Finger Lakes Valentines Ideas, Events, and Other Ramblings

--The Grapery online store has put together some special Valentines Day Wine and Chocolate gift packages to romance your Valentine with.

-- Casa Larga is having its Fire and Ice Festival, Sunday Feb. 12 from Noon to 6pm featuring Ice Wine tours, Ice Sculptures, and their Ice Wine Fiori Delle Stelle.

-- The Keuka Lake Wine Trail is offering two special weekends of Be Mine With Wine on Feb. 11 & 12 and Feb. 18 & 19. as participating Keuka Lake wineries offer up special romantic food and wine pairings. The Seneca Lake Wine Trail is having their Chocolate and Wine weekend on Feb. 11 & 12 with participating wineries offering up special wine and chocolate pairings. Also, many Cayuga Lake wineries are planning special Valentines weekend events (see Schedule here).

--2 wineries offering romantic evenings of food, wine, and music are Chateau Lafayette Reneau on Feb. 10 and Knapp Vineyards on Feb. 11.

--For a list of other February events happening in the Finger Lakes, see the Events Calendar at www.FingerLakesWineCountry.com

-- My secret Finger Lakes wine info source, who I'll call "Deep Vines" (remember Deep Throat from Watergate) tells me that Red Newt Winery is coming out with a new wine on the sweeter side (not yet named) this spring made from Niagara grapes. Deep Vines also says Penguin Bay Winery (formerly Finger Lakes Champagne House) has a great lineup of wines featuring an outstanding dry red named Maroon Four (a Shiraz-style blend). And Cornell has developed 2 new red grapes that are designed for the Finger lakes cooler weather. More news from Deep Vines as I get it.

-- More on the Great Wine Shipping Debate from Pennsylvania in this article. It seems that, due to recent court actions, Pennsylvania which has had one of the most restrictive shipping policies, now has no shipping regulations at all as they wait for the Pennsylvania legislature to come up with new laws. The author of this article was successful in about half of his attempts to have wine shipped to Pennsylvania. The best quote in the article is from a California winery owner who says "If I were in the gun business, I could ship to any state... but not with wine". How true.

--Fox Run Vineyards winemaker Peter Bell was featured last month in Dan Bergers Vintage Experiences newsletter as one of 22 winemakers who has added to the fine wine scene, but who have not received proper recognition. Twenty-two winemakers were profiled and only two from the Finger Lakes Region were featured, Peter Bell and Derek Wilber. Dan Berger states in his article "At Fox Run, Peter's Rieslings and Cabernet Francs make him a superstar on the rise." Owner Scott Osborn stated " We are incredibly proud of another great recognition for Peter Bell. Peter is committed to the highest levels of excellence and this recognition only proves that further. We are also very happy that two of the top listed winemakers reside and work within the Finger Lakes Region." Also, Fox Run owner Scott Osborn will be featured this week in an online interview (podcast) on www.thewinescout.com

-- Ontario County, located in the northern Finger Lakes region, has been named "Best Place To Live In Rural America" by Progressive Farmer magazine. Just one more reminder that the Finger Lakes region is one of the most beautiful places in America. But a lot of us already knew that.

--If you are producer of local Finger Lakes food products, you will want to be included in the "Guide To Foods Priduced In The Finger Lakes". Click here to read how to get listed.

--In off-wine topics, Who is telling all these people on American Idol that they are good singers? To combat this problem, I've come up with a new bumpersticker "Friends don't let friends who can't sing go on American Idol". Also, The Super Bowl's today and I was thinking about the halftime show with The Rolling Stones. I really hope their are no "wardrobe malfunctions" because that would just be nasty.