Echoes of the Glen Bed & Breakfast

Watkins Glen is in Fingerlakes...

by chrissyalex

Watkins Glen is in Fingerlakes Wine country and a visit to the area would not be complete without visiting at least one of the nice wineries there. My favorite is Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards. This winery is very laid back and cozy and it is aimed more towards the younger crowd. It is located in a nice area on a hill with lovely scenery and a nice view of the lake. The wine tasting area is designed like a pub and they serve you popcorn while you taste the wine. The wine is very reasonably priced too. My favorites are Cabin Fever and Brambleberry

Wine tasting in the Finger Lakes of NY

by jcjlkrebs

"Our first visit to New York Wineries"

My wife and I have enjoyed wine for a number of years, however we are certainly not wine snobs. When we lived in California we made several visits to Napa and Sonoma Valley and enjoyed the wine tasting. When we retired to Florida and met many people in our retirement community that moved here from upstate New York kept telling us about wine in the Finger Lakes Area of New York. With Judy researching the area we decided that an addition to our first road trip of the year should include a couple days of wine tasting.
When we arrived in Watkins Glen we went to the local chamber of commerce and got some information but more importantly pointed us to the local wine association offices where we bought a Riesling pass ( for $12) which allows us to taste wine at 27 different wineries. Now I know we will not go to that many wineries but it will still be cheaper than paying for tasting at each one we visit.
We tasted wine at nine wineries. OK, So that is a lot, but we tasted normally only a couple at each winery and Judy being the designated driver was very careful. Of course we stopped for a long lunch overlooking Seneca Lake. First let me talk about the wine. The Riesling here are exceptional with most wineries specializing in that variety. We also found some nice chardonnays and some other sweet wines that were quite good. The people in the tasting rooms were well versed in wine and were extremely engaging and interesting. The wineries being smaller than the ones in California had us visiting with the owners of some of the wineries. Now about the area that we are visiting is outstanding. Seneca Lake is beautiful and of course being the spring of the year a lot of the plants are just blooming making the area even more interesting.