Finger Lakes Wine Trails

Finger Lakes Wine Trails
9:08 am
So although this blog focuses on NYC eateries, I do travel. So I figured that since you NYC foodies travel too ,you might be interested in my humble food reviews outside of  our great metropolis as well. Especially when they are near wine terroir. So I am presenting three reviews of restaurants visited this past Labor day in Auburn, NY in the Finger Lakes region.

It was an amazing time to visit. Weather was spectacular and for those of you who love wine trails, the Seneca and Cayuga wine trails are very accesible with well designed tasting rooms, many with spectacular views. Most charge a nominal fee, so bring cash. I found charging for tastings a bit annoying but the upside is that most allow you to taste their premium wines and a large selection overall. I have only tasted one or two wines in NYC restaurants from this region but have heard many great things about their reisling and cabernet franc productions. I don't actually understand why NYC restaurants  don't have more Finger Lakes and North Fork wines on their menus, especially those touting the regional local food movement.

I have to say that overall I was not impressed. Most of the wines were not bad table wines, but the prices usually above 13 dollars were  not justifiable when I can find a better European alternative for that price or less. Also, almost all the wineries made a full selection of red and whites, although almost all the red wines were truly unimpressive and even pricier, usually 15-25 dollar range. I am not sure why they just don't stick to a few grape varieties and perfect them. Overall, the Seneca Lake wineries were more impressive in view and taste.  One wine  that was definantlyworth the trip for ,which I did not see much write up about prior, was the champagne and sparking wines produced here. These were almost uniformly tasty and reasonable in price for the quality.  Bruts varieties tended towards sweeter than what I generally have tasted but these were a great chmpagne alternative. My favorite was from the Knapp winery,  http://http://www.knappwine.com/



Although the quality of the wines of this region are still evolving, I would definantly recommend the trip for the scenery and a close wine trail experiance. We stayed in Auburn, where we ate primarily, although if I visit again would base myself in Ithaca were they have several well reviewed restaurants which I did not have the opportunity to check out including the Heights Cafe and Grill, http://www.heightscafe.com/, and  Taverna Banfi , http://www.tavernabanfi.com/.
Overall my food experiance was disappointing and prices were equivalent or pricier than the city. Again, it appears that the culinary destination is Ithaca, so I won'd damn the whole area based on this trip,just stay away from Auburn for dining.