This is my third report for our trip to the Finger Lakes region in New York. My first post outlined our accommodations in Corning, and our second post details some of our activities spent while in Corning. On the final two days of our trip, we planned on spending the majority of the time visiting a lot of the wineries as well as take our sons hiking in the Watkins Glen State Park.

On our first day we visited Castel Grisch Estate Winery, Lakewood Vineyards, Pompous Ass Winery, Glenora, Fruit Yard Winery, 3 Brothers Wineries and Brewing Company, and Belhurst Winery & Castle. Perhaps our favorite winery was the Lakewood Vineyard in part because the gentleman serving the wine tastings were very personable and funny, not to mention their wine was pretty good. We also stopped at the Shtayburne Farm for cheese at the recommendation of Lakewood Winery. Overall we ended up purchasing about a case of wine and various cheeses along the way on our first day.

For lunch we stopped next door to the Fruit Yard Winery at R.E.D.S. Hots in Dundee, New York.

It was a small little hot dog establishment that you would fully expect to see on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (Triple-D) with Guy Fieri. It was at R.E.D.S. that we learned a real appreciation for hot dogs and the various kinds. They serve a Red, White, All Beef, Glazier’s Snappy, Turkey, or Veggie hot dogs. I remembered the white hot dogs that my uncle would bring back from New York growing up, so I ordered a Red and a Snappy with chili and cole slaw on each. My wife and family pretty much all ordered the white hot dogs. They were all FANTASTIC! The Snappy was particularly interesting because it featured a bright red natural casing. The chili had a nice flavor, and the cole slaw was made with pineapple, which gave it a really nice sweet flavor.

My wife and family were so impressed with the New York hot dogs that we stopped at a local grocery store on the way home and purchased some white hot dogs to bring home. Unfortunately I was not able to find the Snappy dogs in the grocery store.

This is about as good a time as any to mention about the water in the Finger Lakes region in general. When we were down in Corning, the water was fine to drink. The only issue I noticed is the water was very soft, and thus you never felt like you could rinse off all the soap. When you get up into the wine region, you will notice lots of wineries will say not to drink the water because they all source water from wells, and thus it has a strong iron taste. I never was able to ask the question, but if there was such a strong concern about the taste of the water, how do they make wine without the use of water to impact the flavors of the grape?

What we were not aware of was that the weekend we were in town was also two large wine tours going on; a Wine and Cheese tour around Seneca Lake, and a Wine and Herb tour around Cayuga Lake. What we quickly learned was that we were at a distinct advantage to be doing the Seneca Lake wine trail on Friday, ahead of all the crowds. It definitely was nice to be able to talk to each of the wineries and learn a little about how each of the wines were made.

Make sure when you go to the wineries, you bring lots of single dollars. The reason being is that most of the wineries charge anywhere from $2-3 per person for a tasting of 3-8 wines. I did not think of this ahead of time and only brought a limited amount of cash as I anticipated putting most of the trip on our cards. Luckily I had enough to cover us for the whole trip, but it was an unexpected expense I did not plan. My wife and I were luckily able to share a tasting at each of the wineries, also helping to cut down on the costs.

The wineries typically close down around 5:00 pm, so we headed back into Watkins Glen to go to the Rooster Fish Brewery for dinner. I ordered the Chicken, NYS Cheddar, and Apple sandwich, which had an excellent flavor. My wife ordered the special of the night, which was a whole wheat pasta with chicken, artichokes, and a cream sauce. Overall I can not complain about the food because it was good. My only issues were that the service was not that good as I never was asked for a drink refill the entire time. In addition, my wife’s dinner was fairly expensive at $18.95 for the small portion of pasta she received. I am always baffled why pasta dishes are so expensive when it is practically the cheapest thing you can make.

On the way back to Corning after dinner we all stopped at a market to buy ice cream, which was really good, although the name escapes me right now.

The worst part of the day was getting all the way back to Corning and realizing upon unpacking the vehicle was I forgot my jacket back at the Rooster Fish. However, rather than drive all the way back, I had them hold the jacket for me since I knew we would be back in Watkins Glen the next morning to go hiking through the gorge.