A Little Wine in the Summertime

So here's all the Ventosa crew just getting amped up for the coming months. We got one of our first big rushes this weekend. We had a group of around 55 for lunch on Saturday. Not that we don't love the group attendance at the winery, we just have an issue getting the coverage from a staff stand point to cover a group that size as well as our regular customer base. A heads up would be great for attendance that size. We're happy, customers are happy, and life is good.

This weekend is our first wedding taking place right on site. I believe that the wedding ceremony will be held on the terrace. A wedding overlooking the vineyard and Seneca Lake. Not bad at all. I'm sure it will be beautiful. I can just imagine. That's always been my goal wedding. Working in the wine industry for 5 years now I can't imagine a more beautiful, and romantic setting for a wedding. The only thing that would make it better in my eyes is in the fall when the colors start to change on the trees and the foliage on the vines. That and smelling grapes being crushed in the distance. I could seriously go for that as wedding ambiance. Not to mention "en vino veritas." Good way to start a marriage.

The weather is keeping up here on the east side of the lake as well. It's still great to see that we have 60 degree weather and it's not as cold as it was. It's still something that makes me nervous with bud break on the vines. Those initial buds and berries are starting to appear on the vines, so if we get a cold burst that could really do damage and end up killing vine growth. Not a good thing. So let's just keep our fingers crossed that we're out of the woods on the super cold weather.

So from here on out things are looking on the up and up. I just sent out flyers today to let some of our local bus and limo companies that we're running a deal for both large group buffets as well as box lunches for those groups that are in a hurry. Busy season is coming around and things should get quite interesting.

Cheers to having a wedding among the vines!

Young at Heart

So it was a great weekend here at Ventosa Vineyards. We welcomed Sarah and Joe Mull to the vineyard and they had a great showing. A great number of their fans came out and showed love and support and a lot of people ended up enjoying glasses if not bottles of the awesome wine we have available. The show was out on the terrace so everyone got to soak up all that warm weather and sunshine. Perfect setting for a great show. Now that I've seen them, we could definitely classify Sarah and Joe as contemporary hit music with Sarah on vocals and Joe on acoustic guitar. Definitely a sing along type of style.

Today is the kind of day you don't want to get out of bed here on Seneca Lake. It's cold and gray and been raining most of the day. I miss this past weekend's weather already. It does make the work week go a little quicker though with cruddy weather rather than nice sunny weather that makes me wish I wasn't inside. So I'm ok with rain this week. I think it's supposed to be rainy a couple, if not 3 times this week. Wednesday is looking like the only exceptional day this week. Warm and sunny. Oh well. Either way we'll take the good with the bad. We do live in upstate New York so it's not something that we're not used to.

Cheers to Sarah and Joe Mull for a great show and Cliff McCann who's coming to preform this coming Friday from 5-8pm and no cover for that show either!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like...SPRING!

Totally ok with this mid 50 and even higher weather pattern we've been experiencing. Not good for the vineyard if buds start popping out sooner than we want, but definitely great to see that warm weather has hit central New York and gets people out and about some more. It was great even last night. After the winery closed up I sat on the terrace with a couple friends, RJ our general manager, and Melinda our assistant tasting room manager, and enjoyed taking in the view of the lake, vineyard, and sipped on some of the Tocai Friulano. We're the only Finger Lakes producer that makes a wine out of that Italian variety and one of 2 New York producers even. It's really a great wine. Reminds me of Riesling flavors with a nice crisp acid balance. Drink up those unique wines. Ventosa even grows and produces a Sangiovese. Unique right? Not a lot of New York producers grow or make that variety either. Definitely need to snag myself a bottle of that for sure. Haven't tried it yet but can't be bad.

Tonight at the vineyard we've got a couple musicians coming to preform live music from 5-8. No cover for this. Should be a lot of fun and apparently Sarah and Joe Mull (the musicians) have quite the following. Sounds like it's going to be a great crowd. Maybe I'll see one of you here for it! You can grab a glass or bottle of wine, or some food from Cafe Toscana. Come on...you know you want to!

I'll definitely let you know how that event plays out if I don't end up seeing you. If anything it should be a great weekend here in the Finger Lakes with the warm weather, awesome wine all around, and great friends to spend some time with. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Cheers to Tocai and warm weather!