Sunday, September 30, 2007

Thirsty Owl Wine Company

We were in the liquor store today making our wine selections for our wine tasting at the Yarn Tasting at Spiritwork Knitting this Friday night. Looking at all the Finger Lakes, wines brought back many great memories of our travels to the wineries this summer. Our trip to the Thirsty Owl Wine Company was one really fond memory that I’ll tell you about in a minute. First, I want to let you know about the wines we will offer at the yarn shop. We thought we would present a variety of wines for all wallets and tastes! Our lowest priced but very delicious favorite is Fox Run’s Arctic Fox. This is a white blend (table wine) that is very drinkable with or without food pairings. Next, we will have a Casa Larga’s Limited Release American Oak Reserve Chardonnay (2004). For Riesling lovers, we will offer Dr. Frank’s Semi Dry Riesling (2006). Brickstone’s Cabernet Franc (2004)will be our red selection and we’ll also have Prejean’s Late Harvest Vignoles (2005)in our dessert wine category. To find out what you need to do to attend go to Spiritworkknits.com. We’ll take lots of pictures to post here, too.
So, about the Thirsty Owl Wine Company… we traveled to Thirsty Owl on the west side of Cayuga Lake on a hot summer afternoon. Being famished by the time we got there from Skaneateles, we decided to eat at their bistro. We sat out on their beautiful pergola overlooking the lake where the intertwining grape vine shade, and soft breeze and made it at least ten degrees cooler. The bistro offered Panini sandwiches, salads, sandwiches and a great fruit and cheese platter. We had the fruit and cheese with a glass of wine- a totally relaxing way to spend the afternoon! (It would be a blast with a group of friends, too) Alas, we did have to leave the pergola and go inside to the beautiful tasting room. We especially wanted to try the award winning 2006 Dry Riesling – an exceptional wine! Of the dry whites, we tried the 2005 Chardonnay, the 2006 Snow Owl (a white blend of sevel blanc and Cayuga white grapes), and the 2006 Vidal Blanc, which was delicious. The semi sweet tasting included a 2006 Riesling and the 2006 Diamond. The diamond grape is a sister grape to the Niagara grape (think Lake Niagara wine). This had a very grape-y smell, but had a much softer, milder taste. We also tried the 2005 Pinot Noir with its subtle plum taste and smoky finish. We enjoyed our visit to Thirsty Owl. Check out their website at http://www.thirstyowl.com/ or better yet, visit the winery. It is worth the trip and I will bet the view is awesome with the fall foliage!

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