Talk-A-Vino

It seems that I’m looking at good prospects of visiting Finger Lakes region of New York quite often over the next four years ( my daughter just started a college there), so I’m gladly taking the opportunity to talk about food and wine in that beautiful part of the country. Finger Lakes region is well known for its multiple wine trails. For a long time, the region was mostly known for it’s Riesling wines, and then white wines, such as Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer, now it is slowly changing with the grapes such as Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, Baco Noir producing interesting wines.

I have to admit that visiting wineries was not the main purpose of this trip, so with this post, I would like to mostly share the experience around the food. Outside of Panera Bread which is consistently good no matter where you go ( I would personally go as far as declaring it the best implementation of “slow food” in the fast food setting), we visited two other places. First, we had dinner at the restaurant at the Inn called Rogue’s Harbor Inn (it is Bed and Breakfast place). Overall all the food was consistently good, with the focus on local ingredients. The only surprise ( in a bad way) was the smallest fried calamari appetizer I ever saw. All the entrees were done very well, so here are some pictures:

Wild Mushroom Ravioli (great mushroom flavors):

Chevon sausage with greens ( local sausage):

Three cheese Chicken Parmesan:

Scallops Solera:

Few notes about the wine: it was great to see a wine list fully composed of local wines – I think it is great when local food is complemented by the local wine. We chose Long Point Ciera Rose 2009, simple and pleasant wine, as it was working well with the variety of dishes we ordered.

Another place we stopped at was Castel Grisch winery. Located in a very picturesque place, the winery offers magnificent views of the lake and surroundings. As we made it to the winery, of course, I had to try the wines. I did try most of the wines, except the ice wines, and unfortunately, I didn’t find anything I like, except Gewurztraminer 2007, which was actually done in Alsace style – dry wine with very nice floral and spice expressions. In addition to the winery, Castel Grisch also operates a very nice restaurant, with a good selection of sandwiches and hearty soups, such as Hungarian goulash soup. I would definitely come back there for the food, but most likely not for the wine.

This would effectively conclude the post. As we had good success with the food, I will make an effort to find good wines – I’m sure I will, as I have plenty of time… And until later – Cheers!

Rogues’ Harbor Inn
2079 East Shore Drive
PO Box 97
Lansing NY 14882
607-533-3535
http://roguesharbor.com/