I hear kids coming so I don’t know how much time I’ll have. Ooooh, I did want to mention my trip with my husband to the Finger Lakes in NY. It was actually the first place we ever went together, so it has some meaning for us. Oh, and it’s packed with wineries. We have gone there about 6 times....we try to stock up our wine every six months if we can get away for the weekend....so we know the places we like and the ones we really don’t like. We always stay at the Belhurst Castle, in the Vinifera Inn...its the new section. We don't like Inn feel, but if you do than the castle might be a good choice for you. Its all connected, just depends on your style.This past trip, we finally, finally, got a limo. It was our anniversary and my husbands birthday. We always talk about getting one but it is really expensive. I found a place, affordable limousine, which is just that. It was half the price of all the other companies. The woman, Amy, that I dealt with was super nice. The downside, I guess, was that the limo was older. Not like run down old, just not brand new. We couldn’t believe we had the whole thing to ourselves! It made no difference to us, it was perfect. A huge limo, privacy, no worries about DWI’s and we could drink in the limo. Not that we needed to. After 2 wineries we both had a nice buzz going.
A little disappointing though, one of our favorite places turned out to be SO RUDE! The Prejean Winery is usually where we buy most of our Gewurztraminer . We were in the middle of a tasting and one of the workers asked the crowd who had the limo. We said it was ours and she asked where it was from. I told her and asked if there was a problem as I watched her scribble down the name on a tiny piece of paper. She then told us that our limo driver was rude and she didn’t like how she spoke to her. I asked what happened and was told that our driver had come in to use the bathroom and to get us a box for our wine. The rude part, apparently, was that the Prejean worker said they didn’t have a lot of boxes and wondered what she needed it for. Our driver replied with “its for my clients, did you think I was just a stranger off the street?” I guess what our driver said was rude. Then the worker, as she is telling the crowd of people the story about our limo driver, said our driver looked strange and with the kind of people that come in to their winery, you just never know.
Really, because I thought the worker was extremely rude! She straight up made fun of our driver and the way she looked, oh yes, our driver was a female by the way, and then talked about it in front of a huge crowd of people. I’m sorry but there is a way to handle things and we spend ALOT of money in that place. NO MORE. I didn’t even think what she said was rude anyway. My husband told the woman that she should have taken us aside and asked us about the situation privately and that it wasn’t our driver who appeared to be rude. She just brushed us off and said yeah well, whatever. Totally ruining our tasting experience. We left and bought nothing. We are all about the people. If you have rude inconsiderate people working for you, what is that going to say about your business. We will never return to that winery.
On a lighter note,Lakewood Vineyards is by far our very favorite winery, and it was the first winery my husband and I ever went to. The people are amazing and fun and their wine never disappoints. They make you feel like family from the moment you walk in until the moment you walk out. Their port, if you like port, is just perfect. Its not to strong, but still has some kick. Its not our very favorite, but its close. We usually buy at least 4 bottles. The price is reasonable and its perfect to sip on a brisk fall night or in the middle of the winter in front of the fire. We make sure we have enough to last until the spring. Our favorite port is a little pricey so if we are going with price and flavor, Lakewood would have to be the best.Wow, sorry for the long winded blog/review but I’ll throw out some of our other favorites in another post. Hey, who doesn’t love a good bottle of wine! You can have it shipped too!
Bottoms up!
