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| Hermann Wiemer Vineyard |
Summer in a Glass by Evan Dawson is a very interesting book about winemaking in the Finger Lakes area. It’s an enjoyable read featuring ten wineries and a few restaurants in this area. The author is an editor of the New York Cork Report and has a summer cottage on Keuka Lake.
It was fasinationg reading about how some of these wineries got started. Currently there are over 100 in the Finger Lakes area. The author has worked in all aspects of wine making from picking grapes, bottling, tasting, and blending wines. He has even helped stomp some grapes at harvest time. You can learn a lot about wine making in this book. It's not as romantic as it might appear as a lifestyle and there is a lot of hard work and effort put into a bottle of wine. After finishing the book we decided to visit some of them on our days off.
One of the most prestigious wineries is Hermann Wiemer (west side of Seneca Lake) and it is especially known for it’s Riesling wines. The tasting room is in an old barn and very beautiful. On the second floor there is a restaurant used for special events that can only be reached by ladder. It is a pretty country setting and the ladies who were pouring the wines were very friendly and informative.
The cost was $5 to try five different wines. Each sample is about one ounce (just a sip or two) and they offer crackers between each tasting to “cleanse” the palate. They describe all the different flavors for each wine. I always chuckle when they mention that a wine has a slate taste. Really…I can’t remember ever tasting slate. However, its not as pretentious as this may sound and a fun experience.
Hermann Wiemer is quite a colorful and outspoken wine maker in this area. He was one of the first to believe vinifera vines could produce good wines and survive in this area. He is now retired and the new owner is continuing to produce great wine. The book tells many stories about Hermann and how after being fired from Bully Hill started this winery in the 1976..
Our next stop was Anthony Road Wine Company. This was my favorite story in the book about a German man, Johannes Reinhardt, who left his father’s winery in the middle of the night and eventually came here to make wine in new ways his family resisted. He is the head wine maker for this winery and has won many awards with his collaborations.
The book describes his many struggles with the Federal Government to obtain a green card. It is a very interesting story of determination, persistence, and support of many friends and colleagues. He is not the owner of this winery and will be opening his own soon. The owners of this winery has been very supportive. Pretty cool!
The winery is very simple in style and costs $2 to sample five wines. There is an extra cost to try the award winning wines. I really liked the semi-dry Riesling and the price is very reasonable.
On the way back to Watkins Glen we stopped at the Glenora Wine Cellars. This is not in the book and is one of the largest producers in the area. We had a couple at our campground two weeks ago that are planning to have their wedding lakeside here in September.
The picture above is their Inn/Lodge and restaurant overlooking Seneca Lake. It's a BIG operation. Personally I like the quaintness of the smaller places. Some folks travel to the wineries in style. I guess you could say they have a high priced designated driver.
There was a long list of wines to choose from and you could try six for $2. At this point I was feeling pretty happy. Luckily John does not drink wine and we got home safely.
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| Glenoa Wine Cellars |
You might find one of my other post interesting. It features another winery mentioned in Summer in a Glass and was the first winery to plant European type vines. Many of the winemakers started at this winery.
Dr. Constantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars
