Girls Wine Weekend Part Two

Day two of wine weekend! which was arguably the best part of the weekend, the actual wine tour!

(again thanks to Kylee for pictures)
First, I should back up a little bit to Friday night when Sara, Caitlin and Abby arrived, yay! and we got to surprise Abby with a bachelorette celebration.

Surprise!

 The dogs were very interested in Abby's gifts:

The next day we got up bright and early to set out on our wine tour, we rented a sweet mini-van so we could all ride together; we were ready to go! 

We did a Cayuga Lake Wine trail because it was reasonably close to our house and why spend more time in the car when you can spend it chugging tasting wine? I did a fair amount of research and set an itinerary that would allow us to visit several different types of wineries, eat lunch at a reasonable time and not be in the car too much.  I was also responsible for the lovely binders/folders/packets/brochures you see in the picture above.  I wanted the girls to 1. know what the plan was 2. have a place to take notes on tastings and 3. have a souvenir.  I knew some of the girls would appreciate it/use it/enjoy it and that some wouldn't even open them the whole day (cough cough), to each her own :).  All in all I think everything worked out pretty well and we definitely had a great time (even myself as the DD).  So if anyone is in need of a wine tour/bachelorette party/ event planner, I'm yours.

First stop, Americana Vineyards, highlights: homemade FUDGE and chocolate labs Max and Ruby

 

Second stop, Lively Run Goat Dairy.  This one was mostly for me(hey I couldn't drink!), and I love cheese(it was pretty good too), but it was cool to see the goats and get some cheese straight from the source.

Some of the girls wanted a picture with the actual milking goats, so here it is

Third stop, Lucas Vineyards.  This was probably my favorite winery of the day, and I think some of the other girls agree with me.  The wine was good, there was a fun nautical theme to the wine, the tasting was a great deal (a set tasting and then pretty much whatever else you wanted to try), and there was a great gift shop.  It also helped that our taster? barista? (not sure what to call her, but the girl who poured our wine) was awesome, very friendly, fun and knowledgeable.  So add Lucas Vineyards to your future wine tour!  Fun fact: it's also the oldest winery on Cayuga Lake

Stop number four, Sheldrake Point Winery.  This winery was right on the lake, so in a beautiful location.  It also had good wine and friendly service.  We ate lunch here at Simply Red Bistro, the food was delicious (and all locally grown/raised sources), but the service was a little slow.  I would definitely stop here again though.

 Prepare yourself, we had a little too much fun taking pictures here; and this was AFTER the girls had food in their bellies.

Stop number five, Hosmer Winery.  This was probably the all around least favorite of the day, nothing in particular was bad about it, just nothing special after being to so many other places.

Next up, number six, Goose Watch Vineyard.  This place had a beautiful tasting room/barn and I also liked the wine here.  There was a very beautiful view of the lake as well.  The girls were also getting pretty entertaining at this point.

Number 7, Knapp Vineyards, which had a very cool tasting room and friendly service.  I didn't get a chance to sample any wine here, so not sure how that was.  Overall a pretty cool place.

See the hand on the left side of this picture?  Our "photographer" left Christine out of the picture!  So we had to get another one of course, poor Christine.

The last winery was about 40 minutes away, so there was a definite need for entertainment on the drive ... "Like a Prayer" was an absolute necessity:

 Last stop, Montezuma Winery!  This is another place I would recommend for any wine tour.  It is in a great location(at least coming from our direction) on the way to both Cayuga and Seneca Lake wine trails, it has a great gift shop and also a distillery so you can taste their "Bee" Vodka.  It also had some fruit wines, which kept all of our tastings from being redundant.  Also, it's closing time of 6 pm made it a perfect last-stop for our tour.  Definitely a must-see.

Thanks girls for such a fantastic weekend.  I know we all realize it and say it all the time, but I'm going to say it again.  We are unbelievably lucky to have such a great group of close girlfriends and I am so thankful to have you in my lives.  Thanks for making the trip up to visit, 'cause I miss all of you!