We welcomed 50 guests here this past Saturday for our Tapas in the Vineyard event and were blessed with beautiful weather, friendly faces, and delicious food & wine!   To ensure social distancing we welcomed groups of 6 guests every 20 minutes.  Guests arriving checked in with our staff in our event room, collected their wine glass and began with the first pairing: spicy polenta cake topped with smoked pulled pork paired with our gold medal awarded 2018 Corot Noir. 

Afterwards, folks strolled outside into the vineyard where we set up three additional stations.  Their first vineyard stop was at George's garden where they enjoyed a caprese skewer paired with 2018 Traminette.  The basil and grape tomatoes were picked from the garden just hours before and skewered with fresh mozzarella balls. 

Guests were close enough to smell the smoke coming from Scott's station further up in the vineyard where he was grilling up the portobello mushrooms and skirt steak with chimichurri sauce tapas paired with our gold medal awarded Runway Red.  The skirt steak was purchased from Wilson's Beef Farms in Canaseraga and the quality was phenomenal!  Scott used this chimichurri sauce recipe and marinated the meat for 24 hours resulting in an incredibly tender and flavorful bite.  Personally, this was my favorite tapas of the evening. 

Once guests finished their garlicky steak and mushroom bites they walked to the opposite side of the vineyard where they were greeted by me!  I was serving up goat cheese, fig and honey spread on crostini topped with chopped pistachios which was paired with 2018 Vignoles.  An easy appetizer to make and serve at your next dinner party.  The robust flavor profile of the Vignoles pairs very well with goat cheese and honey notes in the wine were accented by the honey in the spread; I received many compliments on this pairing!  Unlike the recipe states, I chose to whip the fig jam and goat cheese together until lit was light and fluffy and layered the dip with honey.  The base was a sea salt baguette crostini which is a newly added product made by Monk's Bread from the Abbey of the Genesee.  The final pairing was served in our tasting room.  We ended on a sweet note and paired Cherry Cocoa Cove with chocolate cherry bombs!   

​Many guests stayed a while afterwards and enjoyed the sunset while sharing a bottle of wine among friends and family in their group.  And while the evening glow and heat receded over our beautiful part of the world, the night seemed to hold a magical feeling as so many of our events do.  These special occasions give us the opportunity to meet our customers in person and listen to their candid comments about our wines.  The most popular comment heard this past Saturday evening was, "When will we be holding another Tapas event?" and to that I say hopefully we will be getting together again soon! ;)

If it has been a while since you visited our tasting room, we invite you to join us again!  But before you visit, here are a few tasting room updates post-pandemic:

•  A mask is required when walking around the tasting room.  You may remove your mask at the tasting bar while sampling. 
• Please apply hand sanitizer upon entering the tasting room.  Hand sanitizer is available at the door.
• The tasting room occupancy is limited to 10 people.  Please call 585.346.0850 in advance to schedule a wine sampling if possible.  An average wine sampling typically takes 20 to 30 minutes and includes 6 wine samples.
• Groups of 6 or more will sample the same 6 wines.  Either you can choose those wines as a group or our staff can pour your group our six best-selling wines.
• If you arrive with a group of people, send one person in your group into the tasting room to check in with the tasting room associate.  Our staff will notify you when they can accommodate you at the tasting bar 
• You do not have to have a reservation to visit us. we will not turn anyone away.  If you arrive unannounced, check with our staff to see if there is space for you at the tasting bar or you can enjoy a wine flight sampling outside​