A Weekend in the Finger Lakes Region

Hi Y’all!

I am so excited to share with you the amazing weekend away Alex and I had in the Finger Lakes Region all thanks to Finger Lakes Wine Country! Special thanks to Brianna and Logan for organizing everything for us. Our stay was nothing short of amazing, as you’ll see below!

Here we go… grab your wine, it’s a long one!!

Friday Evening:

On Friday night we left Fort Drum shortly after Alex got home from work and arrived in the region around 8:15pm. Naturally, our first stop was for beer… and food of course! After a long week of work and the 2.5 hour drive we were both ready to relax!

We stopped for dinner at Grist Iron Brewing Co. in Burdett, NY. The brewery is up on a hill, overlooking Seneca Lake, much like many of the wineries in the area.

For dinner we shared the Tater-Tots which were topped with bacon, scallions and cheese or in other words AMAZING and then we each had a pizza. I had a fresh mozzarella and pesto pizza and Alex opted for the not so original pepperoni… I am not the least bit surprise by this! (Sorry Alex)

We also tasted 3 really memorable beers. I had the “My Sweet Frannie Strawberry Blonde” which was an American blonde with some strawberry flavours. It had a really nice sweetness, I would definitely order it again. Alex had their most popular the “Front Porch Imperial IPA”.  And of course, saving the best for last, we had a “Peach Orchard Saison” which was super delicious.

After dinner, we headed to Single Island Shores to the cabin which would be our accommodations for the weekend. The cabins were gorgeous and had a stunning view of Seneca Lake. We stayed in a one bedroom cabin which was so spacious and beautifully decorated. You’ll see some pictures of the cabin later on in the post – keep reading 😉 By 10:30pm we were lights out because we had an early morning start with a few four legged friends!

Saturday

Saturday morning the alarm went off at 6:50am, we had to be at the stables for 7:40am!! Can you guess what we did?!

Yes, a morning trail ride and it was gorgeous! We arrived at Painted Bar Stables in Burdett, NY to be greeted by the lovely Erica and her pup Seneca. She quickly got us all saddled up, quite literally, and ready for an awesome trail ride. I was riding Casper and Alex was on Gringo, who was MASSIVE!! See the photo below for comic relief… you can laugh at us, I do!

Erica was super informative on the ride and absolutely hilarious, she had Alex and I laughing the whole time. 8am was the perfect time to go, it was just the two of us, the sun was rising, no bugs and we beat the heat!

After our trail ride, Erica recommended we go to Berta’s Cafe (also in Burdett) for some breakfast. We shared a cinnamon bun and I had a fresh wild blueberry salad and Alex, a breakfast taco. Both were so great and the service was awesome as well. The cafe was super cute and quirky, we are definitely so happy we stopped to check it out.

Next up, we headed to Red Newt Cellars Winery and Bistro. This experience was one of my favourites of the weekend. We did a tasting first with James who was great. He walked us through every single wine they offer at the winery and we tasted them all. He spent a good hour with us just chatting about the wine, the area and even laughing at our jokes 😉

If you follow my blog, you know I LOVE Rieslings. During our tasting with James he walked us through the EIGHT different Rieslings they make and explained how each was different. My fav was their “2016 Circle Riesling” which is also their most popular.

After the tasting we ordered lunch and went to sit out on the back deck at the winery. The deck had gorgeous views of farmers fields and Seneca Lake down below. For lunch I had a caesar salad and Alex some baked mac & cheese. We also shared a charcuterie board and a few glasses of my newest Riesling obsession. Everything was amazing and the food was delicious. I can’t say enough great things about this winery and highly, highly recommend anyone who is visiting the Finger Lakes Region to check it out!

A few kilometres down the road from Red Newt Cellars Winery & Bistro is Standing Stone. This winery is on the opposite side of the road, slightly closer to the lake and a stunning view to show for it.

