BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Wine Winery Visits - Your Best and Your Worst

Bully Hill is on west side of Keuka just north of Hammondsport see http://www.bullyhill.com

Oh, I was close by. The area is beautiful. This is not the New York state that most people think of. It's rural and gorgeous.

Sure - you were opposite <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

McGregor is a good winery to visit, also one of my favorites. Some nice and unusual wines

Wineries that offer something out of the ordinary are a treat. When I visited the Eckert Estate Winery (review of the visit here) I tasted a Charbono. It was a great red. There are only 80 acres of Charbono grapes in California, so it's not something found everywhere.

Agree with you about out of the ordinary wines. We like the Charbono from Summers Winery in Calistoga

Thanks for the heads up. For those iterested, here is the wine Linda is talking about. This is a wine for serious red wine drinkers.

I grew up in the Finger Lakes, I find that the best wineries are the ones between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes (some of my favorites: Lamoreaux Landing, Wagner Vineyards, Lucas Vineyards and Sheldrake Point Vineyards). The reason that the wine is of a higher quality here is because the two lakes, by far the largest of the Finger Lakes, create a microclimate between them where the temperature is slightly higher in the winter and slightly lower in the summer (we're talking a mere 2 or 3 degrees here, but that's a big deal when it comes to grapes!).

Try the Rieslings from any of these wineries, the Pinot Noir and the Cabernet Franc from Lamoreaux, the Vidal Blanc ice wine from Wagner, the "Tug Boat Red" from Lucas, and the Petite Dry Rose' from Sheldrake Point (pink wine doesn't have to be disgusting!!).

Thanks for the recommendations. It's great to have first hand recommendations.

Hello Friends!

My favorite vineyard visit was several years ago in northern CA at a place called Hess Cellars. They combined wine tasting with art; you could taste their offerings while browsing through their art gallery. I loved it!

The two things that really turn me off at wineries:

First, when they come at you like used car salesmen to join their wine club.

Secondly, when they sell more retail thingies than they do wine. If I wanted to buy outdoor furniture I would have gone to Home Depot!!