Our first full day in Ithaca, after an incredible dinner the night prior, brought us some of the most incredible weather. Sunshine and blue skies greeted us at our incredible Airbnb rental in the middle of the woods (with a bonus porch and hot tub, which we thoroughly enjoyed with some wine on both nights!). We had booked a private wine tour with Grapevine Country Tours with the plan to have them use their expertise to pick the wineries for us, with a stop for lunch at one of the wineries along the way, and not have to make any decisions all day long besides which wines to try.
They picked us up at our Airbnb right on time and our tour guide, a jovial middle aged man, immediately started asking us all sorts of questions and telling us all sorts of funny stories. He proved to be a very entertaining part of our day.
He took us to the next door Seneca Lake (Ithaca is on Cayuga Lake) because he said he thought we would enjoy their wineries more.
The first stop he chose for us was J.R. Dill Winery. This wound up actually be our favorite wines of the day and had a beautiful view across the river.
Tastings were about $3-$5 for 5-8 tastings and our driver would peek in when we arrived to make sure we got special treatment, which usually included extra pours, if not unlimited tastings.
Our lunch stop was at Red Newt Cellar and both the wine and the food were very good.
The bride to be even showed off her sobriety as we took photos of the sampler plate.
The sampler had some salad, charcuterie and cheese samplings, grilled cheese, and tomato soup.
We also ordered the gnocchi special.
And the special grilled cheese.
And… this… wtf was this? Oh the wine.
And of course the brownie sundae for dessert!
On our way out of the Seneca Lake wine region we stopped at Chateau Lafayette Reneau. The wines were pretty good but we all agreed that our first stop was best.
Though I simply loved the view across the street.
That night, we drove around the lake looking for a view of the “Super Moon.” We finally found it by sneaking into the Ithaca Yacht Club. (shhhh… don’t tell)
During our trip, we also stopped at a few of our old favorites, including Purity Ice Cream, Collegetown Bagels (twice), and DP Dough. Ahhh college. We also stopped on campus where we hardly recognized it with all the new buildings.
It was a fantastic trip and we all thoroughly enjoyed NOT being broke in Ithaca. A great place to have a bachelorette party.
