Last year for our anniversary we and another couple decided to try out the Deck the Halls Weekend in Seneca, in the Finger Lakes region of New York (http://www.senecalakewine.com/jc/). Viv had researched it and, since we decided on doing something fun for our anniversaries (for our first we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown) this seemed perfect. There were 36 participating wineries and, the way it works, you pick a starting winery where you get a wreath made from grapevines from the wineries then have the next two days to hit as many as you want. Each winery guaranteed one signature wine and a unique or signature food to sample, as well as an ornament for the wreath. Most of the wineries had 2 or 3 wines to sample for free then others for a dollar or two. Since I'm not much of a wine drinker this seemed like a great way for me to sample a large number of wines and, hopefully, find some I liked, while Viv's goal was to find more wines she liked.
Taking it as a long weekend, we left Friday morning and picked up the Mills, Kevin and Colleen- Viv worked with Colleen at her last job and we've become close friends with them and their kids Britney, Courtney and not-so-Little-anymore Kevin. Britney had just started her first year of college so Courtney and Little Kev had the run of the house. We got on the road to a grey sky, a brisk, cold wind and a forecast of some snow- perfect!!! It took about 6 hours to get to our hotel, the Best Western in Penn Yan, about halfway down the west side of the lake which all the wineries are centered on. We did hit snow on the way but nothing too bad- we had just gotten the Forester a few months before and it handled great in its first bad weather. Our rooms were a lot bigger and nicer than we expected and, after settling in, we went exploring. Viv had read about an outlet center not far away at the south end of the lake which turned out to be several stores combined and linked together, not quite what we expected. On the drive back we noted the locations of several of the wineries for the next day then found a great local place for dinner.
The next morning we woke to an inch or so of snow on everything- enough to coat but not cause any trouble. After breakfast in the hotel we headed to our first stop, Hickory Hollow Wine Cellars, a short drive from the hotel. Since we were staying near the center of the lake we figured our best bet was to start nearby then head south, then back up the other side of the lake. We got our wreath, ornament, first wine and food and this was a great kickoff to the day. The way the trail's set up there are only a certain number of tickets sold overall and only a certain number per winery so there wouldn't be huge crowds some places with others deserted to start, which worked very well.
The day really couldn't have been much better- snow off and on, a crisp wind, beautiful scenery, great wineries, we just plain had fun. Not being much of a wine drinker I was driving and we all relaxed and enjoyed. I forgot to mention that we also got a cookbook with the recipes for each winery and there were some definite keepers, one of which I made at New Year's. We ended up hitting something like 26 wineries on Saturday, and were still back at the hotel at a decent hour and had time to find a good bar for dinner. All of us discovered a bunch of new wines, and I did find 3 or 4 wines that I like, all "sweet" wines, one of which I cracked open tonight to make sure I still liked it- Blueberry Breeze from Glenora Wine Cellars (www.glenora.com). Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to have the others I liked, too, so we can stock up on ones I'll actually drink. It was a long day but a good one- only at the last couple were people at the point of being a little obnoxious and they were, for the most part, on party buses so there wasn't really any danger of drunk drivers. Also, because of the scattered start that everyone had there were only a few times that there was any crowding at any of the wineries, again generally from party buses who were pretty good at gathering people up and clearing out. Back at the hotel after dinner we hit the pool and hot tub for a bit then passed out.
Sunday we got up, hit the last few wineries and started to head home. We stopped at one set of outlets on the way back but, with the length of the drive home, we wanted to get on the road. Because of this we decided to do things a little differently this year; we're taking an extra day and will be staying in Glenmont, NY on Sunday night to break up the drive home and not feel rushed at all- plus this way we can hit the outlets again and add in the outlets in Lee, MA and get some Christmas shopping done.
We really couldn't have asked for better for our anniversary. The weather cooperated nicely, scenery was beautiful, we enjoyed the company of good friends and just plain had a great time. This year I plan on trying more and different wines than last year knowing that, if needed, Viv can drive since the Peanut's keeping her from drinking. It will be our last anniversary as just the two of us also, and will be all the more special because of the little one with us inside Viv. If you check the Web site there are various events and weekends there throughout the year and, if you're in New England, it's not a bad drive at all. If anyone decides to go we hope you have as great a time as we did and are planning on having again this year!
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