Kim's Thoughts

A 8:20 am the morning of Thursday, October 6th, I boarded a bus with a group of friends from the Busy Buddies club. We were heading to Hammondsport, NY – a quaint little town on the southern tip of Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. The tour was to include visits to three wineries and lunch returning home about dinner time later that same day.

Well…..it was a wonderful day! The weather couldn’t have been more perfect – the first day in the 70’s for some time, the sky was a stunning blue, and the sun was a blaze with warmth and light. I sat on the bus next to my friend, Pat, and we chatted just about the entire roughly two hour drive to the first stop on the tour.

Our first stop was the Pleasant Valley Wine Company on Pleasant Valley Road in Hammondsport. From the description of the winery on the itinerary, I was excited about the prospect of finding some wonderful old, historic buildings to photograph. Unfortunately, we were at the visitor center – which housed a great museum, information, antique equipment, a tasting room, and a lovely wine/gift shop – but, lacked the old-world stone buildings I hoped to snap photos of. While that was a bit of a disappointment, at first, it turned out to be an amazing way to start the tours.

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The wines at the first stop were my favorites. We had a flight of five wines to taste and I loved every one of them. Of the five, I especially liked the Strawberry White Zinfandel and the Chocolate Lab. The Chocolate Lab surprised me….I don’t usually tend to like chocolate flavored wines – I hint of chocolate is OK, but not a strong chocolate flavor. But, this one…..WOW….it had a VERY strong chocolate flavor – like eating a dark chocolate brownie. I finished mine and a friend’s and would have had more, if the opportunity came up. The other three were also very good – Great Western Brut (a champagne), Brickstone Cellar Semi Dry Riesling, and Pleasant Valley Red (my least favorite of the five, but still quite pleasant). We had time to look over the displays and photos in the museum and explore the gift/wine shop. I also took the opportunity to sit outside in the warm sun for a bit cause it was such a perfect day.

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Our next stop was the Bully Hill Vineyards on Greyton H. Taylor Memorial Dr. in Hammondsport. This winery had multiple buildings where we had lunch, participated in a wine tasting, went on a tour of the process, and visited the gift shop and the wine shop. Stop two was also amazing — I liked ALL the wines better at stop one, but stop two had more to photograph and they fed us (an important element of the day given the wine tastings we were enjoying….LOL).

First up was lunch in the on-site restaurant. We had to pre-select one of two sandwich options when we signed up for the trip. The choices were a burger or pulled pork. I chose the pulled pork, but from the looks of the burger, I would have thoroughly enjoyed whichever I ended up with. Both sandwiches were HUGE and delicious….and they can served with a nice salad.

My Pulled Pork — sooooo good!

My friend’s burger, which she said was equally delicious!

The meal did not include dessert, but we had the option to purchase a dessert, if we wanted to – some did, my friend and I got ours to go. Pat got the carrot cake and I got the grape pie tart. I ate mine when I got home and curled up on the couch to watch TV later that evening.

We then moved into the tasting room. Again, we had five tastings – the servers described two different wines (one dry, one on the sweet side) and we had our choice in each of five “sets” of two. Of the five that I chose at this winery, I absolutely loved two of them, liked two others, and didn’t care for one of them – but even that one wasn’t so bad I didn’t finish the “taste”. The two I especially enjoyed were Love My Goat (a mellow red) and Sweet Walter Peach (a super peachy flavored dessert wine) – my very favorite at this stop. The two I put next in line with “OK” noted after them were Bass Riesling and Growers Red – both were very good, it’s just that the other two were just that much better. The one I didn’t really care for was the Traminette – I thought it tasted kind of watered down and a bit “soapy”. Like I said, I did finish the taste, but I definitely wouldn’t have finished if it was a full glass.

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The tasting room had the most interesting wrought iron decor on the ceiling and the fireplace!

Wrought Iron light fixture on the ceiling

The same artist did the wrought iron detailing on the fireplace, as well.

And, the stones in the décor above the fireplace represent the Finger Lakes.

After the tasting, some went on a tour of the facility and some took a more leisurely approach by wandering the grounds looking at the stunning flower gardens and the gift and wine shops. I did the latter…..I was in awe of the gorgeous views of Keuka Lake and all the flowers that were still in amazing full bloom…..my camera and I really enjoyed it all.

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Real live goats live on the property….so cute!

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The third stop was at Point of Bluff Vineyards on County Road 76 in Hammondsport. I was least impressed with this winery. It is a small winery in a lovely spot. They have a gift/wine shop and a large tent where they do their group tastings. The five wines we tasted were OK – none I would consider unique or extraordinary, but I didn’t dump any – I did finish each taste. They also offered some tastings of flavored ciders they sell from another winery in the Finger Lakes region – most enjoyed them very much – more than the wines. While I’m not a hard cider fan, I didn’t dis-like them. It was a lovely stop, but I enjoyed the other two much better.

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So, it was a wonderful day full of great conversations, delicious food and wine, stunning views and photo ops, laughter, and amazing weather! What more could I have asked for???