Mondays are always rough but yesterday was particularly difficult for me, as I was lucky enough to have spent this past weekend on a wine tour in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate NY. Five of my closest girlfriends came from all over the map to join my mom and me on a World Tour of Food and Wine at 8 wonderful wineries around Keuka Lake. Each winery chose a country and then prepared an ethnic dish and paired it with their wine.

We kicked off our tour at Keuka Spring (who chose Poland and made incredible perogies!) The family owned and operated vineyard and winery quickly made its way to the top of my "favorite places in the whole wide world" list. The weather was unseasonably warm for April (in the high 80′s!) and the hillside tasting room at Keuka Spring has a beautiful outdoor terrace that overlooks the lake. The view is incredible and the wines follow suit. With more than 20 varieties available for tasting, there’s truly something for every palate. Each wine is handcrafted from the vineyards right to the bottle and you can taste the passion.

One of my personal favorites was the dry, soft, full-bodied blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon called Miller’s Cove Red. It’s recommended for burgers on the grill, steak, rack of lamb or even beef stew but I think I’d drink it with just about anything. Millers Cove Red 2006 has captured gold medals at the Great Lakes International and the Taster’s Guild International. Wine Spectator just rated it an 86, so at $21.99 a bottle, it’s a steal. Even though my friends and I have very different, very distinct preferences we all agreed on Clara’s Red – a semi-sweet wine loaded with flavors of ripe cherry and refreshing fruit. We bought quite a bit and I had plans to use it to make sangria for a future get-together but we seem to have polished off everything we bought with dinner that very same night. Oops. Good thing they sell it in Buffalo!

If you have the chance to do a Finger Lakes wine tour, I highly recommend including Keuka Spring on your itinerary. The wine is delicious, the view is out of this world and the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. If you can’t make it to the actual winery, you can still get the good stuff. Buy it online or look for a local retailer (in NY) here.

Seeing as I purchased an obscene amount of vino over the course of the tour, I might just have to host a Wine Tasting Party and find out just how much my friends actually learned.

TAGS [ WINE TOUR | WINE TASTINGS | KEUKA SPRING VINEYARD | FINGER LAKES ]