Alex and I did a tasting with a lovely gentleman with whom we had so much in common! Turns out he is from Alex’s home state and his wife was living in Toronto when they met! Small World!

Our last stop for the afternoon was at Boundary Breaks. This winery was in Lodi, about 15 minutes towards the north end of Seneca Lake from where we were staying. We met Brianna and Logan here for some dry rosé, as per their recommendation and sat outside and chatted. It was so awesome to finally meet them in person!

p.s. check out the saying over the entrance of the winery door, I love it!

Our last adventure for the day was with Schooner Excursions in Watkins Glen. This was one that we were both so excited for. We were able to take a two hour boat cruise on the True Love Schooner for sunset!

The crew on the boat were amazing and took such good care of us, even taking the time to chat with us about the lake, the boat and what it takes to be a captain.

It was so gorgeous and relaxing. We had a few glasses of champagne, some hors d’oeuvres and enjoyed the stunning views all around us. I would definitely recommend if you are visiting the area to get out on the lake. It was a different perspective and it was amazing!

Sunday:

Sunday morning came quickly, but we did get a bit of a “sleep in”. Here are some pictures of our cabin at Single Island Shores and then down by the lake before we left. How cute is this place?! I definitely recommend this accommodation to anyone staying in the area, it was super peaceful, very quiet and really conveniently located.

We had brunch reservations for 10:30am at the Stone Cat Cafe. I heard a lady on the way in say to her partner, “this is the place to go for brunch” and instantly I was so much more excited.

When we arrived it was still pretty quiet in the restaurant and on the patio but within 25 minutes the place was full, and I mean FULL! So thankful that we were able to get a reservation (thank you Brianna!!). Our meal was absolutely delicious – pictured below! We ordered corn bread and mimosas to start and I had the “Stone Cat Louisianne” which was, two poached eggs on griddled cornbread with andouille sausage and a sweet pepper cream sauce, served with roasted potatoes. SO GOOD!

After brunch we drove to Keuka Lake. This was about a 35 minute drive from Seneca Lake and is another one of the Finger Lakes. Our first stop was at my fav winery, Ravines. I had a glass of their white wine, Ayre at the wine festival last month and was SO mad at myself for not buying a bottle. So, a stop at their winery was definitely in order!

Our second to last stop of the day was at Heron Hill winery, also on Keuka Lake. This winery is huge, perched up on the hill over-looking the lake. We had a great tasting in their beautiful tasting room and then explored some of the grounds.

Last stop of the day and the weekend – Bully Hill Vineyards, which had the most beautiful landscaping as you can see in the photos below.

When we arrived it was about 2:30pm and we were still full from brunch so we opted to do a tasting first and then a late lunch/early dinner.

The tasting was super fun, the man who was leading the group was hilarious. After some wine we walked over to the restaurant and had a table over looking the lake, rolling lush green hills and little red barn.

I had a turkey BLT for lunch with rosemary fries, which were to die for and Alex, a Maryland crab cake burger (I was impressed by this choice friends… if you know Alex, you know he likes his pizza and burgers)!!

It was the perfect end to a fabulous weekend!

Overall, we had an unforgettable weekend and I honestly do not have one negative thing to say about the entire experience or anywhere that we visited. We had so much great, underrated wines at the most intimate and beautiful wineries and a ton of amazing food. I 110% recommend anyone who is looking for a weekend getaway to check out this area. To all my Canadian friends, it’s only about 4 hours from Toronto, so totally doable for a weekend trip!

Thank you again to Finger Lakes Wine Country and again a huge special thanks to Brianna and Logan! We had such a great trip and are so thankful for the opportunity to come and blog about a region that is so stunning!

I am so in love with the area and can’t wait to plan our next trip, Alex and I are thinking that the winter months could be fun!

Thank you for reading friends!

 

p.s. If you liked this post, check out this post on my last visit to the Finger Lakes Region for some more fun pictures and travel inspo!