice warm car just before I headed in to get started!

My friend, Lori Laine, looked adorable in her hairy boots and matching purse!

And, here she is with her cart…..all ready to shop! She started with cabbage from Vendetti Farms – one of the vendors at the Farmer’s Market at the start of the event!

Each participant got a commemorative wine glass. Glasses were beautifully displayed by Laura Bentley of Classic Tea Cups Vintage Rentals.

Nicole Bellnier, owner of Breeze Inn Again, served up the food for the VIP Reception!

New to the event, this year, they also had a basket raffle – this is one of the tables of baskets attendees could buy chances on to win! I sure hope I get a call telling me one of them is MINE!!!

Nice size crowd during the VIP hour!

You know I love to take photos of groupings of sparkling wine glasses! 😀

So…..the time came to venture out of the nice, warm Pullman Church and start the walk downtown! One of the wineries was Midgard Winery of Corfu, NY. They make their wine from honey and it was oh, so good! This is the first time I’ve had an opportunity to try wines from Midgard……I bought a bottle and a couple of their signature glasses, so I guess I approve! Midgard was stationed at Dance Reflections.

My brother and sister-in-law choosing which wine they wanted to taste from the Midgard Winery options!

Inside Five Star Bank was the Flight of Five winery from Lockport, NY. This is another new winery for me and I was very impressed – I purchased a bottle from this winery, as well.

My friend, Becky Dillenbeck of Five Star Bank was on hand to greet strollers and give out door prizes and tickets for a free drawing (sorry, neither the door prizes or raffle basket had any of Five Star’s cash in them!)

The ever gallant Jeremiah Knight of Knight’s Pride Woodworking was out making sure the sidewalk was safe for strollers!

Victorianburg Wine Estates from Wilson, NY had a nice selection of wines inside Xpress Fitness and Tanning.

Even Peyton Manning joined in on the Wine Walk fun!

Uptown Browsery hosted Lake Ontario Winery out of Hilton, NY

Black Bird Cider Works from Barker, NY was serving at Krantz Furniture……I don’t usually like ciders, but their’s was actually pretty good!

The snow really came down…….

……..but, that didn’t stop people from enjoying this wonderful annual event!!!

I bought two wines, this year – one from Flight of Five Winery and one from Midgard Winery. I also got two of Midgard Winery’s signature wine glasses – love the bee logo showing that their wines are made from honey! Also pictured is my commemorative glass in the glass sling I used to keep my hands free to take photos (the sling let’s you wear your wine glass like a necklace – I got this one at the Downtown Browsery – it is much nicer than the two others I have) and the wine bag (holds 4 bottles in separate sections) that was available for purchase to carry any purchases we made.

I didn’t get a photo at every stop and I didn’t stop at every location (I gave up after visiting all the stops on Main St and didn’t get to the Bank Street stops). So, here is the complete list of the participating merchants and wineries. Thank you to all……it was a wonderful event!!!

• Pullman Universalist Church – Registration, Farmer’s Market, Basket Raffle, and 50/50.
• Hazy Jade Gift Shop – Midgard Winery (Corfu, NY)  and Burning Asphalt Appetizers and Virgin Bloody Mary’s
• Dance Reflection by Miss Heather – Midgard Winery (Corfu, NY)
• Shay’s: Lake Effect Ice Cream (Lockport, NY)
• Arnold’s Auto Parts / Napa Auto Parts – The Winery at Marjim Manor (Appleton, NY)
• Five Star Bank – Flight of Five (Lockport, NY)
• Xpress Fitness and Tanning – Victorianburg Wine Estates (Wilson, NY)
• Uptown Browsery – Lake Ontario Winery (Hilton, NY)
• Pratt Works (Knight’s Pride Woodworking and MMIM) – Coffee Bar
• Krantz Furniture – Blackbird Cider Works (Barker, NY)
• Downtown Browsery – Chateau Niagara Winery (Newfane, NY)
• Tease – A Gust of Sun (Spencerport, NY) – also at Tease was Come on Get Snappy photo booth and LuLaRue Fashions
• U-Need-O-Burrito – Long Cliff Winery (Lockport, NY)

Kudos to the organizers of this event — it just gets better and better every year!!!