Finger Lakes Wine Tour Diary

I made for the east side of Seneca Lake, and drove up route 414 to Wagner Vineyards.

This is an ideal place to start a Seneca Lakes winery visit, as it’s one of the oldest wineries in the area -- established in 1979 -- and very much a family operation, now in its fourth generation of ownership.

The winery is housed in a building so distinctive that it’s part of Wagner’s logo – sharply angled, modern lines, but executed in wood – kind of like a rustic space ship. The flagship grape for the region in Riesling, and Wagner has several good ones, but the can’t-miss on the among the white wines is the 2008 semi-dry Gewurztraminer. If people could more easily pronounce it, it would probably give Riesling a run for its money as the area’s lead varietal. (Although it’s actually not that hard, as long as you remember that the “w” is pronounced like a “v”:ga-VERTZ-trah-mee-ner. Also, if you call it “gavurtz” people will know what you mean.) Get to know more about Gewurztraminer here.

Wagner’s long experience with grape growing in the area really shows on the trickier reds – the 2007 Meritage was a richly complex, and a bottle I was glad to bring home with me.

Wagner offers guided tours of its wine making operation, and if you take one you will no doubt come upon Wagner’s microbrewery, Wagner Valley Brewing Company, which shares space with the winery.

The brewery is a newcomer in the bigger picture of the Wagner business, opened in 1997. There are six standard brews available to taste for $2, in addition to a Tripplebock and several seasonal brews.

With all of these tasting opportunities, and the fact that the winery attracts crowds – especially in the Fall – you’ll want to plan to several hours here. A lunch break is wise, and the winery’s restaurant, The Ginny Lee serves some of the best French onion soup I’ve had.

From wine, to beer, the only next logical step is spirits.

Not far down the road from Wagner is Finger Lakes Distilling. While several wineries in the area are distilling small batches of spirits as something of a sideline, it’s the main event here.

Owner Brian McKenzie isn’t just throwing the term “locally sourced ingredients” around – when I questioned him about whether his grain and such came from the Finger Lakes region, or Central New York generally, he pointed at a field across the lake, part of the farm that provides his rye grain. So it's reallylocal.

I was especially excited to visit the home of my favorite craft gin, Seneca Drums. (I’d thought that the name was a tribute to the area’s Native Americans, but I learned on this visit that it’s actually named for a booming sound that is occasionally heard coming from Seneca Lake, perhaps because of air bubbles coming up from the water’s depths, also known as “Lake Guns” or more rudely, "Lake Farts". More on this phenomenon.)

Anyhoo, you can sidle up to the tasting bar and sample three spirits for $2 – appropriate mixers available if that’s your thing – and if you purchase a bottle you’ll get the $2 credit towards purchase. Especially recommend the McKenzie Bourbon Whiskey and Rye Whiskey – if you think this can only be done properly south of the Mason-Dixon in the United States, take comfort in the fact that master distiller Thomas Earl’s hails from Alabama. The Maplejack liqueur, an oak aged apple brandy with a touch of maple syrup, is especially nice as an autumn sipper.

Dinner was at Stonecat Café, in Hector, NY. It was one of my favorite meals of the year.

The menu here is locally sourced, internationally inspired, but with a twist of southern built in. So there’s pulled pork BBQ and cornmeal crusted catfish, but also lamb kofte and a Bolognese.

For starters, I made sure my entire table partook of the roasted garlic bulbs – two varieties, served with crostini and a local chevre. And then I tucked into my entrée, a special that night: country-fried steak which was everything I wanted.

Stonecat has an impressive local wine list, and a waitstaff that's very well informed on its ins and outs. I was guided towards Shalestone Vineyard, a Seneca Lake winery that only produces red wines. It was so good that I definitely plan to visit the next time I'm in the area. My companions enjoyed a surprising Sauvignon Blanc from Damiani Vineyard, another winery now on my next-trip list.

If you’re planning to go to Stonecat, just bear in mind that the café closes for the winter. Check back to see when they open in the Spring – I heard it could be as early as April.

Plan Your Finger Lakes Wine Tour:

• Learn more about the Finger Lakes, New York's most productive wine region.
• New York State wine maps.
• Finger Lakes Wine Country official site.