Vacation!!!!

My husband was really taken with Will.I.Am's name (of the Black Eyed Peas) during the SuperBowl. While he was ecstatic that the Packers won and still expounds the greatness of their defense, his mind has been secretly pondering other thoughts. Just days before his birthday he sprang his new identity on us. That's right, Jim will now be referred to as Jam.Es! Pity us here at my house. Soooo, OK that makes me Joy.Ce and the dog: Mag.E. Cool.
"Jam.Es" and I decided to go on vacation the other day. I know, I know, others have taken off for Florida, Belize and the Caribbean in the middle of a LOOOONG, COLD winter, however, we took off for Seneca Lake. Actually, we had to strategically plan our vacation between winter storm warnings. Last Thursday was the day to go (the next storm was to start Thursday night), so we grabbed the window and made it to the lake by noon. Our plan was to stop at the StoneCat Cafe for a bite to eat before hitting the wineries. Unfortunately, there were no cars at all in the Cafe parking lot, so we scraped that idea and headed to Damiani's new tasting room with its glorious view of the Lake. It is large and open with a kitchen area for food pairing prep - really well done. We totally enjoyed our tasting and chat with Gabriel Damiani, and walked away with a 2009 Riesling, the 2009 Dolce Bianco (for our daughter who likes a slightly sweeter wine) and a couple of bottles of Cab Sauv Barrel Select 2008. Damiani is having a dinner coming up in March as well as a Cab Sauv tasting where they compare their Barrel Select to other wines from around the world. Check their website for details. Both sound great!
Next we stopped at the new JR Dill winery, but it is only open Fri-Sun. We really want to try the wines, so will have to come back.
On to Red Newt Cellars, Winery and Bistro, where we knew the Bistro would be open. Debra Whiting (winery co-owner with husband Dave and the Bistro's executive chef) prepares wonderful lunches and dinners at the Bistro. We enjoyed a grilled chicken sandwich with bacon, greens, cheese and cranberry sauce, chicken lentil soup and Riesling. Chris, our server, offered us two Rieslings recently rated in Wine Spectator at 89 and 90 Points. One was slightly sweeter, 2009 Lahoma Vineyards Riesling, and the other slightly drier, 2009 Sawmill Creek Vineyards Riesling. They were both really nice. Then Chris brought us another Riesling to try that has not been rated yet by Wine Spectator, the 2009 Davis Vineyard Riesling. This Riesling's sweetness fell between the other two and was absolutely awesome. It paired the best with the sandwich and soup. We all agreed that this one will also do really well with Wine Spectator. Since there are a limited number of cases of all three (less than 200), we bought several bottles. We really like the fact that Red Newt gives credit to the Vineyard that grows the grapes they use. For example, the Davis Vineyard is that of Phil Davis of Diamiani wines. Another example of the unique cooperative/collaborative spirit of the Finger Lakes wineries.
We made one last stop at Standing Stone Vineyards to pick up some favorites: Pinot Noir 2007, Pinnacle 2007 and Smokehouse Red (their red blend). We had a great chat with Gary and Sandra Smith, caught Marti for a second, then started our homeward trip before the storm hit! We were gone for maybe 6 hours, but what a relaxing, enjoyable day! Now is the time to go to the wineries when it's quiet and you can talk with the staff, winemakers and winery owners. We are so lucky to have this mini-vacation right outside our back door. Needless to say, when the snows hit on Friday, "Jam.Es" and I built a fire, got out a bottle of wine and re-lived our day at the lake!